PORTRAYAL OF GUILT - We Are Always Alone LP (SIlver/Black w/ Red Splatter Vinyl)

Label: Closed Casket Activities

As thoroughly self-possessed as Portrayal of Guilt's celebrated bow resounded in punk and metal pits, follow-up We Are Always Alone now standardizes the locals' splatter into a trademark sound. Dealing one less cut than its predecessor but adding six minutes, We Are Always Alone lives by one of its own titles, "It's Already Over," a brooding, hostile, undead face-eater that hides a goth-pop ditty at its poisoned heart ("there's nothing at the end").

Once again, the group's sonic girth of guitar, bass, and drums bangs metallic in true crossover fashion, with the new album's B-side achieving total lockdown. Flayed from the inside, its cathartic tsunami of rage and despair screech to an Italo-horror halt. "My Immolation" all but fuses the three into a suite, a bit of clean Eighties synth-doom vox pressing it and its two antecedents into a 21st century iteration of The Crow soundtrack. The title track drives in a final stake of Gotham retribution, moving from USBM to NYC2000 in 3:05. The apocalypse ain't over yet, kids.