Liste der Bands Deathcore Whitechapel (USA) This Is Exile

Ahh, This Is Exile. With Whitechapel being signed to Metal Blade Records less than a year ago after previously being on the UK's "Siege of Amida" Records (co-incidentally founded by Jamie of The Absence fame), you know to be on the same label as Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, The Absence, Unearth, and more, you pretty much know they've got something to offer.

What separates Whitechapel from a lot of other of these faceless new bands out there, is probably the fact one of these band who utilise the fact they have 3 guitarists, properly.

If like myself, you've been a Whitechapel fan since before 2008, then you've heard their debut, "The Somatic Defilement". Their debut was a fairly strong debut, but for some reason, even though I do enjoy listening to it, you could tell something was missing. Something, you couldn't pin-point in particular, but you know wasn't quite there.

Now with "This Is Exile" out (and yes, this is a rather late review I know, but there wasn't one!), these 6 men have found what was missing from their previous effort, and with this sophomore effort, has added it into their music, and then some. Plus, some more.

Honestly, I haven't heard such a stunning improvement rate between albums in such a short amount of time, in god knows how long. Soon as you pop that bad boy into your CD player/PC and you hear the immense opening riff and the return of Phil Bozeman's thunderous low end vocals, you know something great has been unleashed.

The groove has turned up its volume a hell of a lot, especially the octaves in the second half of the title track, and the intro to the most recently video-shot track, "Possession", with an intro so bouncy you're re-living the video to Meshuggah's "New Millenium Cyanide Christ" in all it's bounce-filled glory.

For the longer-lived fans of Whitechapel the theme of their debut is carried on in the song "Somatically Incorrect" (no prizes for guessing!).

A stand-out track for myself is "Death Becomes Him". This is probably one of the main tracks which some fans may have taken their CD out and checked if they're still playing Whitechapel, as this is a heightened form of melody from the band, executed fantastically and reminding their fans, melody (I use the term loosely, as I don't mean Howard-switch Engage melody) in modern-day metal isn't dead yet.

The rest of the riffs on this album though, are fucking crushing, and devastating, a treat for those of you who have heard their earlier, heavier tracks, and proving that the band are kings of groovy, phat breakdowns. Particularly, "Eternal Refuge" emphasises my point, pretty much one of the tracks which has every aspect of the band condensed into a single song.

This album has stepped up musically (especially with some of the great shreds of Zach Householder, and the intricacy of riffs going up to 11), the use of guitar FX, which on their debut, as well as alot of newer music, is an almost forgotten art. In this case though, they've hit it right on the head. Like the crushing final 2 tracks, "Of Legions", has an early Fear Factory feels with the haunting lead octaves on top, which falls into the Darth Vader of finishing tracks this year, "Messiahbolical".

Highly recommended, a stunning sophomore and a judging from their progress? Very, very promising for listeners and fans.

18/20

Whitechapel is pretty much one of the biggest deathcore bands out there and to me, this is the album that got them there. Their debut was pretty big but it didn't get nearly as much attention as this. This Is Exile is most famous for their title track and Possession, which I would say are my two favorites.

This album starts off with Father Of Lies and it has a real quick guitar riff right into an extremely low growl by Phil Bozeman. After that it goes into the title track and that is pretty much the song that made me love deathcore. Everything about it is so perfectly executed. At one point I even thought, "how could any band ever make a song that compares to this?" Well then after that you hear Possession and there's your answer. It has a monster of an opening riff that makes you want to move instantly, and obviously this song is talking about someone being possessed with an awesome chorus that goes "eyes are glaring red, with a conscious set to kill, nostrils flared and the eyebrows parallel," Towards the end of the song it has that same bouncy riff repeating the chorus over and over. After this you hear To All that are dead which opens up just like the intro, with that really low growl. Well I am done explaining songs, you're going to have to listen to the album to hear the rest.

Now onto Phil's vocals. He had amazing vocals from the start but in The Somatic Defilement they just didn't have the same power to them as they do now. His high pitched screams have gotten a lot better also. Most people know him for his lows but if you pay enough attention, you will realize he has a way better range than most people thought. In the song Exalt Guy(do'nt know how to spell his crazy last name) from The Red Chord features and honestly I love The Red Chord and all but Phil's vocals kind of put his in the dirt. They fit well and sound great but Phil's just sound so much lower.

Well as most of you know, Whitechapel consists of three guitarists. That is pretty much how they got the Possession intro to sound so heavy. Three guitarists and a bass, that seems like you can make it as heavy as you want. They do not seem out of place at all to be honest, they just really know how to play with three guitarists fantastically.

Well that is it for this review and if you haven't listened to this album and you like metal(which I assume most of you on spirit of metal probably do) then you NEED to hear this. It is a monument in deathcore history and still remains one of my favorites after about 2-3 years. The video below is Possession, listen to it and you will be hooked! I give this album a 18/20.