Review Summary: A New Era of Corruption is one of the better deathcore albums out right now, while not the greatest release by the genre, it will do the trick for any metal head. Powerfull vocals, a wide variety of lyrics as well has music itself...hopefully Whitechapel
Well Whitechapel has finally released their 3rd studio album, and let me tell you, these guys are not messing around. Whitechapel has always been(in my opinion) one of the few stand out bands in the deathcore genre and this time they are proving it yet again. Whitechapel tried the constant overused breakdowns, and I am thrilled to say that this time around they focus much more on the flow of the music as apposed to stopping the melody every 30 seconds with another generic, overused breakdown. Thank you Whitehcapel...for staying to your originallity and not jumping ship like other bands...*cough cough* Job for a Cowboy...*cough cough*
Whitechapel's newest release opens with the brutality of the line ups three guitarists which for fans of the band means only another top notch record. This leads into the fierce and downright powerful vocals from none other then Phil Bozemen, in total displaying a music complexity not yet seen by the group from Tennesee metal heads. The metal barrage continues onward through the first 6 tracks of the album. One track in paticular that stands out amongst the rest is "The darkest day of man", in which Phil seems to almost tell a propechy about the end of the world as we know it. These lyrics have been done before, but they still hit home when you take a minute to read the lyrics and take the time to understand them. While not a concept album per say, the majority of the songs have to do with religion...hating on governments and the end of the world. However there are a few stand out tracks that deal with Phil on a much more personal level, such as "Murder sermon", the song depicts Phil's past with his late mother and step father.
Musically the album has a very wide variety of range. The track "Reprogrammed to Hate" has a much more technical feel to it, while "Unerving and "End of Flesh" have an almost black metal vibe to them. The band has clearly expanded there horizons musically. However for me, its the last two tracks on the album that display each band memebers individual talent. "Single final to Dehumanization" is a very melodic driven song that actually made me forget about breakdowns all together untill about 2:56 into the song when I heard the heaviest and most brutal breakdown since the final break down on the song "This is exile" from the previous record.
Now for the cons...
first off there arent many, however my biggest complain about the album is the fact you still have a hard time hearing Gabe the bassist's parts. The 3 guitarists make it very hard to hear anything coming from Gabe's insturment. While you can hear him more on this record then the other 2, you still cant distinquish the bass from the rest of the music without concentrating entirly to hard to simply enjoy the music.
Second off, after the first few songs on the record the songs seem to all sort of meld together, and the first time i listened to it, it didnt occur to me that a different song was on untill the opening into murder sermon. I looked at the track listing and realized that I had sat through what seemed like 5 of the same songs. There is alot of variety on the record, however listening the the songs in the way the producers listed them is a little bland and boring. If you truly like every song on the CD, you may want to remix it yourself for a more enjoyable experience.
