Mothman and the Thunderbirds is a solo musician from the US who released his second independent album, Portal Hooper, on July 16th, 2024. This album would gratify fans of Devin Townsend, The Armed, Astronoid, and Moon Tooth.
Introduction:
Mothman and the Thunderbirds, Portal Hooper: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.
The First Three Sins of Portal Hooper
Let’s start by discussing the first three sins of Mothman and the Thunderbirds and his album, Portal Hooper.
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Features amplified-progressive guitar-driven sound of the guitars, with spacey synthesisers and clean guitar chords. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Involves a mixture of clean, distorted, rough shouting and guttural/triumphant vocal melodies. The Third Sin—The Percussions: Delves into the vast world of various drum strikes/fills and (progressive) beats/tempos.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion: Follows the eponymous portal, hopper’s journey out of the natural world and into a series of surreal worlds…
As soon as the listener presses that play button, the opening piece, Ruby Skies, greets the listener with a progressive, space, clean vocal introduction.
The listener embarks on a journey with the second piece, Polygonal Polliwog, and the remaining ten pieces, which delve into the concept of escapism and the eventual escape from escapism. The music and lyrics explore this central theme of the album, keeping the listener engaged and intrigued throughout the journey.
Portal Hopper is a thirty-eight-minute piece spread across twelve tracks. It follows the eponymous portal hopper’s journey out of the natural world and into a series of surreal worlds accessible only by the portal. “Being granted access to the portals by the dubious Flatwoods Monster, the portal hopper meets a variety of cryptids in these strange lands.”
“The hopper’s journey eventually leads to the Squonk Kingdom, where homely creatures hold access to the only space station able to reach the Akashic Records, a compendium of all knowledge past, present, and future. Overwhelmed with infinite knowledge and finite mortality, the portal hopper journeys back to the natural world to make peace with an earthbound fate. But must face the Flatwoods Monster in battle to gain freedom.”
After reviewing Mothman and The Thunderbirds’ debut, Into the Hollow, and Gazer releases, I was struck by their musical versatility and innovation. Their latest album, Portal Hopper, shows the band’s evolution from prog and sludge metal to a wide range of subgenres, including doom, thrash, space rock, prog, shoegaze, and folk.
This album validly showcases their diversity, exhibiting a distinct ‘dream metal’ style that fuses elements of adventurous prog, exhilarating hard rock, and ethereal psychedelia.
The album’s classic prog and complex rock elements, combined with heavy sections, funk influences, shoegaze-inspired passages, and electronic, experimental, and intimate acoustic folk moments, create a genuinely diverse and captivating listening experience.
Egor Lappo handled the production, mixing, and mastering. I must say that Egor has brought the sound of the production and music alive, also providing the listener’s ears with a clean, crisp sound that sounds personally and executed. Mothman and The Thunderbirds have outdone themselves with their latest album, Portal Hopper. The album is a captivating journey that keeps you engaged and intrigued from start to finish. Each song offers a unique blend of sound, tone, tempo, and instrumentation, creating an ever-changing musical landscape.
The album comes to an end with the last song, Attic. We thank Mothman and the Thunderbirds for letting us review his album, Portal Hooper. We will wrap it up by discussing the final three sins and concluding the review.
You’re Listening to “Liminal Spacetime Continuum”
PlayThe Last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins, our thoughts on Mothman and the Thunderbirds and his album, Portal Hooper.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia: For us, the artistry, devilmanship, and creativity behind the album are the fruits of art. Portal Hopper feels like a significant step forward as a fan who previously enjoyed the band’s debut Into the Hollow and Gazer releases. It’s more polished, enjoyable, and entertaining.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
The artwork features vibrant and surreal psychedelic elements, and the alien on the cover resembles the “Kin” creatures from the popular computer game Bloodborne.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
There is nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Mothman and the Thunderbirds and his album Portal Hooper.
This concludes the Mothman and the Thunderbirds Portal Hooper review.
Track-Listing:
- Ruby Skies
- Polygonal Pollywog
- Flatwoods Monsters
- liminal Spacetime Continuum
- Fractals
- Squonk Kingdom
- Akashic Records
- Escape From Flatwoods
- Somewhere In Time
- The Zaratan
- Son Long (Portal Hooper)
- Attic
Mothman and the Thunderbirds is:
- Alex Parkinson – lead vocals, backing vocals, guitars, bass, synths, vocoder, drum programming
- Egor Lappo – lead guitar on track five
- Jason Roberts – guest (lead) vocals on verses 3 and 4 (track five)
- Sam Parkinson – guest guitar solo on tracks eight and eleven
- Joe Sobieski – guest (lead) vocals on tracks four and eight
