Music Reviews
Whitechapel “A New Era of Corruption”
Whitechapel“A New Era of Corruption”
Genre: Deathcore
Label: Metal Blade
Format: CD
Year: 2010
Tracklisting:
01. Devolver
02. Breeding Violence
03. The Darkest Day of Man
04. Reprogrammed To Hate
05. End of Flesh
06. Unnerving
07. A Future Corrupt
08. Prayer of Mockery
09. Murder Sermon
10. Necromechanical
11. Single File To Dehumanization
Whitechapel has done a complete 360 with A New Era of Corruption, in focusing on brutal double-kick drumming, powerful leads, and sinister vocal contribution, as opposed to the chug/blast/breakdown template set by this genre. This was the band’s first album not concept driven, and the first time that each track stands apart from one another. Drummer Kevin Lane did an exceptional job behind the kit, slaying blast and thrash beats at will, while vocalist Phil Bozeman continues to carry his own through his roars and eerie screams, often being considered one of the genre’s finest.
This album could be a successful attempt at drawing in fans of the black-metal genre, with their song titled, “Reprogrammed To Hate” with a hint of blackness to it. Chino Moreno joined forces with Whitechapel for this track, in what proved to be a deadly combination. The announcement was made of Chino’s contributions to the new album around April Fools Day, so many were in disbelief of this rare and strange addition to their album. “We’re honored to have Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno on our record. All of us are huge Deftones fans so it’s pretty surreal for us. He absolutely killed his part on the album and it’s everything I envisioned it would be. Plus it’s cool that Chino was so opened minded to do vocals on something so extreme; I think that it sounds fantastic.” With that said, I couldn’t agree more. Chino was a solid addition to this song, and only validates the changes made by Whitechapel this time around.
Also doing guest vocals is long time friend of the band, Vincent Bennett of The Acacia Strain. This combination makes complete sense and came of no surprise to most. “We have always talked about him doing guest vocals on one of our records, so naturally his style of vocals fits our music perfectly and sounds great.” The song wasn’t anything special, but was a great addition to the album with many transitions throughout the song.
The many changes in this album should not scare off any existing Whitechapel fans, but could possibly bring in some fans of the heavier genres of metal. This is easily Whitechapel’s greatest work to date, and while they didn’t break any new ground in the deathcore genre, they definitely expanded its horizons. The only downfall of the album is that there were times that I felt as if I was listening to The Acacia Strain, and not just in “Reprogrammed To Hate.” I think Whitechapel has failed in creating a unique sound in a talent-rich genre, and this is plaguing the entire genre. Aside from that, I highly recommend the purchasing of this album.
I love this album! when I heard the single I had mixed thoughts but those thoughts were blown away when i listened to the entire c.d. truely a work of art and quite possibly one of the best deathcore albums of all time! LIVE BY THE SAW!
I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t get pumped or anything over it. I don’t hate on the band at all I hope the changes they did do in this record will give them more success, but I still like the first record the most I think. I am a huge deftones fan like stupid huge and I was hoping with the track with Chino there might be a hint of the weird ambiant vocal style he does, but instead it was just his screaming(I like it don’t get me wrong but I was just hoping they would add something different to it),overall I was just kinda “ehh” about it, the band is heavy as piss and live there incredible, but I kinda just felt like I was listening to just another Whitechapel album.
Don’t hate on whitechapel kids
and also The Acacia Strain Fucking rules
suck it world
-Richter