 
Tennessee’s own Whitechapel are at the head
of the pack when it comes to the forerunning of
the “deathcore” genre, alongside names
like Suicide Silence, Job For A Cowboy, The Acacia
Strain, All Shall Perish and many more. Now whilst
this genre is the receiving end of excessive amounts
of abuse by more “diehard metal fans”
they would call themselves it also has some of
the most dedicated and involved fans in the world!
The sheer energy at Whitechapel’s live shows
is hard to match with bands on an equal success
level, as they move onto their 4th length studio
album let’s see if they can keep their momentum
at its all time high.
This latest output, the highly anticipated self
titled release has got a lot to offer fans of
this particular band and in fact the deathcore
genre in general, as they’ve sprinkled those
trademark aggressive breakdowns with forerunner
vocalist Phil Bozeman whose distinctive vocals
are powerful enough to disembowel any person within
earshot, on display as top grade material are
the likes of “Make It Bleed” with
its spine chilling eerie piano inclusions, the
instrumental “Devoid” oozing sheer
class, “Dead Silence” with its beast
like thick riffs thundering through and “Section
8” that has a tremendous breakdown at the
end catching fans off guard. What I would like
to mention is Bozeman’s attempt at speaking
vocals, I’m not a fan of how they’ve
been put down on this records, I’m all in
favour of further experimentation with them but
in this instance I just don’t feel they
fit in with the tone of the album.
Concluding at around 37 minutes the albums isn’t
too brief but not as long as most, displaying
just the right amount of great material (and unfortunately
some filler tunes as well) we’ve had a fair
bit of fun with it. They manage to stick their
claws down into their roots but bring in new tricks
and bits to further their credentials as a forerunner
in their respected genre.
4/5
Review by James Webb
|
