Review Summary: Whitechapel have matured and it certainly shows. Maybe you don't like the lyrical theme, but it's certainly as good, if not better than their debut.
Yes, once again we return with a review of Whitechapel. I am expecting mass abhorrence in the comments so let's get started.
I enjoyed this album much more than The Somatic Defilement, as I have an ever present love for melodies. Which to a degree acceptable in the deathcore genre is implemented on almost every track, and even a track dedicated almost entirely to melody which is an instrumental. Something I find most, if not all deathcore bands are godawful at pulling off. Which is relaxing to know there is atleast ONE band that can in the hit-or-miss-99%-of-the-time horror of deathcore.
The musicianship has obviously improved on here, evident with a broadened sound-range and more skillful playing of the instruments (though, there is still no bass I can hear, oh well *** happens in the music world we just can't deal with).
"Father of Lies", "To All That Are Dead" and "Somatically Incorrect" take the cake as three of the best on the album, the songs do not let up and have a catchy-ness to them. Father of Lies especially has a very good section at 1:15 to 2:00 that blends a really good but not overly technical riff with great vocal work, as always good drum work and the rest of the guitars chug along like no tomorrow.
"Possession" is also one of the best on the album, taking place as one of the heaviest of the tracks, the spotlight being taken by either "Messiahbolical" or "Father of Lies", take your pick.
Now we come to my favourite, and last track to be mentioned. "Death Becomes Him" is the instrumental piece that starts out fairly generic, and makes way to a really good and strangely soothing riff at 1:25 that is just great. I can't surmise it any other way unfortunately. It really shows that even in a deathcore band, an instrumental that isn't synths, murder interviews and/or a minute of incoherent screaming, is indeed possible and can be executed well.
There are some bad songs though.
I didn't particularly enjoy "Exalt" or "Eternal Refuge" as much as I would like to. And here's why.
"Exalt" in particular grows boring after 2 minutes or so, and gets stale while trying to appeal to you sadly, and I just don't like it for that. That's not to say you won't though.
"Eternal Refuge" is a good track, it is not bad. There are just bad points. Phil Bozeman is an insanely good death vocalist. He has ridiculous lows, surprisingly enjoyable highs, and he's just good. But on this track, he had a consistent use of lows that make it sound like he is just mindlessly using gutturals with no actual lyrics. I know they are there though, because they are. It's just funny to hear something like "EERORREROEROEROEROEROREORE" instead of lyrics. Which unfortunately ruins this track for me.
Overall, if you want a good deathcore album with holy *** "MELODY?! SELLOUTS!" in it, then you're good to go with this one. Otherwise, avoid it like the plague.
Pros-
Matured musicianship
A good instrumental
Better lyrics -in my opinion-
Cons-
Some hilarious gutturals
Too many breakdowns
