Whitechapel - Recorrupted (EP)

Whitechapel - Recorrupted (EP)

From the very moment Whitechapel released their debut album The Somatic Defilement they were destined for greatness. Whitechapel were the ones that I think were the first to give a clear and defined deathcore sound because I didn’t feel that bands such as All Shall Perish and Animosity were as “pure” as Whitechapel was (although they were still deathcore). Over the short time Whitechapel has been around, they have released some awesome deathcore pieces (pieces which are now engraved in deathcore history) and over that time, they’re sound has relatively stayed quite constant. Unless you compared The Somatic Defilement with A New Era Of Corruption because then you might see some difference. My thoughts as soon as I hit play on the Recorrupted EP were “oh boy the metamorphosis is happening!”

Before we dive into the exact details on the music, I’ll just tell you what has stayed the same *SPOILER ALERT!*. First are foremost, the vocals still sound very familiar from their earlier works. Now before you start cheering and going and telling your friends “ZOMG, Whitechapel haz a new EP out!” don’t. Why? Because I don’t think that the vocals are the best. Let’s think for a second shall we…What did people like about Phil’s voice in the first place? Was it the high pitched screams, the extremely low guttural or the way he can rap and scream at the same time. I can tell you that there is absolutely no evidence of either of those traits that I witnessed in Recorrupted and to be honest I have a slight feeling that they won’t show up in Whitechapel’s next album (what ever it may be). Sorry to burst the bubble fellas.

Also the guitar sound and tone hasn’t really changed either. But I don’t know if this is what others hear or if I’m just retarded, but I think that the guitars this time round have a slight hardcore edge to them. This doesn’t really change the overall atmosphere that was seen in earlier works and what Whitechapel fans have come to love most, but it does make it sound a little different in neither a positive or negative way. But even for hardcore, it’s not that interesting.

Hang on, hang on… here’s something different *ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT*, there’s a guitar solo in the track Section 8. I don’t remember any decent guitar solos in any of Whitechapel’s earlier albums. I don’t know why they haven’t bothered to put any in though because I think that this solo is definitely the highlight of the EP. Its well constructed, quite melodious but the only problem is that it leaved me hanging, I want more damn it! and I want it now! They kind of remind me of Bullet of My Valentine’s guitar solos in a way. But I know for a fact that having guitar solos doesn’t equal a gold standard music. Take Suicide Silence’s No Time To Bleed as exhibit A. 
From what I’ve heard, I think that Whitechapel might take a more hardcore direction to their music and I hope to god that they don’t include too much electronic shit in their music. Although there are three of five tracks that are electro remixes and there is one cover, judging by the only “real” Whitechapel song Section 8, I think they might have a more hardcore direction to their music.

After reading some of the other reviews people have written on this EP, people are really expecting the worst from a new release which might be out very soon. To be perfectly honest, I though that earlier Whitechapel was just a tad plain which is what I think pure deathcore is. Pretty much every track was the same in This is Exile and The Somatic Defilement with the occasional melodic sections (which I think were the only things that held the music together). After hearing this, I have a feeling that even Whitechapel have decided it’s time for a change. Will hardcore be their new direction? Well, Section 8 says so and I think it will be interesting on how they interweave their current Whitechapel deathcore with this new Whitechapel hardcore. Or maybe everything I’ve mentioned is totally wrong and they’re just going release another deathcore release.

Many other reviewers have been really disappointed with this little “teaser” of an EP (and I think a few might have been trolled). Well, I think that they’re looking at the whole EP the wrong way. Although most of it isn’t really anything new and I agree that its crap, I think that we should only be looking and examining the track Section 8. Mainly because it’s the ONLY real Whitechapel song which isn’t a techno remix, cover or an acoustic track. I think that Whitechapel have done this on purpose to keep what they really have in store for us secret. To be honest though, I’m not that excited for Whitechapel’s new release but I’m just a tad curious on whether or not they go a different direction with their music, stay where they are right now or the reactions of fans if they do officially change direction. I can say one thing though… I sure hope it’s not as bad as Suicide Silence’s Black Crown album and if it is I’ll cry (not really). I’m going to have to give Whitechapel’s Recorrupted EP a 13/20.  

Whitechapel - The Somatic Defilement

Whitechapel - The Somatic Defilement

Whitechapel’s The Somatic Defilement was their Debut album and it was released in July 2007 by Siege Of Amida Records. This album is of the deathcore genre. With the latest uprising of many deathcore bands around the world, Whitechapel’s popularity has risen extremely fast. Because of this album Whitechapel is one of the bands that are on top of the Deathcore Charts. This Album features Intense Breakdowns, Very Deep Growls and high pitched squeals / Screams and music that will bust you ear drums.

This is an incredible debut album from one of the best Deathcore artists in the business. The album is full of Deathcore goodness. It has some of the best breakdowns I have ever heard, the music is very tight and the blast beats are amazing. The guitars are very heavily distorted and the solos sound great when they are like this. The drumming is very fast and tight with the music, not to mention how fast the double kick is. It is very fast. Not only does this band succeed in making extremely fast paced music but there are also some beautiful melodic parts, such as in the song The Somatic Defilement where there is a melodic part towards the end of the song and it goes into some beautiful violin playing. It is this mixture of techniques that makes this album exciting and doesn’t make me want to go to sleep. Not only is the album great musically but the lead singer Phil Bozeman is fairly skilled when it comes to dirty vocals, there are many parts on this album where he likes to show off how long he can do a deep growl. These can be found in the songs Devirgination Studies and The Somatic Defilement. Also Phil Bozeman can scream really fast which not many other screamers can do well. This album also has another perk and is that this album can be targeted at a much wider audience, not only Deathcore fans but also Death Metal and hardened Nu/Industrial Metal fans as well.

This album has had many great aspects to it, but there are a few things that may rate it down. Firstly the music doesn’t seem very clear, It is a bit hard to describe but it is there. If you compare the sound of Suicide Silence and Bring Me The Horizon the sound is very clear, unlike this album. It not so unclear that the listener can’t hear it, it just sounds a bit like demo quality. Also the vocalist Phil Bozeman is great but he seems to finish his words a little short and doesn’t seem to follow through with them. This is very evident when he tries to scream really fast. Also when he screams really fast the pitch isn’t as high as it should be and this does happen in Deathcore that often. His vocals aren’t as crisp as other vocalists and it sound like he is screaming from his centre throat rather than his Diaphragm or his upper throat. 

Also that Whitechapel focuses on trying to be heavy all the time. There are a few melodic parts to this album, no doubt and they have some really heavy breakdowns.  There are also parts where they try to get heavy but it sounds a little boring and some may refer to this as Chugging. A great example of this would be in the song Ear To Ear. Also sometimes the music can get very disorganised and sound very ugly, this is the case when the other band members play at 100 miles per hour tightly but the vocalist tries to sing really fast and throws the whole thing out of place.

Also this album is a little bit short. It has 10 tracks on it and the run time is approximately 30 minutes. Not to mention that one of the tracks featured is also a 30 second musical, this is not the best thing to have in such a short album.  So in short you don’t get as much bang for your buck.

Overall The Somatic Defilement is a pretty good debut album and it did set up Whitechapel’s popularity so overall it was a complete success. It gave the audience a good impression on what Whitechapel is like and what they are all about. The Somatic Defilement features heavy breakdowns (the best ones are In the songs Articulo Mortis and Fairy Fay) some good solos and very good vocals. There are some things that let this album down a little though and that is the music is not very crisp and sometimes the music can sound very disorganised .

Whitechapel is extremely popular in the Deathcore scene and their popularity will continue to rise as long as they don’t change their sound. Overall I rate The Somatic Defilement a 16/10