Why are Whitechapel still considered as kings of Deathcore?
Listen to Hymns in Dissonance. With this ninth album, Phil Bozeman (vocals), Ben Savage (guitar), Alex Wade (guitar), Gabe Crisp (bass), Zach Householder (guitar) and their new drummer Brandon Zackey (Headless Monarch, ex-Sicarius, ex-Enterprise Earth), take back their crown, with the complicity of Metal Blade Records.
Prisoner 666 kicks off with a few anxious seconds, becoming increasingly dissonant before going totally wild to create massive riffs on which Phil can show us the power of his screams. Explosive breaks are also part of the mix, bringing a groove as brutal as the abrasive sound of eponymous track Hymns in Dissonance where every moment is literally dedicated to fury in an Old School approach. Without a moment’s pause, the band strings together moshparts, devastating vocal parts and piercing leads, but also an infernal final before Diabolic Slumber takes its place to distill its own version of rage, with cries that are far more diverse and extreme in the high notes than the cavernous growl. A Visceral Retch allows us a brief moment of respite before hitting us full force with an overpowering sound, both instrumental and vociferous, before Ex Infernis takes us back to anguish for the space of an interlude, thanks to occult vocals. As Hate Cult Ritual kicks off, the band is back at it again, determined to make their thick frantic riffs speak for themselves, before giving way to slightly more modern tones on The Abysmal Gospel, where more dissonant and disturbing elements are also present. The rhythm is again set ablaze and becomes relatively jerky to accentuate its explosions before returning to a dry, extremely catchy groove on Bedlam, which will undoubtedly be one of the strongest additions to the band’s future setlists. The most brutal elements follow one another in this composition, while they become more majestic on Mammoth God where the leads bring a rather soaring dimension to this imposing violence and develop another approach, although the rawer touches are still present. We’ve already reached the end of the album with Nothing Is Coming for Any of Us, which unveils one of its most intense intros and confirms the heaviness with pachydermic moshparts, but also allows itself a break and a much softer solo before an airy final.
After a curious Metalcore turn, Whitechapel have definitely returned to full power with Hymns in Dissonance! There’s not a single track to throw away, and the album bears witness to the band’s domination of this brutal and impressive style!
95/100