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Portrayal of Guilt have announced a new album, Devil Music, arriving April 20th via Run for Cover.

The LP is the most ambitious effort from the Austin band to date. It features five new songs on side A and a re-imagining of those five songs on side B using strings, acoustic bass, and brass. In a striking move, guitarist-vocalist Matt King’s rasps and howls remain in the mix on the orchestral versions.

Ahead of the album’s release date, Portrayal of Guilt have offered up the entirety of side B, which soundtracks a short film directed by Emmanuella Zachariou. The full 15-minute clip functions as a medieval silent film, with stark black-and-white cinematography and occult imagery (some Nsfw). Zachariou cited inspiration from films such as the Czech epic Marketa Lazarová, ’90s black metal promo photos, and dungeon synth pioneer Mortiis, among other sources.

“When I first heard the B-side of Devil Music,...

Long-time FEARnet fave Mortiis is known around the world for his brutal brand of industrial rock, but his skill with dark experimental electronic soundscapes has led to collaborations with horror filmmakers like Adam Mason (Broken, The Devil's Chair), and he's got a couple of horror-themed music videos waiting in the wings to promote his band's upcoming album The Great Deceiver (check out our in-depth interview with Mortiis for more details and some glimpses behind the scenes). During that album's recording sessions, the track “Geisteskrank” was born, and that haunting piece serves as the pulsing black heart of Vardøger, a shocking new short film from controversial Norwegian director Reinert Kiil.

Mortiis describes the collaboration as “sleazy, strange, disturbing, and extremely violent,” with the music “sonically fused” to the unsettling visions, which he believes reveal the filmmaker's personal demons. “I can relate to that, the grit and the decadence. It was a...