Third

Jesus Christ, this is bleak. The members of Portishead... were they good when they wrote this album? Did they need a hug? I know it's been nearly 16 years, but still, I'm here to talk if they need to. 'Third' is the appropriately titled third album from legendary Bristol group Portishead, released over 10 years after their sophomore release following an extended hiatus as drummer Geoff Barrow grew disinterested in music and retired to my home country of Australia. The group managed to pull together enough creative inspiration to release one last record before dipping from music once again, and what a dark damn record it is.

Don't get me wrong, there's still a bit of that classic Portishead sound, as shown in the very old school cinematic sampling employed on the opener "Silence," which has the vibe of a dramatic spy movie chase scene. It opens with a lo-fi sample of a capoeira master Claudio Campos explaining the "threefold law" before it dives into its fast-paced and claustrophobic core melody, with Beth Gibbons anguished vocals not entering the fold until halfway through the runtime. Nice to hear her voice has only sweetened with age, with some truly haunting lyricism suggesting a deep struggle with ones own mental state. It's a good opening, but it does lull you into a false sense of security by implying the album will just be a modernised take on their original style. Oh, how naive.

The pace is brought down in the hauntingly pretty "Hunter," which is led by a bright acoustic guitar, twinkling synths and the occasional intense electric guitar distortion dragging you down into the abyss, just the usual. The cavernous production makes the song sound even more uncanny and highlights Gibbons' nervous and fragile vocal performance as she seems to be describing her wish for an ideal partnership that just doesn't seem to exist. The acoustic guitar solo in this adds so much to the tense atmosphere, I love it. "Nylon Smile" has a similarly uncanny feel but with a more tribal sound to it, with a lo-fi pounding drum beat and a synth lead that sounds like it's being played backwards, as Gibbons perfectly describes what it feels like to slip further and further into depression and despair even while you have others around you trying to help. The way the track just abruptly ends after that hell of a final line sends chills down my spine, man.

"The Rip" is a much prettier folktronica song led by a lo-fi acoustic guitar melody that places a lot of emphasis on Gibbons' excellent vocal performance, in which she seems to have found a way to escape the despair described in the previous song, but pondering if she has the strength to take it. About halfway through the track adds a very warm synth progression that almost sounds like something Boards of Canada would do, as Gibbons voice is sequenced over it in a single sustained wave that sounds positively ethereal. Despite its low energy it's such a dynamic track and has so much life and soul in it, a beautiful calm amidst the depressing fucking storm this album is.

"Plastic" is probably the most throwback song on this album, sounding like it could easily have come off their self-titled album, which has the consequence of making it the least interesting track for me. Which isn't to say it's bad at all, just predictable. Now "We Carry On" is an interesting one to me with its heavy krautrock inspirations, particularly in the droning synth melody and powerful marching drum beat with clanging electric guitar embellishments, all giving the song a pretty clinical and oppressive sound that creates a hell of an atmosphere. Gibbons' vocals are exceptionally haunting here as she seems to be describing a person in utter disarray and despair who only feels truly alive and comfortable in the presence of a single individual - a toxic recipe for disaster, no doubt. This track makes me want to fall into line and shout "sir yes sir" at the slightest order, it's pretty intense.

What isn't intense is the short ukulele doo wop song "Deep Water," which is supposed to be an uplifting diversion with the message of weathering out the storm until better days come, a message I appreciate... but I'm sorry, this is so goofy and dumb. Maybe it sounded better in its day, but in a post-Colleen Ballinger world, it sounds ridiculous. But goddamn what a shift in tone with the next track "Machine Gun," which is extremely sparse instrumentally with cavernous production that sounds utterly oppressive, led by a heavily distorted rattling synth lead that appropriately sounds like a machine gun. This may be Gibbons' best vocal performance as well, sounding positively despondent as she expresses a realisation of her own toxic behaviour and the way its hurt others, which eventually gives way to a horrifying industrial solo in the last 2 or so minutes of the track. This song makes me want to kill myself... in a good way! Truly the best example of how utterly bleak this album is, and probably my personal favourite here.

"Small" starts out pretty atmospheric with its blissful synths, live strings and a delicate performance from Gibbons, but around the 3 minute mark it shifts into a Pink Floyd-esque psychedelic rock instrumental solo, with a small deviation back into the original instrumentation before bleeding together again. It's alright, tho it doesn't flow quite that well. "Magic Doors" is very percussion-heavy with an almost Middle Eastern tone to its synths that match well with Gibbons' fragile vocals, and I won't lie the way the incredibly heavy piano notes push in during the chorus adds a lot of intensity to an otherwise calm track. There's also a really uncanny brass solo that edges its way in towards the back end of the track; it works, but lasts too short to be of any real impact, in my opinion.

The closer "Threads" brings a bit of that sly spy film feel back with a slow, creeping melody with a persistent screeching violin hum hanging in the back of the mix as Gibbons meekly croons her way through the track expressing that she's come so far in her battle with mental illness, yet there's so much left to achieve and she's just... worn out. The track steadily grows more aggressive as distorted synths and a fuzzy electric guitar progression push their way into the mix before swallowing it up completely near the end, at which point Gibbons is basically just wailing about how damn sick of this battle she is - ending the song on a very quiet "Where do I go?". It's a fantastic closer.

'Third' is a phenomenal record that takes you on a tour of the most depressing goddamn sounds you'll hear in a relatively mainstream project, and I'm genuinely surprised no one involved was harming themselves while writing this. There are some hiccups along the road - especially that fucking royalty free Youtuber music track - but the overall sum of the album is excellent, and while the band disappeared from the face of the planet again after this, I'm glad they ended on one hell of a high note. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna play Palworld for the next few hours to repair my emotional state. Goddamn.