There’s a nu-metal revival happening, and most of it is missing the point heading straight for the dumb jump-the-fuck-up chorus with an easy payoff, and what they’re leaving behind is everything that made Korn and Slipknot genuinely frightening in the first place. ....Beginning of the End by Portrayal of Guilt is a record that understands exactly what made that era so viscerally scary, and builds on it with ambition, menace and intelligence.

From the eerie guitar work and tinkling cymbal that set the tone on Backstabber to the closing epic The Last Judgement, this is an album that’s far more sophisticated than simply being heavy. The Korn influence is front and centre, particularly the Follow The Leader era’s willingness to invite rappers into the chaos and play with hip-hop tempos and breakbeats. Human Terror is where the full picture announces itself with crunchy deep bass and caustic vocals in a mix that’s muddy and monochromatic, like a black and white photograph of a crime scene. This is extreme metal with a tremendous sense of fun and groove if you understand the language, like a great splatter movie that creeps you out whilst also delivering some great kills. Ecstasy pulls the whole thing sideways into moody Massive Attack territory that’s unsettling in a completely different register. Death From Above is blunt force trauma, no nuance required, while God Will Never Hear Me is more subtle in how it terrifies you, with a dread whose patience makes it worse. Total Black is a mega riff monster, and Object of Pain is an airy and grungy moment of relative space. The Last Judgement closes the album by going through everything simultaneously with blastbeats, what sounds like a jungle breakbeat, spacious atmosphere and lurching doom metal sections. Extreme metal that grooves, terrifies, surprises, and is absolutely one of the most exciting heavy records of 2026.