Throughout the history of the genre, many have tried to suss out where exactly the boundary lines of metal lie. And while that border might be difficult to universally define, it’s generally agreed upon that distorted guitars and loud drums are essential elements.

Austin trio Portrayal of Guilt are no strangers to skirting the edge of metal purity. From their screamo origins, they’ve steadily blackened their sound further each release until getting pretty close to kvlt on their 2021 record, the title of which I don’t think my editor will let me write.

On Devil Music though, they tease out the question of how far music can get from the conventional definition of metal while remaining metal, and they do so with one of the more interesting—and better executed—musical experiments I’ve heard in a long time.

On Devil Music, the listener is given two separate arrangements of a five song cycle. The first half presents the songs as you’d expect a metal record to sound. The heart of this sonic palette is closest to black metal: blast beats, tremolo guitar, and shrieked vocals carry most of the songs. However, there are some elements borrowed from industrial, sludge, grind, hardcore, and even nu-metal. The songs burst with unrelenting fury, tracks cascading into one another without a moment’s rest.

The second half of the record repeats these same five songs, but instead of the distorted guitars and machine-gun like drums, the arrangements are carried by cello, French horn, and tuba. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it sounds any less wicked, though. These versions of the songs are eerie and threatening. The cellist sounds like they’re bowing the strings in an attempt to saw them in half. The horns are dark and haunting. It’s not unlike the sounds you’d expect from a tense moment in a horror movie soundtrack stretched out to an entire song.

To make these chamber moments even less palatable, the vocals are just as harsh as the first time through the songs. In fact, I think even the few lines that aren’t screamed in the first half are so on the second.

If we can be real for a moment, we can admit that on paper, this idea sounds nothing but gimmicky. In fact, had that been explained to me before I listened to it, I might have skipped it. Usually, these sorts of ambitions are rarely executed in a manner worthy of their aims. Most often, the idea itself is far more interesting than the attempt.

But somehow, Devil Music escapes this pitfall. Both halves of the record are inventive, intense, and satisfying. The second half manages to coax nuances out of the tracks that didn’t seem to have any lack as metal songs. After a few listens, I think the only complaint I could levy against this album is that there’s not enough of it: it barely crosses the half-hour mark. However, it invites numerous repeated listens—not only to compare each interpretation against the other, but also because it’s just plain good.

Devil Music is available now through Run For Cover Records.

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