Band:	Whitechapel
Album:	Whitechapel
Style:	Deathcore
Release date:	June 19, 2012
A review by:	D.T. Metal

01. Make It Bleed
02. Hate Creation
03. (Cult)uralist
04. I, Dementia
05. Section 8
06. Faces
07. Dead Silence
08. The Night Remains
09. Devoid
10. Possibilities Of An Impossible Existence

Among the vast sea of today's deathcore bands, the sextet out of Tennessee expanded their musical array and delivered one of their best albums to date.

Spoiler alert: If you believe that their 2008 release This Is Exile is the best thing since sliced bread, stop reading, you probably wont like their new stuff.

With that said, Whitechapel are at it again, and while maybe a little presumptuous to self-title their fourth studio album, I believe Whitechapel speaks for itself.

So where to start? I couldn't have said it any better myself, so I am opening with a very fitting quote by one of our own Metal Storm forum members: "Not sure if my music tastes are deteriorating or Whitechapel are getting better. Either way, I like it."

Whitechapel still has some of the hectic and furious deathcore elements ala This Is Exile but it also exploits the groovier parts off A New Era Of Corruption in greater depth. An easy task with three guitarists, and they actually do use them to the fullest. Be it with a triple rhythm assault on your ears, a double dose of heavy chugging to offset some melodic riff, or the awesome catchy solos nicely placed throughout the entire album.

Yes, there are still the signature breakdowns and blast beats but with the incorporation of more subtle sounds the whole album appears to flow together, rather then just being a brutal assault on the senses.

The band always had one or two instrumental songs in their repertoire so it's no surprise that they stayed with this formula for Whitechapel as well. "Section 8" off their 2011 EP Recorrupted made its way onto the new album and with said song and "Faces" the brutality of the band is very much alive. But "Possibilities Of An Impossible Existence" is the prime example of how the band moved to the more "easy listening" side of deathcore. Not a bad thing in my book, and I believe Whitechapel will appeal to a much broader range of fans this way.

Phil Bozeman dug deep into his inner self with the lyrical content of the album, with each song talking about a different topic rather then a common scheme. I thought his vocals were outstanding on A New Era Of Corruption and am more than pleased with his performance this time around. He definitely showcases his vocal range and not just his abilities of screaming and gurgling.

Paying homage to their prior three albums at the start of "Make It Bleed", Phil might indicate that it was time to change: "We've been somatically defiled, exiled, and now this new era has come to an end." But while the musical approach of the new album was a gutsy move and shows their commitment to evolve as songwriters and as a band in general, it might also alienate them from the core, and very unforgiving, scene fans.