Review Summary: Gems Buried among pure dirt, Our Endless War is an inconsistent and often times laughably bad LP, but is fairly redeemed by a few excellent tracks.
Deathcore is one of those genres that's just... there. Some people love it, some people hate it. Many good bands get stuck in the plethora of bad deathcore bands, such as Emmure, Oceano, etc. Whitechapel is one of those bands. Whitechapel, in my humble opinion is very skilled in the way that it is one of the deathcore bands that does not just chug away with pig squeals and a breakdown in nearly every song. Their earlier releases were fairly sub-par(This is exile was screaming with potential), but their 2012 self-titled showed that deathcore is not mindless, it was overall well put together and was very entertaining, even for it's occasionaly laughable songwriting.
That being said, it's reasonable to want a good follow-up, and for them to hopefully clean up some of the rough edges. In some ways, Whitechapel did do so. Most of the musicianship is tight, and not surprisingly, the drummer is one of the more talented in the group. While the vocals are decent, he fails to vary the style; it's the same low growl all the time. This is one of the problems they did not clean up, and he's perfectly capable of nice highs (Mitch Lucker Memorial Show, he covered “Unanswered”) but showcases it little to none on this album, or any of their other releases for that matter. This makes the experience feel emptier than it should, even with the skillful instrumentals.
After an intro, The first track “Our Endless War” has influence from hardcore, and is strong in it's own right. While the “Let's Go!” at the beginning is cheesy, and out of place, the rest of the song is very solid and is a highlight of the album. “The Saw Is The Law” follows after with a more medium tempo, and is also pretty nice, but I can't help but feel like some of the passages (For example, in the short solo) feels like
Meshuggah for the poor. It's still a respectable song, however the next song “Mono” I couldn't help but laugh at.
Go *** yourself if you don't like what I'm writing
…
And I don't really care if your life is falling apart
Don't waste your time, you're gonna burn in hell
If the lyrics weren't so juvenile and laughable, It would be a decent song, this is the point where it shows that Whitechapel is slipping. However, the next track “Let Me Burn” is slow, heavy, and arguably one of the best songs whitechapel has ever done, even a candidate for their best. The pace is broken again, by “Worship The Digital Age”. It's easily the worst song whitechapel has ever written. Bozeman's vocals are worse than anywhere else on the album, and for a majority of the song it's “WORSHIP THE DIGITAL AGE” growled over repetitive chugging. The rest of the album is pretty lacking except for the track “Diggs Road” it follows “Let Me Burn” in some ways that it is heavy and slower, but it's one of the better tracks on the album, sadly surrounded by bad or sub-par tracks.
All this being said, a good part of the album is very well done. This album would get a 3.5 or maybe a 4 out of me if it was not for the tracks that really takes this album down.”Mono” and “Worship the digital age” are just plain awful, and the latter half of the album is poor or very poor except for “Diggs Road”. This brings all the good tracks down to the point where a lot of the album is not entertaining whatsoever. This LP would have been better as an EP with The title track, “The Saw Is The Law” “Let Me Burn” and “Diggs Road”. That would easily have earned this a 4.5
Our Endless War is horrifyingly inconsistent, but has a few tracks that are very good. Their Selftitled was still far superior, and this album does not do much to improve upon the selftitled's flaws.
Recommended Tracks:
Our Endless War
The Saw Is The Law
Let Me Burn
Diggs Road
