Portrayal of Guilt – ‘…Beginning Of The End’ [Album Review]

Austin, Texas band Portrayal Of Guilt is part of an exciting wave of young artists currently making music at the most unyielding, complex, and often horrifying end of the extreme metal spectrum. After nearly ten years as a band in which they have released four full-length records, a multitude of EPs/Splits and have toured the world unrelentingly, it’s time for record number five and easily their most anticipated to date.

…Beginning Of The End, the band’s third full-length release for Run For Cover Records, comes out April 24th, nearly three years to the day since their last album, and comes at a time when extreme metal is having a real modern-day resurgence and reimagining. Along with bands such as Full Of Hell, Oranssi Pazuzu, Imperial Triumphant, and Thou, Portrayal Of Guilt are part of a growing scene that is creating one-of-a-kind pieces of art that are both mesmerizing and challenging in equal measure.

The first thing of note about … Beginning Of The End is how much more upfront the vocals are in the mix on some tracks, but not all, and how they use this very simple technique to absolute perfection. The movement of pushing back singer Matt King’s blood-curdling shrieks and roars creates a huge air of space within the songs, where they use minimalist noise to a huge degree. Whereas the tracks in which they are now bringing him to the front, it completely shifts the dynamic and feel deliberately confrontational and far more hostile.

On this record, they continue to draw inspiration from a host of genres, put them through the Portrayal Of Guilt blender, and turn them into a sound that is now really uniquely identifiable to them. From the straight-up black metal blasts and howls of “Heavens Gate,” the ’90s hip-hop grooves of “Ecstasy,” and the blackened industrial gothic death metal amalgamation that is “God Will Never Hear Me,” this album is absolutely fearless throughout.

“Chamber Of Misery Pt IV,” a one-minute track featuring Houston, Texas rapper Slim Guerilla, is probably best described as New Nu-Metal, maybe?! However it’s labelled, it works in amongst the rest of the experimental fire and fury of this record. For me, Portrayal Of Guilt are at their twisted psychological best on tracks like “Total Black,” a song that lurches in with creepy and disturbing intent, before opening up with one of the most intense blasts of death metal you will hear this year. They have, on this record, really doubled down and honed the horror and macabre in their riffs, and they go hard with the hazy bass drones, sharp, torturous melodies, and hypnotic, repetitive rhythms they deploy.

This record, however, feels more infused with sporadic grooves than previous outings. “Death From Above,” for example, opens with a riff that Turnstile would be proud of, before spiralling into a bottomless bog of despair and anguish; it really is incredible. The final track on the record, “The Last Judgement,” feels like everything that is brilliant about this band packed into one final hand grenade. The haunting vocals, furious blast beats, dwindling riffs and bone-rattling bass lines combine for a truly manic curtain closer.

Portrayal Of Guilt have long forged their own path in this hard-to-navigate world of alternative music, and with …Beginning Of The End, they have once again delivered a record that is both progressive and experimental, and feels like another significant landmark for one of extreme metal’s most creative bands.

…Beginning Of The End Track Listing:

1. Backstabber
2. Human Terror
3. Heaven’s Gate
4. Under Siege
5. Ecstasy
6. Death From Above
7. God Will Never Hear Me
8. Chamber of Misery Pt. IV
9. Total Black
10. Object of Pain
11. The Last Judgement

Run Time: 31:24
Release Date: April 24th, 2026
Record Label: Run For Cover Records