Band: Whitechapel
Title: A New Era Of Corruption
Label: Metal Blade Records
Distribution: Rough Trade
Release date: 04/06/2010
Review: CD

Whitechapel, named after the London quarter where Jack the Ripper was active in his professional duties as mass murderer, were formed in 2006 in Knoxville, Tennessee. After two demos, the band signed to UK’s Siege Of Amida for the release of their debut album, called The Somatic Defilement (2007). Soon after, Metal Blade Records were interested in signing this band, and in 2008 a second full length was released with the title This Is Exile. This Is Exile was much more mature, going for both compositions and lyrical approach. The band started touring intensively in North America and Europe with bands as Unearth, Slayer, Cannibal Corpse and Killswitch Engage amongst many others, widening their ‘popularity’ internationally.

Whitechapel’s third full length studio album, their second for Metal Blade, was produced by Jason Suecof, who took care of productional duties for bands as Trivium, All That Remains, Chimaira, The Black Dahlia Murder, Beneath The Massacre or Job For A Cowboy before, and features guest appearances by Chino Moreno (Deftones) and Vincent (The Acacia Strain).

Again A New Era Of Corruption is a step forward in comparison to This Is Exile. The core hasn’t changed that much: intense and massive Death Metal / Deathcore with lots of breaks and tempo-changes. Yet some elements strike me.
First of all the vocal presence has improved a lot. Phil Bozeman’s growls and grunts are abyssal deep, yet they get stronger along with the instrumental precision.
This is the second improvement too: the precise handling of the rhythm instruments. The bass and electric guitars and the drums are even more overpowering than before, and they do support the whole with more conviction and less repetitive arrangements.
Also the increased melodic guitar solos is a positive evolution. It is remarkable how easy it seems to combine megalithic aggression with subtly detailed melodics, without losing itself in absurdness or weakness.

If Whitechapel do continue this continuous path of improving – I mean, if they succeed to make each former release sound inferior to new-created grandeur – then I’ll start an on label, I’ll sign them and I’ll make them playing for me each night before I’m going to bed. These are some of the sweetest Death-lullabies from Hell, sorry, the U.S., I’ve heard in months!

88/100

Ivan Tibos.