Review Summary: Although Whitehcapel still have yet to artistically justify the use of THREE guitarists, their songwriting abilities have finally allowed us to justify a purchase of their new album.
The conclusion I came to while listening to Whitechapel’s latest offering is that their musical identity lies directly in their English namsake. Simply put, Whitechapel is one of the *few* staunchly deathcore oriented bands that (for better and/or worse) refuse to drop their love affair with epic death metal that is distinctly well … European.
At the end of the day, any album that is worth it’s weight within your iPod rotation is more than likely an album that divides its target audience. An album that pleases as many as it annoys. A New Era of Corruption is very much that album.
Those who will likely feel most disappointed are the casual fans that have hoped for more angular, Meshuggah-esque “Possession” sort of riffs that lifted This is Exile beyond its more generic “prog” deathcore aspirations. But that shouldn’t dissuade listeners from trying out this album. As a Whitechapel album, it’s their strongest … BY FAR. It’s still groovy, but the grooves are much more in service to what are actually strongly written epic metal passages. (Which is what I believe Whitechapel have always aspired to but are only now actualizing.)
How good is this album?
Ironically, it’s an album that far exceeds the technical capabilities of the band who composed it.
Whitechapel’s sound isn’t strong enough to differentiate itself from the dearth of blast beat driven, Drop A tuned bands that seek to out “brutal” each other. It is purely the Gothenburg-esque sound of A New Era of Corruption that immediately makes it stand out from a scene that is almost *solely* influenced by 90s American hardcore metal. (Again, very ironic given the special guest vocals of Deftones’ frontman Chino Moreno.)
As odd as it may sound, a patient ear is required for Whitechapel’s latest. Prepare yourself as the outright headbanging moments are few and far in between. Even I found certain riffs belabored and elementary in execution, but overall, the strength of each song allows for a extremely satisfactory experience.
A New Era of Corruption is a good album that delivers many things in spades but unfortunately leaves you wanting more by the end. Thankfully, the album is so listenable that you won’t mind playing through it 3-4 times to get your devil horn fix.
And yes, to answer your question, when Whitechapel actually DO bring the absolute onslaught of triple guitar brutality on this album … it is ***ing sweet.
