Whitechapel “Self-Titled” Album Review
Whitechapel
Phil Bozeman – Vocals
Alex Wade – Guitar
Ben Savage – Guitar
Zach Householder – Guitar
Gabe Crisp – Bass
Ben Harclerode – Drums
review by Shannah Tighe
@Shannuhxo
Formed in February 2006 by Phil Bozeman, Brandon Cagle, and Ben Savage, Knoxville, Tennessee’s Whitechapel seamlessly meld death metal, grind, and hardcore to create a blistering brand of modern death metal that leaves fans no other choice but to throw themselves into an uncontrollable frenzy on the dance floor.
In early 2006, the band finished a six-song demo, which was made available exclusively on their MySpace page. By November of 2006,Whitechapel gained the attention of Siege of Amide Records for a record deal in Europe with US distribution through Candlelight Records. November also brought on new drummer, Kevin Lane, who brought an entirely new level of professionalism and technicality to the band. An accident in May of 2007 forced Brandon Cagle to depart, but was quickly replaced by Zach Householder and the lineup has held strong ever since.
1. Make It Bleed
2. Hate Creation
3. (Cult)uralist
4. I, Dementia
5. Section 8
6. Faces
7. Dead Silence
8. The Night Remains
9. Devoid
10. Possibilities of an Impossible Existence
I couldn’t even tell any of you how excited I was to be reviewing Whitechapel’s new self-titled album that drops June 19th. I’ve been a huge fan since 08, so I was super pumped and extremely motivated to write this review. For fans of Your Pain is Endearing and Carnifex.
Make It Bleed starts out with a slow yet haunting piano melody and a hint of violin but then it gets super heavy. Phil is right on point with the vocals already with his growls and a bit of a high-pitched fast screaming here and there. I’m in love with where the drumming and vocals stop completely for a slower yet SUPER catchy melody and then it returns to heavy with a badass guitar solo. It’s the perfect song to start the album out with. I feel like this song got right to the point of being heavy and causing many eargasms. This lady is pleased.
Next up is Hate Creation. Let me start off by saying how much I love the lyrics. Starting out with a catchy intro melody and epic growls. Within the first twenty seconds, it is super heavy and I love the machine-gun paced drumming and the beat. I am also in love with Phil’s vocal mixture of growling and speaking, you can definitely sense of a lot of emotion and well, you guessed it, hate. I think the boys nailed this song.
(Cult)uralist barely waits for you to calm down from the last song, which I love. I would have to say this is my second favorite song between the fast screaming and the catchiness of it. I’m in love with the drumming of this song and how fast Phil screams as well as the amazing guitar solo that leads you into lyrics you’ll have no problem chanting to when you see ‘em live. (Which I highly suggest you do this summer!) This time, they let you have a breather and lead you out with some simple strumming and drumming.
I, Dementia starts out with a creepy (but awesome) intro that reminds me of a horror movie. It isn’t as fast as the others and it’s the longest on the album. Adding to the effect of a horror movie, Phil whisper/talks and leads you into some epic multi-screaming. This would be my favorite song off of the whole album since the lyrics are fantastic and there’s multiple parts that are catchy within the song. I can sense this being a favorite/well played song of a lot of WC fans.
Section 8 rolls in with some muffled drumming and more horror sounding effects. The breakdown is great in this song and I’m really digging the personality throughout this album rather it being just straight generic deathcore. My favorite part has to be “You’re all worthless” outro with a dash of heavy breathing.
Faces is another song that has fantastic and intelligent lyrics with another great breakdown…or two. 😉 This song has my favorite breakdown for sure. Towards the end of the song they have yet another great guitar solo with some lyrics that I’m sure I’ll be seeing as tattoos or seeing kids scream it in each other’s faces at one of their shows.
Dead Silence has a great intro, probably my favorite intro off of the album besides I, Dementia’s. Dead Silence has very catchy guitar riffs in this song and the bass is probably my favorite in this song. The minute and a half outro guitar riffs are great and calms you down a bit from the intensity of the song. I like how they threw this mix into this album a couple of times.
The outro of Dead Silence flows into this next song, The Night Remains pretty well. That being said, this song starts out with a higher pitched “watch your back” guitar riff you’d hear in an 80’s slasher movie. Phil’s growls in this are still on point, which doesn’t surprise me since the vocals are pretty well done throughout this whole album. His semi-higher pitched vocals make a slight appearance in this song as well. It’s also the second shortest on the album but they made sure to pack enough in it for you to be more than pleased.
Devoid, shortest on the album, starts out like the Make It Bleed. Beautifully haunting piano with a bit of a lighter side to it and a hint of drama. Then leads you into an ear catching guitar riff that is repeated a few times into a kind of slower solo. This song in general is slower than the rest and there are no vocals in this one. It’s a well-done intermission song and you can tell it wasn’t rushed or bullshitted. The last 45 seconds are pretty epic even though they aren’t as fast as the rest of the songs on the album. It kind of screams, “hey, the last song is coming up and we’re getting you ready for it.”
That being said, Possibilities of an Impossible Existence as an intro that builds you up with fast paced constant guitar with another guitar melody peeking behind it. It’s not their most intense song on the album and they kind of bring you down from the rest of the album with it. It ends with a beautiful piano, guitar and violin mixture that sounds a bit happier than the rest of the album, making you crave more. I think it was actually a perfect song to end the album with. This song does have another great breakdown in it though I’m excited that it comes out at the beginning of the summer.
All in all, I may be biased since I love this band, but I know a great album when I hear it. This was a really well done album. The lyrics, sounds and themes were cohesive and the songs flowed really well into each other and didn’t seem choppy one bit. In my opinion, this is going to be a great album that I can jam out to all summer.
As mentioned before, these guys are playing Rockstars Mayhem Festival all summer long so make sure to grab this album when it drops June 19th, jam out and get your asses to a show closest to you!
Whitechapel will be hitting the road this month for Rockstar’s Mayhem Festival!
June 26th – Downtown Music – Little Rock, AR
June 30th – San Manuel Amphitheater – San Bernardino, CA
July 01 – Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
July 03 – White River Amphitheater – Auburn, WA
July 04 – Idaho Center Amphitheater – Boise, ID
July 05 – Club Sound – Salt Lake City, UT
July 06 – Cricket Wireless Pavilion – Chula Vista, CA
July 07 – The Pavilion – Albuquerque, NM
July 08, Comfort Dental Amphitheatre – Denver, CO
July 09 – The Cotillion – Wichita, KS
July 10 – Superpages.com Center – Dallas, TX
July 13 – 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre – Tampa, FL
July 14 – Lakewood Amphitheatre – Atlanta, GA
July 15 – Klipsich Music Center – Noblesville, IN
July 17 – Sandstone Amphitheatre, Bonner Springs, KS
July 18 – Zoo Amphitheatre – Oklahoma City, OK
July 20 – Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre – Maryland Heights, MO
July 21 – First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre – Tinley Park, IL
July 22 – DTE Energy Music Theatre – Clarkston, MI
July 24 – Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
July 25 – Blossom Music Center – Cuyahoga Falls, OH
July 26 – The Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
July 27 – Susquehanna – Camden, NJ
July 29 – Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA
July 31 Saratoga Performing Arts Center – Saratoga Springs, NY
August 01 – La Tulipe – Montreal, Canada
August 02 – Imperial Theatre – Quebec City, Canada
August 03 – Comcast Center – Mansfield, MA
August 04 – Toyota Pavilion At Montage Mountain – Scranton, PA
August 05 – Comcast Theatre – Hartford, CT
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
Related Posts
PHOTOS: Mac Sabbath Celebrates 10 Years alongside Guttermouth and Angry Samoans →
State Champs Release Self-Titled Album Today →
Anthony Raneri (Bayside) Embarks on Solo Tour Today →
2 Responses to Whitechapel “Self-Titled” Album Review