Portrayal of Guilt: ...Beginning Of The End

Texas blackened screamo outfit Portrayal of Guilt are back with ‘...Beginning Of The End’ – their fourth studio album in eight years which shows they are one of the most uncompromising bands around.

The band have never shied away from experimentation and on their latest record, there is plenty of it. ‘...Beginning Of The End’ is the follow-up to 2021’s ‘We Are Always Alone’ and ‘CHRISTF*CKER’, a double release which saw Portrayal Of Guilt continue to pulverise listeners’ eardrums while making it clear that nothing was off the table.

‘...Beginning Of The End’ opens with the completely instrumental ‘Backstabber’ which sets the mood before the first full-length song, ‘Human Terror’, kicks off the album properly. A rattling bassline and reversed guitar create an unnerving atmosphere, with Matt King’s signature snarled vocals only exacerbating the tension.

‘Heaven’s Gate’ launches at you with one of the most violent blast beats you’ll hear this year, as James Beveridge again proves himself as among the best and most underrated drummers in heavy music today. D-beats and feedback introduce ‘Under Siege’ which sees Portrayal Of Guilt channeling their inner Converge. It’s a ferocious two minutes and thirty two seconds of blackened hardcore, with a tempo change halfway through that will take your head off.

If you ever wondered what it would sound like if Massive Attack suddenly got really into ‘Darkthrone’, then the next song (and lead single), ‘Ecstacy’, is just the thing for you. The song is built around a boom bap drum loop, with the more traditionally sinister Portrayal Of Guilt instrumentation and vocals layered over it before exploding into an almost Nine Inch Nails-style chorus which sees the vocalist utilising clean singing instead of his usual anguished howl. ‘Ecstacy’ is an excellent example of how the band are able to twist and contort themselves into something that is still recognisable as Portrayal Of Guilt but elevates them into a league of their own.

‘Death From Above’ is potentially one of the band’s heaviest songs to date, with a chorus riff that sounds like Crowbar and Meshuggah having a fistfight. ‘God Will Never Hear Me’ is to follow – a brooding industrial track centered around a whispered ethereal vocal, cranking the tension throughout before exploding into bellowed vocals and discordant guitars. Next up is ‘Chamber of Misery PT. IV’ – as the numeral would suggest, this is the fourth portion in the ‘Chamber of Misery’ song series that appears across the Portrayal Of Guilt discography. Much like the previous track, here the instrumentation is sparse and haunting which allows the vocals, performed by Houston rapper Slim Guerilla, to take centre stage.

‘Total Black’ is the dictionary definition of a Portrayal Of Guilt song: pounding blast beats, shrieking vocals and an impending sense of despair which rattles your eardrums from beginning to end. On the penultimate song, ‘Object of Pain’, Matt King adopts clean vocals for the majority of the track and his monotone voice adds to the haunting instrumental which feels akin to something you might have found on a more recent Cult Leader record.

The final track titled ‘The Last Judgment’ is a fitting send-off to an album of many ideas. Blast beats, breakbeats, throat shredding vocals and angular clean sections all come together in a way only Portrayal Of Guilt are capable of doing.

With each new album, the band push the boundaries of what was thought possible – and ‘...Beginning Of The End’ is no exception. While other bands may feel the need to water down their sound or assimilate, Portrayal Of Guilt stand firmly in a league of their own.