ALBUM REVIEW: Slaves Beneath The Sun – Process Of Guilt

September 21, 2022 Jack Butler-Terry

Often, an album cover will give away the content before you even get to press play. PROCESS OF GUILT‘s newest offering Slaves Beneath The Sun is one such instance. Featuring a deathly gaunt figure resembling a certain biblical character, with arms outstretched and gazing longingly, desperately, hopelessly upward toward an unseen source of light, all in a black and white wash, it makes for a harrowing, bleak and thought-provoking introduction to the record.

True enough, the Portuguese four-piece deal in heavy doom that intimidates, suffocates and crushes all that crosses its path. For 45 minutes, Slaves Beneath The Sun subjects its listeners to a deluge of misery that is drenched in feedback. Opener Demons is a slow burning fuse that allows mounting tension to swell and build to a cataclysmic fever pitch of disdain and fury. This energy rolls seamlessly into Scars which proves to be a particular highlight of the record. The vocals of Hugo Santos feel their most barbed and urgent, while the suite of riffs from the guitars of Santos and Nuno David keeps proceedings ticking along at a solid pace, and the rhythm section cuts through like a dulled blade. There is nothing light touch or half-hearted about anything that PROCESS OF GUILT do here, and they make sure you feel every excruciating hammer blow.

As the album rumbles relentlessly onward, PROCESS OF GUILT begin to show that actually, all their cards are on the table already. There’s an element of the album being something of a chore, particularly due to the vocal delivery feeling largely monotonous throughout. When combined with the unbearable weight of it all, detractors will say that Slaves Beneath The Sun lacks dynamism and honestly they might not be wrong. However, those that push through to a second listen will begin to uncover the gems buried within.

Victims barrels its way into existence like a truck that lost its brakes and caught fire; its riff laden with pinch harmonics and the rattling, rolling bass giving the track a disgusting, dirty air. The drums too seem higher in the mix, lending an extra degree of cataclysm to proceedings while the vocals once again punch through with enough force to ripple hardened steel. A venomous, vital delivery from all members that builds to an even more devastating ending, Victims may be Slaves Beneath The Sun‘s biggest achievement.

Album closer Host takes the biggest diversion on the record and ends the album on an 11-minute epic. There is a certain beauty and tranquillity to the opening while still possessing its pissed off and downtrodden edge, resulting in a spectacularly dangerous texture that unfurls into one final apparition of the snarling, wounded animal that has been present throughout Slaves Beneath The Sun, leaving an indelible mark on listeners.

On Slaves Beneath The Sun, PROCESS OF GUILT have certainly delivered one of the year’s heaviest and bleakest pieces of work. While there are moments when the execution feels a little two-dimensional on the whole, the truth of the matter is that PROCESS OF GUILT have delivered a nihilistic manifesto to soundtrack the abject misery that endlessly plagues humanity in 2022.

Rating: 7/10