After being a band for 10 years, most would begin to sound stagnant, repetitive, and stuck in their safe zone, but that’s not the case for Manchester hardcore band, Guilt Trip, who just surprise dropped a 3-track EP, God Forgives.
Guilt Trip remain to be one of the first names you think of when someone asks for hardcore recommendations, and this release has proved once again that they plan on keeping that place at the forefront of the minds of those that enjoy this genre. They know how to scatter influences from other genres throughout their records to keep their sound fresh, exciting, and always evolving, which is reflective of their maturity and experience as musicians.
Despite being known as a hardcore band, Guilt Trip have improved and refined their sound into something accessible for those unfamiliar with the genre. Pulling influences from metalcore and nu-metal may seem gimmicky to some, as though they’re trying to appeal to the masses, but when it works this well and spotlights them as one of the most well known bands in their genre, you can’t be mad at it, especially when they remain true to their hardcore roots above all else.
From the second this EP kicks into motion, prepare to put on your windbreaker and lock into whatever mosh move you’ve been itching to practice because the energetic riffs, hardcore cadence, and gang vocals that these guys are notorious for injecting into their music will find their way into your systems and perform a complete take over, just don’t film yourself and post the clip on TikTok, the internet doesn’t need more of that. ‘Burn’ was newly mixed for this release, and there is clear enhancement, proving that the band are serious about taking their sound to the next level both musically and with their production. One thing is for certain though, it was an ass-shaker before, but now it’s an ass-shaker in lossless audio.
God Forgives has a run-time just short of 8 minutes. That’s 8 minutes to work up a sweat throwing down some questionable shapes, but also to leave you wanting more, so you run it back again and again before the last track has even finished. If after listening to God Forgives you still think that Guilt Trip are a band who have lost their sound and forgotten what genre they started in, you should listen again and you might just realise that they are a blueprint for accessibility into a genre that can be difficult to grasp.