ALBUM REVIEW: Guilt Trip – ‘Armour Of Angels’

Something to note about hardcore these days is that bands can not only ‘make it’, but it’s very well telegraphed when they do. Up to now, it’s taken the form of these bands ending up places where they probably shouldn’t be. Under the most encompassing umbrella of ‘hardcore’, Knocked Loose shouldn’t be performing on late-night talk shows, or Turnstile shouldn’t be the sole rock rep on Tyler, The Creator’s All Points East bill. It’s not a common phenomenon just yet, but it’s one that’s become incredibly difficult to ignore.

It’s not just a case of getting big, though. Two factors have to work in tandem—it has to fully be in a position to breach genre containment, and it has to do so naturally. This isn’t something you can actively try achieve, and that’s where Guilt Trip arguably go the most wrong on their new album. They are a significant band in hardcore, and slipstreaming Malevolence as long and effectively as they have will ensure it stays that way. But in the aura around Armour Of Angels, they’re trying to engineer more. And sadly, it just doesn’t fly. It’s not a bad album at all, but it’s not as special as it likely believes itself to be, either.

Chief among that rationale comes in Guilt Trip’s handling of the Big, Weird Collaboration that has (or, at least, will) become synonymous with this sort of hardcore rise. Both previous examples undertook similar, with real meaning and impact. Knocked Loose collaborating with Poppy was two ships rising simultaneously; meanwhile, Turnstile working with Blood Orange felt like validation for their hazier, indie-inflected direction. As for Guilt Trip…well, P.O.D.’s Sonny Sandoval isn’t so far outside standard purview that it’s that ‘Big’ or ‘Weird’. It’s unconventional, sure, but it’s no headline-grabber from way left of centre.

What’s more, it’s presumably meant to be the pinnacle of how Guilt Trip want to effectuate the mighty, new weight of Armour Of Angels by toying with nu-metal. For what it’s worth, they don’t do a bad job at it. The fat groove thrown out of hollowed-out guitars on Veins is good, as are Jay Valentine’s more insidious clean vocals on Dirt and Suffer Me. There’s also a mix across the album that fully behoves a nu-metal pivot, in guitar musculature that’s built up some more grime and grit, and in space for Lily Kilcoyne’s bass to have a solid, standout role.

The problem, though, is that Guilt Trip aren’t really surging forth in ways they might presume they are. In a vacuum, Armour Of Angels is…just Guilt Trip, mostly. Picture the brand of hardcore they’ve come up through, and the mind’s eye seldom deviates from what’s here on wax. It’s big and brawny (and the band using their own name as a mosh call on Cut From God goes pretty hard), but it’s no more significantly impactful than what they’ve done before. It works most of all within that hardcore space, free from the need for diversifying or huge grand swings, and relying on the punishment that’s always been standard.

And that works well enough. If you’ve been into Guilt Trip prior, Armour Of Angels isn’t some sudden betrayal of what came before. In fact, you probably won’t be all that bothered that it’s not more. Still, it’d be nice, wouldn’t it? The ever-accumulating hype around Guilt Trip would suggest so, and it just hasn’t materialised. Therefore, there’s not that essential or pivotal feeling around Armour Of Angels that there should’ve been. It’s a solid Guilt Trip album, and that’s where most discussion begins and ends.

For fans of: Malevolence, Alpha Wolf, Desolated

‘Armour Of Angels’ by Guilt Trip is out now on Roadrunner Records.

Words by Luke Nuttall