Whitechapel's Self-Titled Review

It didn’t take any sort of deep thought for me to tell just how angry the band’s vocalist, Phil Bozeman, is on these songs. Based off of his grunts, pessimistic lyrics, and overall tone throughout the album’s 9 vocally-driven tracks, the man is pretty livid. Some of the songs have a sort of predictable range of topics for a deathcore band, stretching from subjects like fear, death, corruption, and insanity among a few other things. Even with all of that, this album still has more to prove and exhibit then some of the other bands within the scene.

The instrumentation is really what makes this album stick out above the rest of Whitechapel’s discography. An acoustic guitar is used somewhere in the middle of “Make it Bleed”, the album’s opening track, and in my opinion, I think it makes for a great effort with helping spice things up and keep things interesting without seeming to be forced. There some are a few piano intros and outros that lie somewhere on the border between cliché and natural.

There’s a very subtle use of electronics sprinkled throughout the release, one of the best examples of this would be an early part of the song “I, Dementia”. Don’t let that scare you into thinking that there are any dance-y beats present, electronics in the world of Whitechapel translate into minimalistic lo-fi synth and drum beats more than anything else. I’m very glad to know that there are not any sort of dubstep wobbles of any kind in any of these songs. This goes to show that Whitechapel makes a defiant stand of not running with most of the trends that are present in both the mainstream and underground world.

Yes, I said “most of the trends”. You’ll still find blast beats, breakdowns, and an occasional guitar solo in here. I mean, if you’re able to get past the fact that those things make up the very foundation of deathcore, you’ll still be set to be surprised with everything in the album. One of my favorite things about Whitechapel is the band’s usage of not one or two, but three guitarists that devastatingly cut through the mix while they shred, chug, and harmonize their way into your eardrums. At times, I could say that the songs have a definite doom metal groove to them, while at other times, I could say that they have a few quick bursts in tempo – something that could oftentimes be found in some of the many genres of metal.

This album wasn’t a hard listen by any means. The songs hold their own both collectively and individually. I didn’t feel like I was sitting through a nearly 40 minute long wall of sound, I felt like I was actually listening to a an actual album. This music makes me think about many things, it makes me think about a lot of the crazy, self destructive things that people do to themselves, it makes me think about the punishing things that people do to one another. Most of all, it makes me think about human nature in general.

Dying Fetus' "Reign Supreme" Review

Dying Fetus is very much about no frills brutal death metal and at times borders on the extremely powerful technical prowess of each of the band's 3 members. I am a fan of what bands like Suffocation did with Effigy Of The Forgotten and Atheist'sUnquestionable Presence, similarly bands like Chicago's Broken Hope also really helped to lay the foundation for what we consider to be technical death metal. While Broken Hope did it mostly tastefully Dying Fetus should probably shy away from the overly technical numbers as they seem to work best as a mid tempo crushing band with very good riffs. The intro to the album 'Invert The Idols' is exactly the problem I have with the band; way too technical for it's own good and wholly unnecessary as the follow-up track 'Subjected To A Beating' showcases a great amount of upside to the band. Reign Supreme tends to be a very bottom heavy album as the beginning is spotty and highlighted by the above mentioned track, and really tapers off from my memory until it kicks back in with 'Dissidence' and even parts of 'From Womb To Waste'.

Other highlights from the album include some great guitar pyrotechnics by John Gallagher, especially his solos and much less his random 20 second stretches of technicality which really seem to take away from the music in a "ok where are those great riffs again" sort of way. 'Dissidence' contains some of the best riffs next to 'Subjected To A Beating' and Gallagher puts on a great show with a flourish on 'the Blood Of Power'. Overall Reign Supreme should find it's place in any avid fan of technical/brutal death metal fan's collection; especially if you are already a fan of the band. I may not be the biggest fan of the genre but it's effect ties back to the beginnings of great death metal riffs and if the band could pump the brakes with some of the unnecessary embellishments they might become more a favorite of mine. For now they do a very good job nonetheless.

Miss May I's "At Heart" Review

Well, what should I say? I could tell you it’s well produced, the screams are clearer than they’ve ever been, the sung sections sound smooth and more natural (emphasis on more) than most metalcore releases now-a-days, and the album has a solid 45 minute run time. I could tell you all of that and it would be true, but honestly, that’s not really why you’re here. You most likely fall into one of two camps. First, the metal elitists (which is what I’m slowly becoming) who came here to mock “genericore” and already have their minds made up. If you belong to this group then you are going to hate the album regardless of what I say. The second group is comprised of those who were already MMI fans before At Heart was released. This group is a little more flexible. Sure, we’ll have the fanboys who will ignore any negative things I have to say and continue their unnatural love of what is a ridiculously bland album, but we’ll also have those who feel that metalcore is becoming (the elitists would argue it already has become) stale and who may hear reason. I’m addressing this review to the second portion of the second group.


As much as I want to love this album I just can’t find anything to love. Yes, it is tight, well executed and crisp sounding but beyond that there really aren’t any hooks; nothing that drags me into it. If you listen to metalcore you know what to expect. The drums are there to keep time during breakdowns and do absolutely nothing to set themselves apart from the rest of the band. They blend into the background throughout the entirety of the album and, although some would say that is a drummer’s job, I would have to disagree. A drummer should be more than just rhythm, he (or she) should be the backbone of the album—the glue that holds it all together. Sadly, what we have here is nothing more than packing tape. Yes, it gets the job done, but it doesn’t win any points for aesthetics.

The guitar work is typical metalcore fair, quick riffs during the verses, and breakdowns galore. The problem is none of the riffs are memorable and none of the breakdowns are hard hitting enough to warrant a second glance. In fact, even though I’ve listened to the album close to a dozen times, I can’t think of a single guitar riff or breakdown that made me sit up and take notice. The closet section I can think of is the opening section of “Gold to Rust” where vicious screams are layered over a somewhat fun breakdown.

As for the vocals, they are good for what they are but sadly, that just doesn’t cut it anymore. The metalcore scene is flooded with bands and just being “good” isn’t enough. Not a single screamed section makes you want to keep listening. In reality, I had to struggle to maintain my focus. The sung vocals are not much better. As I mentioned earlier, they are smooth and natural sounding and, in my humble opinion, one of the better parts of the album. But again, there are no hooks. Nothing to grab the listener. The only section that made me want to sing along was the chorus to “Leech”. That’s it. One song.

All this being said, nothing from At Heart is bad. In fact, none of it made me cringe in horror, but nothing other than my requirement to write this review made me want to repeat the album. I’ve put off this review for too long in hopes that this album will grow on me. It hasn’t and it won’t. I won’t be coming back to this in the foreseeable future, or, most likely, at all. I still cherish Miss May I’s debut album, Apologies are for the Weak as one of my fondest high school memories and a solid metalcore album. But I’m over this genre. It isn’t devoid of creativity but it is inundated with copies of copies of copies. If you’re a long time Miss May I fan then listen to this album, but otherwise, as much as I hate to say it, you should pass this by.

Trepalium's "H.N.P." Review

This French band play death metal ― the name tipped you off, right? But they do it their way. Check out opening track "Heic Noenum Pax" for a good cross-section of the grinding, blasting, grooving and technicality these guys are capable of. Bringing to mind a more extreme version of Gojira, Trepalium have tons of big, open spaces to their death, often approaching thrashy, Meshuggah-ish turf (the riffs in "Slave the World" are pretty Thordendal-ish). I love the unique guitar work (see the awesome "Prescription of Crisis"), the perfectly crisp production and the high intensity levels that never get bogged down in too much bass-ridden death oppression. "Order the Labyrinth" and "Insane Architect" even turn into a kind of Soilent Green on death metal overdrive, with a Spanish guitar interlude. As the album goes on, the groove increases and the death metal fades away. "I Was" sounds like late-era Pantera, which makes sense, as this album ends with an admirable cover of "I'm Broken," one of the best metal songs ever written.

Marduk's "Serpent Sermon" Review

Icy screeds of tremolo-ridden guitars, rapid-fire percussion, and distorted vocals lay at the foundation of Serpent Sermon. "Into Second Death," "Gospel of the Worm" and "Hail Mary…" are replete with the atonality and darkened insanity of quintessential Scandinavian black metal. However, although Marduk draw from a familiar battery, the arrangement of said armaments ensures their firepower decimates rather than debilitates. The streaks of churning death metal and putrid crust inject the all-important animus—giving the band an impact radius well outside that of many of their brethren.

The opening martial beat of the title track is smothered by a swarm of obsidian riffs. Easing back for a few mid-tempo passages and adding a rousing, albeit feverish chorus ups the sinister ante. Slower creeping riffs launch into ferocious assaultive sections and are used to great effect on the doom-smeared "Temple of Decay" and "Damnation’s Gold"—a tried and true tactic for Marduk. Many of Serpent Sermon's songs mix frenzied riffing with an often decelerating and feedbacking cadence, adding plenty of coloration. Although, don't panic, it's still all varying shades of black.

Once again, vocalist Mortuus flawlessly poisons the atmosphere. His wraithlike screeches and gnarrs are as crucial to the band's sound as any instrument (as they are on his blisteringly evil and venom-dripping side-project, Funeral Mist). On Serpent Sermon, his malevolence and villainy is in bone-chilling form. "Messianic Pestilence" kicks off with one of his patented croaks. On the album’s finest track, "Souls for Belial", feculent riffs are counterpointed by a hellishly rasping spoken word section, and he gleefully spits out noxious tirades on "M.A.M.M.O.N."

Serpent Sermon shows Marduk aren't likely to go quietly into the night anytime soon. The new album is a vomitus purge of satanic morent henchmen.nomania, its homilies delivered with diabolic fervor. However, for all Marduk's fiendishness, it's worth noting the coherent sense of determined artistry that’s at work. Buried under layers of devilment, corruption and filth, Marduk are working hard to avoid stagnation, and are still in the leading ranks of black metal's most bellige

The Agonist's "Prisoners" Review

The Agonist have not turned their back on what they’ve done in the past, and no more is this evident than in Alissa White-Gluz’s vocals. She is the type of female singer the closet-dwelling metal nerds can’t stand; a good-looking woman with crazy, dyed hair who has no problem with the occasional suggestive pose. When it comes down to the task at hand, she is equally matched with any other vocalist in metal, both male and female. Her good cop/bad cop routine has been reproduced a jillion times, yet her brutal harsh growls and angelic clean wails are tough to match.

For the first time on any of the band’s studio albums, they employ the services of a second guitarist. Whether this helps with the technical-edged riffs or increase use of solos is not known, but it wouldn’t be a surprise. Longer songs help to flesh out ideas that were normally packed into four minutes, and the band has a clear intent of ambition that was only hinted at on the previous two albums. There’s no way that they could have pulled off the low-key wonder of “Revenge Of The Dadaists” five years ago.

If Prisoners has one running theme, it’s how clearly these ideas come across. The stripped-down acoustic intro to “You’re Coming With Me” hides the stark beating the next few minutes have in store. “Dead Ocean” motions in a soulful ending that didn’t seem possible, judging by the tough exterior of the first half. The big success on Prisoners is the eight-minute “Ideomotor,” which is lifted to an elite status by its lengthy outro that feels significant in its scope.

The Agonist came onto the scene as a bland metalcore act, but Prisoners disproves this notion. They have come far from being just another metal band with a female singer, and don’t deserve any of the bashing that female-fronted bands get thrown at them. Prisoners is a much tamer album than Lullabies For The Dormant Mind, with less additional instrumentation, but is just a smidgen better due to the combined effort of each member.

Abnormality's "Contaminating the Hive Mind" Review

It would be dishonest to claim that the quintet has the most unique style going for it, but certainly there are some inventive twists woven through the songs that add a fresh coat of cement to the bedrock foundation from which they mete out severe aural punishment. Forceful, palm muted burst rhythms are threaded with tremolo guitar progressions and a copious use of dissonant, atmospheric grooves. Those seeking out slam sequences will hardly be disappointed, as a number of tracks like "Monarch Omega", "Hatred Relentless" and "Fabrication of the Enemy" feature harried, enormous breakdowns that feel like the band are bouncing cinder blocks across your face; but they certainly don't pigeonhole themselves into a 'mosh now, mosh only, mosh forever' niche thanks to the surgical explosions of accelerated technicality that keep the pacing varied and the ears affixed to the adventurous guitar players who hold nothing back in their quest up and down and all over the fretboard.


Contaminating the Hive Mind wouldn't be possible without such top notch musicianship, and trust me when I say that in this regard, the band is filled to overflowing, the collective experience of a dozen or more other local groups under their belts, several of which hail from related sounds (Sexcrement, Deconformity, Goratory and so forth). Jay Blaisdell is a storm incarnate, with so much celerity in his hands and feet that he makes the blasting and double bass seem effortless. Guitarists Jeremy Henry and Ben Durgin run the gamut between heavily syncopated rhythmic complexity and spurious, well plotted leads that inject all manner of hysterics into the frenetic architecture of cuts like "Shooting the Messenger". Scene veteran Josh Staples brings up the low end with suitable elasticity, and even though the hugely percussive nature of the music doesn't always favor the bass over the drums and guitars, listen closely and this plunking dynamo will dizzy you with some appreciable finger work. The rhythm section is so tight in conjunction that you'll need a lubricant just to process it. 


Also likely to draw attention are Mallika Sundaramurthy's vocals, which have improved considerably over the previous EP, catapulting her into position as one of the better female presences to vomit into a microphone this side of Sinister's ex-growler Rachel Van Mastrigt-Heyzer. Her intonation is deft and guttural, almost like a faster and harder George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher inundated with wretched spasms of snarling, laying to waste any childish misconceptions that gender defines brutality. I also really enjoy that this band has a more political and dystopian bent to the lyrics somewhat akin to a Suffocation or some of the recent West Coast maulers like Inherit Disease. Heavens know there are enough bands paraphrasing Cannibal Corpse and Mortician; give me a flood of thoughtful, restless and intense imagery with some meaning behind it, any day.


Ultimately, your taste in death metal will go a long ways in tempering your reaction towards an album like this. If you scoff at surgical polish, staggering proficiency, and above all, sheer brutality or have no interest in anything more modern than Sweden, Florida and Incantation circa the early 90s, then chances are this is not going to change your mind. On the other hand, if you were to pull at your roots and unearth the fundamentals established by bands like Suffocation, Cryptopsy and Deeds of Fleshnear the close of that decade, or if you find yourself constantly mining the rosters of labels like Unique Leader, Comatose, and Sevared for additional sounds, then this is one case of constant whiplash well worth shelling out the few dollars it will cost you. Contaminating the Hive Mind is a clear success, standing alongside recent efforts from Germany's Pighead and Japanese newcomers Desecravity as one of the better brutal/technical death albums I've heard in 2012.