Portrayal of Guilt: …Beginning Of The End

On April 24^th, stalwart experimentalists and defiantly uncompromising artists Portrayal of Guilt release “… Beginning Of The End”. It’s their fifth album since forming in 2018 and their fourth on Boston’s Run For Cover Records. Sean Millard doffs his cap to the human ambition of artistry, and straps himself in with a single directive: expect the unexpected. After all, this band has never delivered conformity…

The world is filled to the brim with compromise. Every shape of it is ruthlessly represented. Outrage at the political nihilism of capitalism? Covered. Treading on eggshells around the status quo of civilised society? We got you. An avalanche of seemingly legitimised fascist diatribes swamping social media? More than you could ever have reasonably expected to see again.

We have to compromise our expectations every day. It’s tiring. Everything seems to under-deliver. Unless its cargo is disappointment. So it’s a relief to know that there are dark corners of the musical landscape that steadfastly refuse to submit to expectation.

I’ve never read an accurate description of Portrayal of Guilt. They don’t really adhere to any genre rules or conventional labeling mechanism at all. They are variously (ahem) portrayed as Black Metal, Screamo, Hardcore or Noise Rock. Industrial has been used too, alongside a slightly confusing electronic reference. But that mainly pertains exclusively to the remix LP of their seminal Christfucker album from 2020, entitled… erm… Christfucker II. There’s even a worrying Trip-Hop reference in their press release for …Beginning of The End.

So listeners seem stumped. At least as far as categorisation is concerned. But that is the band’s beauty and what makes them so exciting, engrossing and absolutely tantalising. Much like their peers in bands like Full of Hell, The Body, Thou, pg.99 and even Chat Pile, they revel in genre-less influences. Content to throw everything into the mix before squatting over the pot and adding their own unifying dose of roughshod darkness. It is always a heady mix. And the one thing that I can say, entirely with confidence, is that Portrayal of Guilt do not shit rainbows. They will never release a record that is light, bright and a pleasure to know. Unless, of course, they do.

The band hails from Austin, Texas. Home of the Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid and Ed Hall. It’s not difficult to see where their sense of discordant fun comes from. But then add in a dose of other legends from their hometown. Willy Nelson, Daniel Johnston, Thor Harris and Roky Erikson, for god’s sake. You can start to see how an outsider perspective is not only embraced by the band but ingrained into every fibre of their being. From their nature to their nurture. They’re a product of their environment.

Portrayal of Guilt are continuing a fine genetic line of blatant disregard for rules, convention and limitations in the tradition of every artist I just mentioned. In many ways, they could ONLY come from Austin. Have you been? It’s a unique place. A marvelously eclectic and liberated city. Friendly, strange, independent and utterly cool. An island of eccentricity in a Texan desert of conservative conformity. Put it on your bucket list. But avoid SXSW. It makes the locals cringe. As I found out a few years ago. Don’t be a newb. Keep it weird, y’all.

The band are a three-piece and, considering that they aren’t yet a decade old, they have quickly earned a reputation for productive unpredictability. They have become bastions of the modern US underground metal and noise fraternities. …Beginning Of The End is their fifth full-length, excluding the Christfucker remix LP, in a catalogue of consistent surprise and quality. They’re busy little beavers.

One of Portrayal of Guilt’s best qualities, as far as I am concerned, is their lack of immediacy. They require investment and focus to truly appreciate. Sure, you get an immediate “like it or loathe it” vibe as soon as the needle drops. You’ll instantly either adore the lo-fi abrasion, squealing feedback, screeched vocals, samples and hiss, or, well… you won’t. It doesn’t matter either way, because whatever you think first time round will have changed entirely by the third, fourth or thousandth play through.

Yes. That counting system was a random Watership Down reference. Can’t help it. It’s on my mind. Stream of consciousness and all that. Hails to Hazel. Long may he run.

Your first impressions – either positive or negative – will have changed once you have sat and absorbed a Portrayal of Guilt record. So please, dedicate some time to them. It’s worth it, I promise. Burrow (ahem) down on it and you will be rewarded, one way or another. You might end up hating them. Odd reaction, but fair enough.

And so it goes with …Beginning Of The End. An ominous title, if ever there was one. But they’re good at that. As well as the wonderfully monikered Christfucker, they launched their career with Let Pain Be Your Guide and followed it with We Are Always Alone. Cheery, they ain’t.

The first notes of the new LP are clumsy, discordant plucks of a disgustingly distorted guitar. They give me a Vincent-Price-As-A-Mad-Scientist vibe. I don’t normally tolerate instrumental intros very well, TBH. But Backstabber is unexpected, amusing and brief enough to serve anticipation wonderfully.

And then the unnerving plinky-plonk gives way to the gnarliest bass tone you’re likely to have heard this year. Absolutely revolting. Slowly carving its own relentless lesion through the air to your ear holes. A laid-back monotonous drumbeat. A whining guitar motif. A false sense of security. Matt King’s dry-as-King-Tut’s-armpit rasps something indiscernible above the weirdly haunting gait of the instrumentation. Until, with an overwhelming surge, Human Terror launches in massive, distorted earnest.

It’s a compelling exercise in dynamics, veering from sinister lows to enormous highs, bellowed and overloading both the speakers and the brain’s ability to process signals. Seriously. Headphones. High Volume. Trust me. Again. A fucking monstrous track and ‘proper’ opener to the LP. It’s quite scary. So harsh that the momentary silence between it and blasting follow-up, Heaven’s Gate, whistles like tinnitus.

Which is just as intense, but in an entirely different manner. It’s in your face. The screaming furnace of sound blasts your sinuses clear. You can feel snot clearing, all the way down your neck as you listen. It’s unlike me to say so, but the 1.41 runtime isn’t long enough. I find the cacophonic breakdown especially enthralling and need more. It’s always ace to have an immediate re-player so early in the schedule.

Under Siege slams so hard, you feel like a dwarven wrestler being thrown about at a charity event. And I’m saying that while considering the leotards. Oh my god. It’s so fucking filthy… FILTHY. The distortion across all the instrumentation and scorching vocals is so abrasive I was momentarily concerned my tympanic membrane was going to scab over. How marvelous.

I’d like to remind readers at this point, that despite them being very different bands, there is a certain kinship between Portrayal of Guilt’s foul assault and Converge’s dense obliteration of your senses. For those that missed my review of their recent magnum opus, Love Is Not Enough, read it here. You will undoubtedly find something of value in both records if you already like one of them.

But moving back to Under Siege, its peppy 2.13 runtime still allows enough room to build on different movements. This musical narrative gives the song even more propulsion, from the hardcore first third, through the sludging middle, with its anthemic, catchy and addictive “chorus” chant of “There was never an escape from this eternal cell! There was never an escape from this internal Hell!”.

I hasten to add, that’s the best transcription I can muster because Matt King’s vocals are THAT raspy and nasty, they’re almost unintelligible. Even so, it’s a fucking anthem. And it breaks down, collapsing into grinding samples; screeches of industry and demoralisation. If Under Siege isn’t your track of the album, I’ll be very surprised.

That screeching bleeds straight into the breakbeat-driven Ecstasy. Watch it, below. It’s not my favourite track on the LP, but it does give quite a good flavour of what to expect from it. Even if this one is clearly where the “Trip Hop” references came from. Mind you; if this is Trip Hop, maybe I shouldn’t have been so dismissive of the genre in the ‘90s. Though sadly, the track doesn’t really do it for me. It’s interestingly eclectic but lacks the crusty drive that I love so much – and that can be found elsewhere on the platter. But you’re a grown up. Make up your own mind:

Thankfully, Death From Above takes us back into hefty sludge territory. A killer riff leads the action, contrasting with an-almost-but-too-grubby-to-be-spangly, cleanly picked verse riff. It’s punishing and bludgeoning. The samples work well in this one, creating that tinnitus-inducing whine again in the background. Ultimately, the song doesn’t move with the same energy as the other tracks thus far, though. It’s a mid-placed lull that suits the middle of the album and give it some coherent texture. Time will tell if it continues to serve as an anchor or gets lost to my rapidly desiccating memory after subsequent listens.

God Will Never Hear Me starts off low too. Whispered vocals, clanging samples, growling bass. Building tension. And then it pops. But the pace remains; a gentle swing, camouflaged in the most hideous noise. Just as you expect a D-beat or blast to inflict whiplash though, it drops back down to its own brooding presence and carries on, relentlessly. It’s a deliberate test of endurance and works well. There’s a lot of texture, but it’s clearly designed to be unforgiving, in a slow and sleep-deprived way.

And here I feel I have to apologise. Chamber of Misery Pt. IV (Feat. Slim Guerilla) just doesn’t impress me. I’m sorry. I don’t feel the need to hear such an up-front hip-hop influence in Portrayal of Guilt. It’s purely personal. I’m sure it’s there on purpose, as a truculent and divisive song bomb. I recognise that some will see the inclusion of Mr Guerilla’s vocal diversion as a triumphant display of exemplary genre-agnosticism, but it’s just not my bag. Thankfully it’s only a minute of misery (that feels more like parts I-IV than IV alone) before normal service is soon resumed.

Total Black is vicious. Another slower track, but with enough textures and movement to remain utterly compelling throughout. There are even fucking death growls. Here, I am in my element. The song has an improvised flavour that is enriching and tense. I could be describing my morning coffee or my glowing personality with the same words. It genuinely feels like it is falling apart for its full duration. Actually, maybe I really AM describing myself… Regardless, it’s my track of what will be the second side of the record (when it is released – this is a vile digital thing that I’m reviewing).

Penultimate song, Object of Pain, feels positively Sisyphean. There’s a wonderful, incessant grind to its structure that experiments some more with cleaner guitar tones and whispered vocals. When it changes it up to a filthy distortion and keeps grinding forward – but tantalisingly never arriving anywhere – it has the air of a Nirvana 45 being played on 33rpm. It’s really rather magical. And rivals Total Black for song of the side.

The Last Judgment is an opus in …Beginning Of The End terms. 4.15 of accumulating every motif and experiment of the album into one significant and pounding final track. Clean discordant guitars recall Sister and Evol-era Sonic Youth. The filth from across the LP is delivered in spades. The surprisingly delicate and soft melodies that ride over the foul stench of Alex Stanfield’s bass add an ethereal quality. But it’s James Everidge’s drum textures that steal the show for me; so much going on. It’s a great way to polish off what has been a really satisfying listening experience.

I think …Beginning Of The End is a great addition to the Portrayal of Guilt catalogue. It stands toe-to-toe with everything they’ve done before, but there’s a discreet maturity to it that makes it richer and more engrossing. As can be seen with Chapel Of Misery pt. IV, that can be both a positive and a negative, depending on your own preferences. And I think that might be the charm of the record. There’s really nothing else like it, not even in the band’s previous work.

Every listener is going to get something very different out of it. That makes it an intensely personal experience. I can almost guarantee, despite my hyperbole earlier on, that your favourite track won’t be my favourite track. There’ll be nuance you pick up on that I completely ignore or haven’t noticed. There’ll be joy I find in tinnitus that others will deride.

As time rolls ever onward, I won’t be at all surprised to read that this LP becomes Portrayal of Guilt’s defining moment. And that praise would be very much deserved. Equally, I can imagine others feeling that it is too disparate, disjointed or confused to be anything other than average. It will be genuinely interesting to see how it pans out with the fan-base in years to come. It’s going to cause some arguments.

For now, though, I would happily describe this as being a contender for my 2026 top ten. It’s exciting, harsh and different to anything else that scooted up my brain-stem so far this year.

My one concern is any foreshadowing of reality that the album’s title conveys. I hope the band doesn’t know something we don’t, because the world, and my record collection, would be far more uninspired without Portrayal of Guilt’s inventiveness and ferocity within it. If they stop running after this, my heart would join The Thousand.

That said, if you’re unaware of the band, this is as good a place to start as any. I envy you the journey that lies ahead. There’s not much that can top it. It could even be the beginning of your own end. For those about to dive, I salute you.

~

Portrayal of Guilt Bandcamp

Portrayal of Guilt Official

Run For Cover Records Bandcamp

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