Portrayal Of Guilt + Spike Hellis - präsentiert von CoreChaosConcerts

***TICKET INFO
CoreChaos offers flexible ticket pricing so you can choose based on your current financial situation:
*€15 (Social Price) – available only at the door
*20€ (Standard Price) – available both in presale and at the door
*25€ (Supporter Price) – available both in presale and at the door

Why 3 Prices?
Our goal is to ensure that everyone can enjoy live music and culture. We want you to choose a price that fits your current budget. While cultural funding helps, the support of those who can pay a little more makes these events possible for everyone.

***PORTRAYAL OF GUILT

Portrayal of Guilt announces its new album …Beginning of the End—a curious title for a band that has treated each release as a fresh creative start, constantly reinventing itself since its inception less than a decade ago. …Beginning of the End embraces both groove and avant-garde, revisiting the raw, teeth-gnashing intensity of their previous work while experimenting with nu-metal, alternative rock, trip-hop, dark ambient, and other diverse influences. This latest effort feels like the work of a band that has explored every shadowy corner of heavy music, distilling a decade of innovation and experience into a singular show of force.

Portrayal of Guilt share their first preview of …Beginning of the End with the lead singles “Ecstasy” and “Human Terror,” which together capture the album’s dynamic, expansive direction.

***SPIKE HELLIS

The Los Angeles-based electronic duo Spike Hellis consists of Cortland Gibson and Lainey, who got their start on Halloween 2019. They self-released their first full-length, self-titled album in April 2022 under their own label, Over-Pop.

The album chaotically shifts pace back and forth; the songs flow seamlessly into one another with no pause in between. The record opens with “Control (Rage),” a layered, hard-hitting body-music track designed to hijack the amygdala. The kick drum resembles the steady flash of a panic button. You press it, but nothing happens—no relief. The irregular placement of the snare matches Chang’s cries of dysregulation, spiraling red-eyed after having lost control, asking, “Will I regain control?” While presented as a song of despair, optimism and determination shine through in the final line as the question is reclaimed and transformed into a statement: “Watch me regain control.” This is a theme that permeates the entire album: navigating challenging times of despair and emerging on the other side with hope and optimism. Spike Hellis (S/T) was created with the intention of feeling jarring. The techno-tinged “Flight” is an SH-101 track in which lyrical instructions for escaping a dream are chanted over the iconic rubber band sound, with the claps paying homage to Charlie’s “Spacer Woman.” “Slices” is the funky first single that leads into its complementary counterpart, “Stitches.” Footsteps grow louder until the track opens into a dark waltz. Samples of William S. Burroughs cackling ring out over Emulator arpeggios until we arrive at “Teardrops (Kisses)”. While it is perhaps the most light-hearted track on the album sonically, themes of social punishment and isolation push through the surface to reveal conflict at its core. Chang and Gibson take turns crying out in shame and humiliation while distorted synths, swirling in polyrhythms, close out Side A.

Side B continues with the song “Help”—a straightforward, freestyle track with a touch of synth-pop. The disjointed “Cause of Death” may be the most challenging song on the record. Floating between major and minor scales and heavy-handed sampling, this track takes Spike Hellis from the dance floor to the speedway. Lacing each verse with the line “I never rush, but I like to speed,” it’s a nod to taking risks and enduring hardships in pursuit of long-term triumph. Arguably the standout track on the album is the closing track “Mouth.” This minimalist track winds its way through a four-verse build. Chang’s pitch-shifted voice softly narrates a catch-and-release scenario in which baiting fish is used as an allegory for manipulation. “Baby, look at you, setting your hook in my mouth—Reel me in, rip it out.”

Since finishing the album, Spike Hellis has hit the road hard without hesitation—completing two full U.S. tours and a handful of smaller runs within the span of one year. They’ve performed alongside fellow artists and friends such as ADULT., Kontravoid, Choir Boy, Soft Kill, Portrayal of Guilt, Plack Blague, Pixel Grip, Twin Tribes, and many others. They have also been invited to play at festivals including Cold Waves, Substance, Sanctum, Sound and Fury, Verboden, and Vampire’s Ball.

Blasting their bleak outlook and spreading their gospel of disenchantment and sarcasm, Spike Hellis announces their arrival.