Whitechapel - This Is Exile Review

Posted by Dan Haggerty on 09.10.2008

Whitechapel opens up a can of deathcore from the land of Tennessee. Is it worth all the blood and gore?

Whitechapel was formed in February of 2006 by Phil Bozeman, Brandon Cagle, and Ben Savage. Shortly there after the remaining members Alex Wade, Gabe Crisp, and Derek Martin were added to the line up, and recorded their first demos. They named themselves after the area of London known as Whitechapel, the location of the Jack the Ripper murders.

In 2007 the band signed to Siege of Amida Records in the U.K. and Candlelight Records in North America, who jointly released their debut full-length, The Somatic Defilement. Later that year, the group signed to Metal Blade and began recording their sophomore effort, This Is Exile .






Track Listing

1. Father Of Lies 04:03
2. This Is Exile 03:40
3. Possession 05:04
4. To All That Are Dead 03:38
5. Exalt 03:05
6. Somatically Incorrect 03:10
7. Death Becomes Him 03:18
8. Deamon (The Procreated) 03:13
9. Eternal Refuge 03:42
10. Of Legions 02:43
11. Messiahbolical 07:22

Total playing time 42:58



Current Line-Up

Phil Bozeman - Vocals
Alex Wade - Guitar
Zach Householder - Guitar
Ben Savage - Guitar
Gabe Crisp - Bass
Kevin Lane - Drums



Collectors Information

None


The Review
The band’s sound rolls between atypical deathcore with flourishes of death metal proper. Whether you like deathcore, or not, the first thing to not is that this potion of the album is spot on and done very well; that is both a good thing and a bad thing. With the albums foray into death metal, you get some good riff work as well as some melodic interplay between the three axe men as they vie for rhythm and leads. A little jarring of a concept played against the more brutal nature of deathcore, which underlies this entire album, but it’s there and done well. It gives the band a unique sound which is always a plus, and supported by the riffs makes portions of this album cool. Interestingly enough, the band makes good use out of atmosphere to add a new dimension to their depressing pallet as well. All combined, these make This Is Exile and interesting deathcore album.

I like Phil Bozeman’s vocals. He goes from death metal vocals, to low guttural growls, to midrange growls, and even pulls out the screams. With his range, starting a bunch of songs with the same low guttural vocals and then evolving into a change up pattern is a little too formulistic for it’s own good, as if the band started on the same note then went with continuous changes for the sake of it, but it’s still a very good performance. The man has a lot to offer, and with the lyrics he has this is a very cool part of the show.

Lyrically, the bad has advanced beyond the straight forward theme of visually creating the Jack the Ripper murders in bloody detail, and more into the abstract of themes of death, murder, Armageddon – You’re universal themes of death metal. For a young band, I’ll say this is a plus as they show some real depth to the themes and their handling of them.

The drummer is also very good, and continues the trend of deathcore bands having spot on percussionists that can deliver speed and sound. He literally drills that kit when needed, without overshadowing the show. I would like to see what this guy would deliver is a full death metal sound.

Next, the production is great. The album sounds good, professional, but also raw. It has a ripped energy about it that makes you believe this is what you’ll hear if you see the dudes live. I wouldn’t mind seeing thee guys open up a show based on the sound, and that is great. For a deathcore band, that is perfect, so big kudos here.

Conversely, the band disappoints in two manners: One, I’m not sure why they feel the need for three guitars with the style of music as written. The bass is lost sometimes, and with two playing dual melodies to one rhythm seems to be overkill. Plus the third seems pointless in the face of the second more important point, all the breakdowns going on. A breakdown is basically the idiot step brother to the solo or instrumental portion of a metal song, but it can be done well when used sparingly and properly. After all, everyone loves an occasional breakdown to use as an excuse to bang your head live. But Whitechapel tosses them in every song it seems, all over the place, and sometimes leads them into each other. Even the instrumental! They seem haphazard, as if they’re suppose to imply some big finish for a song, or perhaps a bridge, but end up sounding random and anti-climatic. That is because they’re your basic one note breakdown and add nothing to the song in sound or structure for where they are placed. One or two times on an album? OK, you’re adding an interesting dimension. Everywhere? Now you’re just taking the easy way out. In a scene where metalcore has advanced beyond this tired formula and bands are adding new dimensions to the breakdown, or evolving beyond it, this stylistic adherence to something that was bad when it was new does the band little favors. The more pure death parts of the album are good, but they lead into pointless churning that kills their momentum. Then the band throws three players at it?

Put it together, and what you have is an album that will appeal to the pure deathcore fan, and possibly metalcore fans who occasionally like death metal. If that is you, add 1.5 to my score. If you don’t like the core genres, this album will offer little incentive to change your opinion. Death metal fans will find occasional moments of great music, surrounded by to much hardcore to slug through to get to it.

The 411: A good deathcore album that literally breaks down from abusing the discarded ideas from older Black Dahlia Murder, while using some solid death metal riffing as a flavorful afterthought; while the sound is spot on, and the band does a great job capturing their chosen style, it’s killed by music that should be more challenging than what these guys are capable of doing. The writing just needs to catch up with the talent. A very good EP is hiding in here, if someone left all the damn breakdowns out and saved them for the concert.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]