apanthropy

Guilt Scripture
Blight
Independent Release
Released: 10/25/24

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1 – The Stag
2 – Wind Chimes
3 – So Far Removed
4 – Swept Away
5 – A Past Cruelty
6 – Black Tongue
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Guilt Scripture are a Los Angeles-based four-piece that play an amalgamation of hardcore punk, crust, and black metal. An absolute product of their environment, Blight plays like a rusty shank; short, sharp, and ugly. Used hypodermic needles scattered across the audio floor, Guilt Scripture forge the speed and rhythmic force of hardcore punk with the helpings of blast beats and buzzsaw guitar tones.

Opening with ‘The Stag,’ the smoke cloud of distortion is broken by a grumbling bass line before descending into ripping power chord sequences and punk-style drumming. Breaks and tempo changes strike like a madman with a screwdriver, stabbing relentlessly through the song structure. Slower passages are offset by machine-gun blast beats, half-time segments hit like cinder blocks defenestrated from the roof tops.

‘Wind Chimes’ coils into shape through another blanket of distortion, greeting the listener with a rhythmic-minded assault where the guitars and drums join into a single rolling steam engine of audio power, with palm-muted chords downpicked and projected at the listener like sledgehammers. This is the shortest track on Blight, clocking in at barely over a minute and a half.

‘So Far Removed’ shows off a bit of traditional grindcore leanings, in both its faster and more tempered movements. Combined with the scowling vocals, constant tempo changes, and aggressive phrasing, this is like reaching your hand into somebody’s head and squeezing their fucking brain into a pile of red shit. This is the type of song you play when you need to load a body into the trunk of your car before dumping it in the desert.

‘Swept Away’ brings a dose of slower atmospheric tendencies to the earlier part of the track before it collapses into a maelstrom of punk rhythms and buzzsaw tonality. ‘A Past Cruelty,’ is another cut loaded down with transitions and massive guitar presence.

‘Black Tongue’ terminates the album in an atmospheric, chaotic blend of spoken-word, dissonant riff craft, and more strangulating breaks and transitions.

Production is crisp and frontal, with an absolutely massive guitar tone that invokes the power of demo-era Nihilist and Entombed. Drums are prominent, with popping snares and neutral bass drums, with the rhythm section tied together by sludgy, heavily-distorted bass guitar. Vocals rasp and crackle like flames to dead wood, ranging from black metal to full-fledged grindcore at times.

Clocking in at around fifteen minutes, this is a compact and brutal listen that pulls a bag over the listener’s head and beats them with a hammer. All that’s left afterwards is a shattered skull, brain meat, and a defeated agonal groan.

Fans of grind, punk, and black metal have something to walk away with here. Fast rhythms, tons of breakneck transitions, and huge tonality, this is a beast of a listen that demands multiple takes.

Band: Guilt Scripture

AJK