Album Review: Armour Of Angels by Guilt Trip
Album artwork for “Armour Of Angels” by Guilt Trip.
Hailing from Rain City, the Manchester Metalcore/ Hardcore crew Guilt Trip return with their third album, “Armour Of Angels”. Their previous record, “Severance”, was amongst many peoples favourite albums of 2023. So much energy and melodic sensibility, and having seen them support bands such as LANDMVRKS, A Day To Remember, as well as their headline shows and festivals to boot, Guilt Trip are just a fun band to crowd kill, mosh, two step, stage dive, and to lose your shit to. Now that we finally have our hands on the new record, is the band able to surpass their previous work?
A sense of doom envelopes the scene with the first few notes on the guitars with its chorus like reverberated effects. Angelic but also demonic. Filling the air with a sinister atmosphere as well as encapsulating this feeling of being in a cathedral whilst higher beings eyes are watching over you. And just like the gates of hell have been opened up for all pure chaos to wreck terror, disgusting grooves, a hybrid of Machine Head like guitar playing mixed with Hardcore enters the fray. One by One is a strong start into welcoming the audience back and there is no holds barred. Headbanging and stank faces will be made for the entirety of the song as well as preparing you for what is to come.
The riffs in each song showcase a crushing display of power and attitude, further complimented by the harmonics, which have always been a staple in Guilt Trip’s music and there is no sign of them ever stopping. They cannot be praised enough on the guitar playing with every melodic phrasing, pinch and natural harmonic, whammy dive-bombs, and hardcore riffage. To anybody reading this and is a guitarist, there is a lot to dive into and you will have so much fun learning this.
Though there are a lot of screams and vocal projection from Jay Valentine and the rest of the gang, there are more clean vocals in tracks such as Veins, Dirt, and Resurrected, which is very welcoming to hear. It’s not top tier singing by any means but it’s refreshing to hear the band have their own sound vocally, and it gives these songs something unique whilst retaining a darker demeanour. Guilt Trip work best as a combined unit, however, there are moments in this album where each member shines individually as they showcase their writing abilities and musicianship.
There is a lot to digest, especially when songs tend have a similar style of riffage and groove, but tracks like Veins are a welcoming breath of fresh air, embracing a more spacious environment with clean guitars and drums that tickle the brain with its hi-hat syncopated playing and an ear-gasmic PING on the snare. The production on this record is just top notch. You can feel every breakdown, vocal line, drum beat, and gruelling bass tone, is met with so much attention to detail. Adam “Nolly” GetGood, is a well known producer/mixing engineer within the metal industry, and he knows how to make music really pop with his mixes. This was the right call for the hardcore outlet.
Songs such as, One By One, Dirt, Burn, No Love Lost, hell, the majority of this album is just un-skippable. You’ll be two stepping in your room preparing for the next time you see the band live. There are quite a few surprises in “Armour Of Angels”, one being a feature from P.O.D's Sonny Sandoval on the track, Resurrected. You will even find new things in the tracks that you didn't notice were there at first.
“Armour Of Angels” feels like the sound of a band fully understanding their strengths and honing in on them. Guilt Trip have never been interested in reinventing the Hardcore wheel, but have given their own interpretation and have sharpened every weapon in their arsenal; nastier breakdowns and grooves, stronger melodies and more than enough moments to keep the listener coming back for more. It captures the feeling of why so many people fell in love with this band in the first place. It’s aggressive, cathartic, and just stupid good fun, and needs to be experienced in a room full of stage divers and spin-kickers. This record does not only lives up to the hype surrounding “Severance”, but in many ways surpasses it.
FFO: Speed, Malevolence, Boundaries
SCORE: 8/10
“Armour of Angels” is out on all streaming platforms on Friday 5th June, via Roadrunner Records.
