Artist: Adverso
Country: Portugal
Label: Altare Productions
Format: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
The Portuguese band Adverso released three demos in the late 2010s (the last of which came out in 2020), the first two being released via the now-defunct Purodium Rekords and the last via Black Gangrene Productions. Although the band has never really received much attention or acclaim, there are few secrets left for the connoisseur who may have missed the earlier demos. The combination of this one-man band’s origin and its connection to those two labels actually gives a good indication of what to expect from this fourth demo, especially when you realise it’s being released via Altare Productions.
That said, I wouldn’t necessarily describe Adverso as a particularly ‘typical Altare’ band, but with releases on both Altare Productions and Black Gangrene Productions, it’s of course not hard to guess: Adverso fits squarely within the realm of Raw Black Metal. However, this is certainly not a case of a lo-fi production. This fourth demo, with a running time of just over 20 minutes, actually fits much more closely with the classic style of Black Metal as practised in the 2000s. This more traditional approach is particularly evident in the riff-heavy nature of the compositions and the somewhat greater musicality of the material.
The often somewhat more Lo-Fi oriented Raw Black Metal that comes out of Portugal is more often than not based on a hypnotic and/or oppressive atmosphere, but that is not the case here. The solid riffs and strong compositions form the foundation of ‘Presence’, and in terms of atmosphere, it certainly fits better with the 2000s – a period that saw a balance between a more ‘Swedish’ sound and the classics from the previous decade. Without sounding in the slightest like a carbon copy of any other band, Adverso has a pleasantly familiar sound, and the listener won’t complain that it lacks originality in any way.
