...Beginning of The End by Portrayal of Guilt

Portrayal of Guilt ...Beginning of The End

80
ChoruScore
4 reviews
Consensus forming
Apr 24, 2026
Release Date
Run For Cover Records
Label
Consensus forming Broadly positive consensus

Consensus is still forming across 4 professional reviews. Portrayal of Guilt's ...Beginning of The End arrives as a bracing, often punishing statement that crystallizes the band's taste for abrasion and sinister atmosphere. Across four professional reviews, critics point to an album that blends nu-metal flirtations, Madchester-era textures, and genre-agnostic experimentation

Reviews
4 reviews
Last Updated
Apr 30, 2026
Confidence
90%
Scale
0-100 critics
Primary Praise

“Human Terror” is the best track for its theatrical vocal delivery and crunchy bass that personifies Lucifer-like menace.

Primary Criticism

While praise centers on the album's standout tracks and inventive instrumentation, critics note that the record is a personal, divisive listening experience - rewarding patience wi

Who It Fits

Best for listeners looking for misery and despair and religion and hypocrisy, starting with Human Terror and The Last Judgement.

Standout Tracks
Human Terror The Last Judgement Under Siege

Full consensus notes

Portrayal of Guilt's ...Beginning of The End arrives as a bracing, often punishing statement that crystallizes the band's taste for abrasion and sinister atmosphere. Across four professional reviews, critics point to an album that blends nu-metal flirtations, Madchester-era textures, and genre-agnostic experimentation into a cohesive, misanthropic whole, earning a 79.75/100 consensus score from those professional reviews.

Reviewers consistently identify “Human Terror”, “Under Siege” and “The Last Judgement” as the best songs on ...Beginning of The End. Critics praise “Human Terror” for its bad-trip atmospherics, crunchy bass and memorable hooks, while “Under Siege” draws acclaim for anthemic chants and eerie subversion. “The Last Judgement” functions as a cumulative payoff, pairing jackhammer riffs with moments of strange melodic clarity. Across reviews, Matt King’s vocal contrasts and the record's dynamic intensity are credited with providing cohesion amid noisy experimentation.

While praise centers on the album's standout tracks and inventive instrumentation, critics note that the record is a personal, divisive listening experience - rewarding patience with bleak, nihilistic rewards but asking listeners to embrace filth, misery and corrosive themes. The critical consensus suggests ...Beginning of The End is worth hearing for its bold fusion of styles and powerful highlights, a work that pushes Portrayal of Guilt's sound into darker, more confrontational terrain before inviting deeper listens.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Human Terror

4 mentions

"Human Terror weds eerie filtered guitar on the verses with a menacing nu-metal bounce"
Distored Sound Magazine
2

The Last Judgement

3 mentions

"The closer, The Last Judgment, feels fittingly final, opening with pummelling black metal"
Distored Sound Magazine
3

Under Siege

4 mentions

"Under Siege pounds forward at a brisk clip with a punk drumbeat as King shreds his throat"
Distored Sound Magazine
Human Terror weds eerie filtered guitar on the verses with a menacing nu-metal bounce
D
Distored Sound Magazine
about "Human Terror"
Read full review
4 mentions
89% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Backstabber

2 mentions
77
01:07
2

Human Terror

4 mentions
100
03:16
3

Heaven's Gate

3 mentions
90
01:41
4

Under Siege

4 mentions
92
02:32
5

Ecstasy

4 mentions
58
03:44
6

Death From Above

4 mentions
43
03:27
7

God Will Never Hear Me

3 mentions
41
03:34
8

Chamber of Misery Pt. IV

4 mentions
15
01:06
9

Total Black

2 mentions
65
03:11
10

Object of Pain

3 mentions
74
03:26
11

The Last Judgement

3 mentions
100
04:15

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What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 4 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Portrayal of Guilt return with ...Beginning of the End, and the best tracks - notably “Human Terror” and “The Last Judgement” - crystallize the album's furious intelligence and bleak vision. John Amen’s prose emphasizes how “Human Terror” rides bad-trip atmospherics and crunchy bass to personify Milton’s Lucifer, while the closer “The Last Judgement” pairs jackhammer riffs with gossamer arpeggios beneath King’s demon-soaked performance. The record’s highlights are those moments where King’s vocal savagery meets austere, inventive instrumentation, giving listeners the clearest answers to questions about the best songs on ...Beginning of the End.

Key Points

  • “Human Terror” is the best track for its theatrical vocal delivery and crunchy bass that personifies Lucifer-like menace.
  • The album’s core strength is juxtaposing King’s vocal savagery with austere, inventive instrumentation to expand metal’s possibilities.

Themes

misery and despair religion and hypocrisy toxic conditioning and estrangement vocal contrast and instrumentation diversity
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Louder Than War

Unknown
Mar 21, 2026
80

Critic's Take

Portrayal of Guilt's ...Beginning of The End insists you listen hard, rewarding patience with brutal highlights like “Human Terror” and “Under Siege”. The reviewer's relish for abrasive dynamism surfaces repeatedly, calling out “Human Terror” as a "fucking monstrous track" and praising “Under Siege” for its anthemic, addictive chant. Total Black and The Last Judgement are also celebrated for texture and cumulative payoff, making clear the best tracks on ...Beginning of The End are those that embrace raw intensity and inventive noise. This is an album for invested listeners, and those seeking the best songs on ...Beginning of The End will find them in its most uncompromising moments.

Key Points

  • The best song, per the reviewer, is “Human Terror” for its monstrous dynamics and overwhelming impact.
  • The album's core strengths are its abrasive textures, dynamic peaks, and genre-agnostic experimentation that reward repeated listens.

Themes

genre-agnostic experimentation abrasion and filth dynamic intensity personal, divisive listening experience

Critic's Take

Portrayal of Guilt sound intent on upending expectations on ...Beginning of The End, and the best songs - like “Human Terror” and “Under Siege” - prove how thrilling that risk can be. Colin Jones applauds moments where grimey production and precise musicianship collide, noting “Human Terror” as catchy despite its extremity and “Under Siege” as a true standout for its eerie subversion. The album’s closing sweep in “The Last Judgement” ties the record together, confirming that these best tracks make the album feel like an ending to categorisation. The writing remains impressed by Matt King’s vocal anchor, which keeps disparate experiments coherent throughout the record.

Key Points

  • Human Terror is best for marrying eerie verses with a menacing, catchy chorus, showcasing the album’s production strengths.
  • The album’s core strength is adventurous genre-blending anchored by Matt King’s distinctive vocals which keep experiments cohesive.

Themes

genre-blending sinister atmosphere experimentation cohesion through vocals

Critic's Take

Patrick Lyons tracks Portrayal of Guilt’s restless M.O. across ...Beginning of The End, singling out the risky pleasures of “Chamber of Misery Pt. IV” and the genre-twisting peak “Ecstasy”. He praises how “Human Terror” and its siblings marshal brute-force hardcore while songs like “Heaven's Gate” and “Under Siege” show the band’s nimble flirtation with nu-metal textures. In Lyons’s view the best tracks on ...Beginning of The End are those that convert past detours into coherent, unsettling payoff, with “Ecstasy” as the clearest statement of that ambition.

Key Points

  • “Ecstasy” is best for transforming Madchester tropes into a darker, more harrowing statement.
  • The album’s core strength is its fearless fusion of disparate genres into a coherent, misanthropic arc.

Themes

genre fusion misanthropy nu-metal and Madchester influences darkness and nihilism