Album Review: Whitechapel - 'Our Endless War'

25 April 2014 | 4:54 am | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Heavy and fast; slow and oddly melodic; this is not only the most diverse Whitechapel album yet, it's the best.

More Whitechapel More Whitechapel

What do you think when you hear the name Whitechapel? If you think of the British television show or the district in London where the Jack the Ripper killings took place, you're probably on the wrong site. Because when discerning metalheads hear the name Whitehcapel, they hear blast beats, crushing breakdowns and insanely heavy riffs that come in like a wrecking ball to your ears  (minus a naked Miley Cyrus). They hear bone chilling screams and growls of passion and angst. But most importantly of all, they hear what is undisputedly one of the best deathcore acts on the planet right now.

 

With four albums under their belt, if you had any doubts that 'Our Endless War' wouldn't pack punch or wouldn't live up to their previous releases, you might want to change your thinking.

 

'Our Endless War' is just as fast, as heavy, and as powerful as every other Whitechapel release doubled plus more.

 

The title track boasts the Whitechapel formula of breakdowns, blast beats and ridiculously fast verses. It's as meaty and thick as any of their other work and it sets the tone of the record as the first actual song brilliantly. But lead single, 'Saw is the Law' is just as heavy and strong as every other song but it's some of Whitechapel's slowest work yet. It's groovy, riff-filled and packs a lot of heat in its crisp production and mixing.

 

'Let it Burn' is another slow one for the band but what makes it so fantastic and easily the best song on the album is just that. It's different. The chorus has a background melody in the guitar work that is not only brilliantly executed and placed, but works as such that it creates a stark contrast to the heavy low end that drives the song from beneath. There's a thick groove behind it that may not exactly call for a mosh pit, but it will call for some serious head banging.

 

There are still the classic machine-gun speed and relentlessly heavy tracks such as 'Worship the Digital Age' and 'Psychopathy', which will please all the fans, old and new. The latter in fact has the best Whitechapel guitar solo yet. It comes out of nowhere before transitioning back into a blast beat ending that crashes to a halt to make for an intense three and half minutes.

'Our Endless War' is Whitechapel's greatest work yet. It claims itself as a leader of the pack in the deathcore world. With the classic and beautifully destructive Whitechapel songs that feel like their from 'The Somatic Defilement' era, to these slow and strangely melodic tracks that prove Whitechapel aren't afraid to step away from their blast beat filled comfort zone; this is an album that will cement their place as the kings of the genre.

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

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 (Bonus Track)

12. Fall of the Hypocrites (Bonus Track)