Whitechapel – A New Era of Corruption (Metal Blade Records)

Tuesday, 19th March 2013
Rating: 5.5/10

Let’s be honest…if this were 2001, Whitechapel would be a nu metal band. They have six members, so the third guitarist would be probably serve as a DJ or second vocalist, plus their riffs (not all, but a vast majority) are as boneheaded as they come. Nothing about Whitechapel or A New Era of Corruption speaks to advancement, rather, the tell-tale sign of a band exploiting a trend for all its worth. And who better to exploit than the woebegone kids who are stumbling onto death metal for the first time, right?

As beatdown-intensive as Whitechapel is in the live setting, at least on record they’re provide a tad more room in which to breathe. Of course, that doesn’t take away from the clunky offerings of opener “Devolver” or “Breeding Violence,” both of which drip and drool with simpleton riff-action and singer Phil Bozeman’s relentless bark. Bozeman might be the most tolerable aspect of the band (which isn’t saying much) as his quasi-David Vincent (Morbid Angel) vocals bail out otherwise drab numbers such as “The Darkest Day of Man.”

When Whitechapel decides to pepper their songs with quick bursts of technical riffing or melody (ref: “End of Flesh,” “Prayer of Mockery”), it’s when they’re at their best. The band has yet to figure out how to maneuver between those two aspects effectively, which in turn waters their sound down significantly. Yeah, getting Chino from the Deftones to sing on “Reprogrammed to Hate” is a cool idea, but it means little when the music behind it is virtually a watered-down version of already watered-down death metal, which is what deathcore circa 2010 basically is.

With an impressive first-week sales run, Whitechapel has probably already peaked. In reality, there’s nowhere else for the band to go with this sound. It’s as baseless and bland of a sound going right now and for anyone to suggest this as being actual death metal would be doing the style’s forefathers a tremendous disservice.

www.myspace.com/whitechapel

(This content originally appeared on Blistering.com) 

[fbcomments width="580"]