Whitechapel – Our Endless War

If ever there was a word to sum up Whitechapel, ‘subtle’ really wouldn’t be it. Far more comfortable playing music that crashes into our ears like a runaway freight train on engine steroids, the Knoxville, Tennessee sextet have been active since 2006 and Our Endless War is to become their fifth studio album next week, released via Metal Blade. It is also their follow up to 2012’s bruising self-titled release which ended up being iTunes UK Best Metal Album of that particular year. No pressure then, lads…

Ironically, given their general sound, the opening track Rise is in fact rather subtle, starting with a fade-in, military-esque snare drum, acoustic guitars and building the atmosphere up and up until the title track delivers the sucker punch. ‘Let’s goooooooooo!’ screams vocalist Phil Bozeman and Whitechapel are off and running with breakdowns and riffs that make you want to throw as many shapes as possible within the smallest amount of time. As relentless as ever, the band waste no time in bringing everything around them to its knees and then pound it into submission. ‘The mouth of hell is open wide tonight!’ introduces Let Me Burn which is probably the best summary of the album you’ll hear across the ten tracks on offer here. There’s a lot more diversity on here than you might imagine. Snippets of Five Finger Death Punch and early Slipknot dance across the release; in regards to the latter, Mono could probably be dropped into ‘Iowa’ and nobody would bat an eyelid. There’s also the odd little surprise on here to keep you on your feet, like the random fade out to Worship the Digital Age that almost immediately jumps back into following track How Times Have Changed. And, as the cherry on top of the cake, Whitechapel have also added a free gift of whiplash in with the album too, because you’re not going to stop banging your head until Diggs Road has finally run its course and the album is out – ensure you have a neck brace to wear for 24 hours (unless you have the two bonus tracks as well, in which case make that 48).

That said, Our Endless War is to Whitechapel’s self-title release what Lamb of God’s Wrath is to Sacrament – an upset of natural progression. It is by no means worse than the previous effort, it just isn’t better. The edge that so beautifully cut through Whitechapel has somewhat had it’s shine taken away on Our Endless War, but this is a minor criticism in the grand scheme of things because when all is said and done, Whitechapel have delivered when they needed to yet again.

Band Lineup

Phil Bozeman – lead vocals
Ben Savage – lead guitar
Alex Wade – lead/rhythm guitar
Zach householder – rhythm guitar
Gabe Crisp – bass
Ben Harclerode – drums

Track Listing (* denotes bonus tracks)

1. Rise
2. Our Endless War
3. The Saw Is the Law
4. Mono
5. Let Me Burn
6. Worship the Digital Age
7. How Times Have Changed
8. Psychopathy
9. Blacked Out
10. Diggs Road
11. A Process So Familiar*
12. Fall of the Hypocrites*

Links

http://www.whitechapelband.com

http://www.facebook.com/whitechapelmetal

http://www.twitter.com/WhitechapelBand