REVIEW: Guilt Trip - Armour Of Angels
- Julia Stark
- Jun 9
- 3 min read
GUILT TRIP have carved their name into the steely genre of hardcore metal and it’s not hard to see how they’ve built their fanbase and success, through tirelessly developing and polishing their sound to an endless string of tours and festival slots, as well as lifting up the local Manchester metal scene and supporting worthwhile causes. Formed from the Manchester, Northern, and Midlands scenes, GUILT TRIP have solidified their place at the top of an ever-expanding scene with the release of their tearing album Armour Of Angels, an explosive and euphoric sound that will captivate fans of ALPHA WOLF, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE and DOOM soundtrack appreciators.
From white-hot, searing guitar riffs and solos, to the relentless bass and battering drums, while the lyrics demand you get the fuck up now, Armour Of Angels is a culmination of their decade-long career to date, “We believe these songs embody our journey from the very beginning to now, everything we have experienced over the past decade translated into twelve tracks.” From a personal level, it symbolises their coming together as a complete unit and sculpting the sound they’re now synonymous with, the journey they’ve taken together as a band that can be shared with the fans who have seen them earn their achievements. From a musical appreciation view, it’s an album that scratches the hardcore itch in the brain, the instrumentals piercing through while the guttural screams speak to a cathartic fury caged within.
From a gradual build of menacing bass and guitar and subtle cymbals that descends into a shouted “GO!”, One By One drives us headfirst into Armour Of Angels with slick guitar solos and ferocious rhythms and sets the sky-high expectations for the rest of the album - spoiler, it doesn’t just meet those expectations, it shatters them. Blood Atonement rips through, only slowing for the weighty breakdown before dropping into splintering guitar whammies, straying along the edge of intricacy without becoming too overwhelming. The track fades into Cut From God and its staccato intro before hitting the gas and reaching new speeds of harmonised guitar while singer Jay Valentine screams “come on, come on”, demanding your attention.
Dirt’s muffled start of screams and instrumentals descends into scalding metalcore of sick guitar riffs and licks from Jak Maden and Lily Kilcoyne as Valentine’s layered screams and clean vocals echo “breaking your silence in two”, guttural ‘bleurghs’ landing throughout. Angel Eyes has guitar plucks that almost echo a warning siren over Liam McCarry’s unflinching double pedal, a prolonged roar overlaying the thunderous drums and bass. Veins starts deceptively slower with muffled clean vocals before the band attack the melody and your ears mercilessly, feeling like a battle cry in song-form.
No Love Lost soft-launches with faded guitar and cymbals before crashing in full force with Valentine’s primal screams keeping pace over the instruments, Bradley Hall’s resounding bass slamming in tandem with McCarry’s purposefully discordant drum solo. Hall’s bass shapes Intermission, hitting ominous levels in contrast to the near melancholy guitar strings, a brief lull on the album but still powerfully resonant. Burn is as fired up as it sounds, with molten screams and drum pedal work that suddenly plunge into an unnerving quiet of instruments and Valentine’s growing whisper “burn inside the fire”.
Suffer Me fades in with drum rolls and skin-tearing riffs , screams of “breathe in, breathe out, suffer me, you already know” undercut by guttural roars as the pace changes from a dramatic build-up to a rage-fuelled frenzy. Resurrected sees GUILT TRIP share the mic with seasoned vocalist Sonny Sandoval (P.O.D.) in a rapid-fire rhythm that has the tempered speed of a gatling gun, Valentine and Sandoval’s combined vocals delivering a renewed ferocity. We come to the end of this ‘battle at the gates of hell’ album with closer The Banner Of Heaven, the band’s final stand in this epic compilation, keeping the brutal energy and metalcore sounds to an all-time-high as they end triumphant.
Score: 10/10
Armour Of Angels was released on 5th June 2026 via Roadrunner Records.
Words: Julia Stark
Photos: Guilt Trip
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