That’s right readers, I have a Whitechapel guy. The Knoxville deathcore outfit are on album number nine this week, and are promising their heaviest to date. Juxtaposing the idea of joyous hymns with the anti-melodic dissonance, and exploring the seven deadly sins through the story of a cult leader recruiting members, it certainly feels like we’re in for a dark, interesting release. I’m a big fan of the band, and have been for a while now, but have to admit I’ve enjoyed their slightly more melodic stuff as of late. However, I’m still excited for this, so let’s dive in!
‘Prisoner 666’ opens the album on a pretty evil sounding riff, setting the tone perfectly. It builds up perfectly too, with some awesome drumming coming in behind it alongside the distortion. Then Phil’s powerful scream calls out to a heavy breakdown, it having surprising hardcore vibes to it. His vast vocal delivery through the verse is excellent, his screams sounding somehow better than ever. It’s certainly heavy, and a far-cry to Kin, but actually in a pretty great way! Heck, the chorus is still a little catchy and memorable even through the heaviness, a tough task! We even get some awesome lead guitar lines and solos tucked throughout, only adding to the epicness. It gives off faster Rotting Christ vibes, which is certainly not a bad thing, it has that sense of massive scale to it. Everything about this track is deathcore awesomeness, and it’s an easy early highlight that certainly makes our playlist.
The title track continues the heaviness like only Whitechapel can, it feeling a lot more straight-forward deathcore and more old-school for the band than the opener. The blast beats, and just drumming throughout, are awesome, while the fast screams will never not impress me. While not quite as interesting, I once again love the Kublai Khan style hardcore-feeling verse in the middle. This is certainly one for more OG fans of the band, and at least somewhat fulfills the ‘heaviest stuff we’ve done’ promise. That breakdown at the end with the different screams, *chefs kiss*. It’s another awesome song!
The first of the sins, sloth, is personified pretty perfectly in ‘Diabolic Slumber’. Though the pace is still pretty quick at times which I feel could have been a cool touch to have it slower, but it still has an epic, menacing and fitting tone overall. The higher, extreme metal screams fit it all perfectly, and still have some powerful growls between them. The vocals really take front and centre on the track, regardless of how good the riffing and drumming is. It’s a brutal, epic black-death metal track with just a touch of grindcore to it, and it’s certainly one to check out if you’re a fan of heavy!
Gluttony is up next with ‘A Visceral Retch’. It’s another blisteringly quick track that feels in the same vein of the title track in its old-school Whitechapel-ness. That scream around the 1:40 mark is DIRTY too, damn! Outside of that it’s just another damn heavy, if excellent, deathcore track!
After a short, menacing instrumental interlude, wrath comes in to kick everyone in the teeth with ‘Hate Cult Ritual’. Right from the offset, I love the chanting, fitting the theme of the song perfectly and the style of the album just as well. It’s shockingly catchy as well for this sort of music, though it soon heads into the usual blastbeats and brutality. However, it’s an amazing heavy track, and another huge highlight of the album. Everything about it, from the screams to the riffs to the drumming, is phenomenal, and I can’t recommend it enough if you like things this heavy!
Honestly, the rest of the album is just the same typical stuff from the first half of the release. That’s not to say that any of the four tracks are bad by any stretch. However, they’re all pretty similar and I don’t want to keep repeating myself over and over to make this an incredibly boring review to read! The riff that opens ‘The Abysmal Gospel’ is tasty, and the whole song in general is another huge highlight on the album, almost giving Hatebreed vibes at times. Meanwhile the screams for ‘Bedlam’ are BRUTAL while the closing track is also awesome! All four songs are worth a listen, but I’d definitely kinda hit the wall by the last couple of songs.
Overall: This is a fucking awesome Whitechapel album! It’s heavy and brutal in all the best ways and the right places. And it’s certainly back to the absolute heaviness of their earlier work, for better or worse. It won’t be for everyone, but I can’t recommend this enough to anyone who’s a fan of deathcore. There are so many different styles infused into it that it makes for a really interesting listen. And while I still feel like I prefer the dynamics and ups and downs of Kin, this is a completely different, damn solid metal release!
The Score: 8/10