Review Summary: They had us in the first half ngl
Releasing an album on April 20th usually is the preserve of the ganja gang, but this year Portrayal of Guilt decided that Weed Day becomes Halloween. The band’s previous output already formed a devilish corpus, but the inner duality of
Devil Music destroys everything the band has done in terms of approaching the truly abominable. The first half is typical Portrayal of Guilt - sludgy blackened crusty powerviolence whose misanthropy is envied by Schopenhauer, and whose discordant grooviness bounces around the wide soundscape.
And then, the second fucking half.
It’s basically the same as the first one: the same notes are played in the same sequence, yet the two sides are wildly different in portraying their ghastliness. Howler Matt King’s skinned vocals remain, but the piercing music accompanying him is now crafted with orchestral strings, brass, and acoustic bass instead of the conventional spurt of chaotic electric guitars and bass. This succession of descending minor chords was already grim; however, their hypnotic aspect becomes even more hair-raising as they pass through the chamber music moulinette. “Burning Hand” thus loses its
savage-metal-raaaah power but tastefully grows more ominous thanks to how terrifying the string tone is. At the same time, the urgency oozing from “Untitled” transforms itself into the classical impending doom soundtrack that plays in my head when I read Berserk.
Ok, so this is frightening stuff that you shouldn’t (or should you?) listen to while tokin the reefer on this Doobie Day. The question remains: are these the best compositions the band has written so far? This (climax bitch) mf says no, as
We Are Always Alone’s mixture of gruesome violence and careful progression made for the most rewarding climaxes the band had put to tape yet. “Burning Hand” gets close but would have benefited from an extended length to pack a heavier punch. The eponymous track also delivers hideousness with its “I wanna feel your pain” refrain, but ends with one of the most frustratingly lazy ways to close a song in the history of music: a bloody fade out. Still, the chamber music reimagining alone is an aesthetic tour de force that constitutes one of the more forward-thinking pieces of modern extreme metal - it’s not as seamless a blend as last year’s Ashenspire, but both idea and execution are exquisitely fresh among the extreme scene. Portrayal of Guilt always had the potential to craft a definitive album, and if
Devil Music is not it, then they sure are on the right track.
