Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance
Whitechapel – Hymns in Dissonance
Metal Blade Records
Release Date: 07/03/2025
Review by Rory Bentley
9/10
Deathcore gets a bad rap with a lot of people, and often justifiably so. Over recent times, however, it has evolved and shifted to the point where the kind of fan that would normally greet at beatdown like a fart in a space suit will now give grudging respect to the likes of Lorna Shore and Shadow of Intent for fucking with the formula and showing there’s life in the old rabid dog yet. The pick of the bunch, however, is Whitechapel, who over the last couple of records have managed to incorporate Melodic Rock and Prog with their signature barbaric sound on the stunning “The Valley” and “Kin”, records, which even the snootiest bullet-belt lads tipped their hats to.
On album number 9, however, the band have swerved us all again. Until I heard ‘A Visceral Retch’ last year and probably sustained a concussion, I was expecting either a record that builds on the foundations of ‘Kin’, or something where the band goes in an even more melodic direction, taking advantage of Phil Bozeman’s introduction of some excellent, soulful clean vocals to the arsenal. What I got instead was the band getting together and deciding to try and write the most fucking brutal record they could put together without murdering someone and mic-ing it up… Which I’m not one hundred percent convinced didn’t happen based on some of the noises that Phil makes on here! However, rather than standing as a regressive move towards fan-service, after catching flack for experimenting (you know, like Suicide Silence), the band have taken the lessons they have learned since their early days of dealing exclusively in mosh-inducing filth, and applied them to the jaw-jacking approach of old.
The result here is one of the most genuinely vile, incensed, and confrontational records you’ll hear from a large, established Metal band this, or any year. A concept album based around an evil cult leader and the seven deadly sins, this is as Metal as it gets, and from the eerie intro to ‘Prisoner 666’ into the blastbeat savagery of the title track, this is a record that employs every torture implement in the bag to drive home its point. The title track in many ways is the perfect example of this, employing Melodeath tremolo picking, a genuine Hardcore Punk energy, and epic Heavy Metal leads to create an all-encompassing cacophony that will delight pit bros and extreme noise sickos alike.
Front and centre, and proving himself to be in a category of one, is Bozeman, who is astonishing throughout. Shrieking like a burning goblin on ‘Diabolic Slumber’, churning out the kind of gutturals you’d expected from a dying rhinoceros on ‘A Visceral Wretch’ and blasting out rapid-fire, larynx-lacerating lines on the Punk-infused ‘The Abysmal Gospel’, the lad has a mastery of harsh vocals that appears to defy physics. Despite there being none of the clean vocals that drew such acclaim in recent outings, this is anything but a monotone performance, and any melodic gaps are filled by triumphant lead-work and hooks.
Those concerned that the record will be a head-smashing riff soup with little to get one’s claws into, however, need not fear! The songwriting chops and way with a killer hook are still in the Whitechapel DNA. ‘Hate Cult Ritual’ features two of the catchiest gang vocal mantras this side of ‘Shadow Moses’, with “Mock, Burn, Spit On The Cross” popping into my head way more than I’d like as a man of faith, and “We hunt, we kill, we feed, we conquer” at risk of becoming the intro tape to my cats coming downstairs for biscuits in the morning. Meanwhile, ‘Bedlam’ is a lumbering, ignorant two-stepping monster that recalls the band’s early years. Total chug city, and as subtle as a latter-day Al Pacino performance, it offers a refreshing change of pace deep into the back half of the record.
Everything climaxes with the stunningly epic ‘Nothing Is Coming For Any of Us’, which sees Ben Savage go absolute ham on lead guitar, tearing up the fretboard in climactic fashion as everyone else brings the song to the boiling point to leave things on a bittersweet high. Seriously, the melodic choices here are so stirring that you almost forget that you’ve been having your head kicked in for the last 40 minutes. All of this is aided by the titanic-sounding production job from Death Metal go-to guy Mark Lewis, who strikes the perfect balance between capturing the boiling aggression of the songs while adding enough polish to let the band’s virtuosity shine through.
I don’t know what’s going on with these noughties Metalcore bands this year turning up and schooling everyone but I am so here for it! Whitechapel join Killswitch Engage and Bleeding Through on the 2025 ‘we still fuck’ leaderboard with a truly feral, sadistic release that pounds your face with the kind of meticulous violence that only a seasoned fighter is capable of. The Chapel boys are still the kings of Deathcore, and album number nine is an absolute whopper.
‘Hymns In Dissonance’ Official Video
TRACKLISTING:
01. Prisoner 666
02. Hymns in Dissonance
03. Diabolic Slumber
04. A Visceral Retch
05. Ex Infernis
06. Hate Cult Ritual
07. The Abysmal Gospel
08. Bedlam
09. Mammoth God.
10. Nothing is Coming for Any of Us
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Rory Bentley and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
