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Sweden's Portrait are back with their sixth album of atypical traditional heavy metal, The Host. I was really excited because I enjoyed their last album, 2021's At One with None, tremendously. I can't say the same is true of The Host, but let me elaborate. Portrait's modern take on old Mercyful Fate, notably the varied vocals and cool riffs, is still present and there are plenty of songs in this vein like "The Blood Covenant" and "One Last Kiss" that are a lot of fun. What is new this time around is an epic slant to the songwriting with a weirdness to the progressions and vocal lines on cuts like "Sound the Horn" and "The Sacrament" that can only be described as Virgin Steele-esque. If you like new Virgin Steele, that's a good thing. The biggest problem I have with The Host is the length. At nearly 75 minutes, it outlasts its predecessor by well over 20 minutes. Yeah, yeah, more music is better but that's only true if it's good and frankly, by the end of The Host, it sounds like Portrait were running short of ideas. I'm not saying any of the songs are bad, just some are dull and unexciting compared with others. I still like the album and can see myself going back to it, but I think it could have been shortened by several songs and been a better album. Your mileage may vary. Definitely check it out if you like any of Portrait's previous works and slightly weird trad metal in general, but grab a copy of At One with None if you haven't already because that's the band firing on all cylinders.