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Whitechapel > The Somatic Defilement > Reviews
Whitechapel - The Somatic Defilement

The Somatic Abomination - 10%

Petrus_Steele, April 11th, 2019
Written based on this version: 2007, CD, Candlelight Records USA

Whitechapel’s The Somatic Defilement reintroduces the same seven original songs from their two demos, paired with two extra original songs and a pointless prelude. The prelude is 35 seconds of background samples, narration, and a bit of blast beats. Why not record an interesting prelude with a musical substance instead? The longest song (the title track) is the most experimental one. In advance to being the longest (which is uncommon in deathcore), it sounds different in a way the band was trying to develop a new sound. Admitting they did since there are some guitar melodies, it failed compared to what the demos offered in the past. Vicer Exciser (whatever that means) offers nothing new.

As for the rest of the songs, it’s sad how a bunch of demos can contemplate to a better quality of music - ironically sounding worse than this record. The vocals are as expected: death growls, pig squealing and shrieking. The guitars are simplistic, predictable, and unoriginal, while the bass is... sorry - I guess the third guitarist needs the special shout-out. They all play the same freaking notes. The drums don’t sound remarkable or interesting. All this performance makes the demos better by miles.

The only song that I found great was Fairy Fay. It sounds just as good as the Demo I‘s version, only cleaner. Everything else the demos cast a shadow on. For the musical aspect, everything sounds mediocre and not an ounce of something unique, even though, again, they tried with the title track. With the potential direction to brutal death metal, they flushed it down the toilet as they perfected their deathcore direction. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you can fuck right off.

How to Ruin an Amazing Concept 101 - 50%

Beast of Burden, January 19th, 2018
Written based on this version: 2013, CD, Metal Blade Records (Remixed, Remastered, Digipak)

“Send the slut back to Hell!”

No matter how many times I hear that line, it never clicks as something that's supposed to be badass or threatening or scary. It just sounds stupid. You can't make something that simple sound anything other than over-the-top childish posturing for kids who think they're somehow mature. These words come from the second song on this album (or third if you really want to count the intro “Necroticizing” as a track) “Devirgination Studies.” Lines like this are scattered throughout this thing. Trust me, you won't be able to stifle laughter for long when they rear their ugly heads. Quite frankly, that's my biggest complaint with this album, so let's talk about how a fantastic concept that's so ripe for any fringe of metal to extract and stretch out into a full album tripped and fell somewhere along the way.

If you're reading this review, more than likely you're a fan of deathcore and you already know who Whitechapel are. I'm not totally familiar with the Tennessee five piece's music as I'm not the biggest fan of deathcore myself. There are a few bands I enjoy, but those bands typically have more of a traditional leaning towards death metal or other genres within their music (e.g. Carnifex, All Shall Perish, Thy Art Is Murder). I never gave their music a fair try until a few years ago when I sampled a song from their, at the time, newest record, which I think was Our Endless War. The song was one of the album singles, “The Saw is the Law." Long story short, I did not like what I heard. I didn't like the try-hard tough guy lyrics, I didn't like the vocal performance, I despised the very predictable drumming, and I loathed the uninspired riffing. I was thinking to myself, “Why do these guys need three guitarists all doing the same damn thing?” If there was no variation in the guitar playing, why bother? Just have one. It's not like you're Dream Theater or any other number of progressive metal or djent bands. You're a deathcore band. Your music is nowhere near complex enough to need three guitarists.

Moving on to the concept. The concept of Whitechapel's 2007 debut is simple, but somewhat unique. This album takes place entirely from the first person POV of infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. For those who are unaware (if you're a fan of metal, you really shouldn't be), Jack the Ripper was a man who brutally murdered and disfigured several prostitutes in the poverty stricken Whitechapel district of London. He was never caught by the police, but he did purportedly leave deliberate clues for law enforcement, in which he mocked and taunted them viciously for not being able to catch him. Now I don't know about you, but the Jack the Ripper story would undoubtedly make the perfect concept album for the right band. Was Whitechapel the band to embellish this concept into a winning album?

Sadly, no...

“Fucked and left for dead!”

To be totally fair to the Tennessee boys, this isn't a terrible album by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, this is probably the best album of theirs since apparently every album after this one suffered a significant drop in quality one after the other. Like almost any album, even with the bad ones, it has its moments that are really worth it like the rip roaring opening to “Alone In the Morgue” or the melodic and symphonic ending to the title track. Now these individual moments could almost make the album worth it if it was in any way consistent. But sadly, for every really solid moment like this, there are at least three or four other problems that seem to crop up to overshadow these little glimpses of goodness.

“This is war!”

First thing, breakdowns galore. Now I have no problem with breakdowns in music as long as they're done tastefully, are able to be distinguished from song to song, and they serve their purpose: to transition to the next part of a song via a sped-up riff, a really heavy bass drop, a change up in the riffing, a drum pattern, or whatever have you. If you want an example of how to do breakdowns really well, may I point to Lamb of God's second album (and their third overall as a musical group), As the Palaces Burn. This album shows how to do breakdowns in the best way without them saturating the rest of the music and having a great sense of variety. One of this record's biggest pitfalls, and a problem that plagues lots of deathcore and metalcore bands and albums, is its heavy over reliance on breakdowns. Every single song has a breakdown in it. On its own, that's a problem because it shows that the band doesn't know how to make interesting and memorable song progressions, but it gets even worse because every breakdown sounds either similar or the same. With the exception of a song like the title track, every breakdown in very predictable. You know when it's coming and when it does finally show, you'll either groan in frustration or laugh because of how out of place it is.

Another thing that I have an issue with is the vocal performance of Phil Bozeman and the lyrics. The lyrics themselves are very hit or miss and they miss more often than they hit. The concept in and of itself is about Jack the Ripper, but the lyrical interpretations read more like some random tough guy trying to pose as Jack the Ripper. Listen to some of these lyrics:

“I ripped her limb from fucking limb,
Just one less slut to walk this fucking Earth,
I will spit right in your fucking face,
How does it taste after your lips are sewed beneath your waist?
You will never fuck again!”
--Track 9, “Vicer Exciser”


Here's another:

“Don't fuck up the process,
It won't be much longer until you die,
Just let me have my fun and I will let you die in peace,
Oh, wait, I lied.
False hope is my new trend.”
–Track 5, “Fairy Fay”


It doesn't give the impression that you're in the shoes of the infamous serial killer. I understand very much that Jack was described as being very smug and sure of himself by authorities and witnesses, but these kinds of lyrics are childish and don't feel disgusting, sick, or disturbing. They're laughable and painful. There's only a few lyrics I remember reading that were of any merit to me and those were in the songs “Alone in the Morgue” and the title track. When it comes to the delivery of these lyrics, Phil Bozeman, the frontman and sole vocalist for Whitechapel, annoys me. He's not the worst vocalist I've ever heard, but he's surely not the best. He enunciates his words somewhat clearly when he growls and screams, and he has a really prominent register that you can feel in your gut when he hits those deep, deep gurgling gutturals. The problem I have comes from the lack of variety with his delivery. It's hard for me to adequately explain, but it sounds very much like he's talking normally while he's growling. It's not very compelling when he's doing this tedious delivery throughout the record. There's some parts where he chooses to pick up the pace on certain songs and sounds full of energy on those, but for most of the record, it gets boring to listen to.

Another problem is the lack of variety in the riffage, but this time it seems to be two-fold because it seems like the band cannot keep a consistent tempo throughout. All the way through, on almost every song, the tempo tends to slow down and the guitars fall out of sync with the drums and the vocals can't hope to keep up either. It doesn't sound good and it feels like they were playing their parts separate from one another, a couple guys in the studio in one city and the rest of the guys in another studio in another city. There's not a ton of cohesion or tightness in their performances as a unit and it makes some of the songs a bit hard to listen to. As far as the riffing goes, it's very simplistic. Lots of boring single note palm-muted chugging that's very primitive and uninteresting, to say the least. The moments that some would consider death metal like the quick tremolo picking are low-grade generic crap that anybody who has played guitar for a few months and has an ear for good death metal can play with their eyes closed. There's not a lot of play or chemistry between the three different guitarists here, either. Everything here could have been done with just one guitarist and a session guitarist and nothing would've been lost in the ether. Oh, and as is expected in a genre like this, the bass is pretty much nonexistent. It follows right behind the guitars and does nothing impressive. Then again, I don't even think a bass was necessary here. It may as well not even be there. With three guitarists, they may as well not even have bothered enlisting the help of a bassist. I'm pretty sure the bassist in this band could've booked a better gig after this kind of treatment.

Maybe that's because the album is so monstrously overproduced. Everything is so unabashedly clean and it kind of feels lifeless in some places. The guitars are so polished, the drums sound so damn polished, that if there was any rawness this album was going for, it was lost in the extremely good production values. I don't mind a clean and polished production in my metal albums, but for a concept like this, you want there to be a little rawness in there. Leave some dirt behind to muddy the sound a bit to give the illusion of walking down a disgusting alleyway in the rainy darkness as prostitutes are being cut down to size.

Now with all the bad things I've said about this record, are there any actual good moments? Yes, there are. The second breakdown on “Alone In the Morgue” really stands out from just about every other breakdown on the album. I love how it's delivered and the riff that scrapes in the background like a knife across stainless steel really gives the song a dark, ominous presence as it trudges towards its conclusion. The opening riff on “Articulo Mortis” is really chaotic as all hell, and the title track is fantastic. Kevin Lane, the drummer on this album, is definitely the star of the show. He creates some amazing fills and super fast pounding up and down the kit that is to be admired. He's constantly on the move here with moments that definitely give weight to some of the moments that you'd expect to suck. He saves them with a pretty solid performance. As well, as I've said before, Phil Bozeman's really deep growls definitely punch you in the gut when they hit. “Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation” isn't that bad of a track in some spots, especially in the first minute, which is one of the best parts of the album. That is, until it gets to the part where he screams that one unintentionally hilarious line before this abomination of a breakdown hits. You might wind up shutting the album off completely or pause the album to catch your breath after you've laughed so hard because of just how awful that part was.

In conclusion, this album isn't a good album, but it's not terrible enough for me to avoid recommending. It can get kind of funny at times with its atrocious lyrics that try so hard to be taken seriously, so just based off that it gets points. As I made clear at the beginning, I'm not a big consumer of deathcore material, and this is probably one of the better deathcore albums to come out. I'm just going to assume that, but I'm really not going to proceed further down the Whitechapel rabbit hole. This album has too many problems for me to continue, not to mention “The Saw is the Law” didn't make me want to check out Whitechapel any less than I already did upon hearing this album from start to finish.

I'll stick to Carnifex and All Shall Perish.


RECOMMENDED TRACKS:
-The Somatic Defilement
-Alone in the Morgue
-Articulo Mortis

Valueless....a feckless piece of garbage! - 0%

felix headbanger, August 24th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2007, CD, Siege of Amida Records

I am not the type of guy who enjoys deathcore records a lot. I have a certain taste when it comes to listening to this genre. In fact, Divine Heresy and All Shall Perish are the only bands that I dig when we talk about deathcore, and those two bands aren't even playing pure deathcore music. Those two play a more technical approach rather than deathcore's chuggy breakdown-filled character.

I also enjoyed early deathcore releases of Job for a Cowboy and The Faceless. That was the time before these guys took their music to the realm of technical death metal. Other than those bands, I never really took the time to explore this genre and look for more artists who plays such style. Not even today. Let's just say that my interest in this genre had always depended on the albums put out by those four mentioned bands above.

Now, Whitechapel is a Tennessee-based deathcore group that had been around quite a while. Never have I heard a song from these guys until I decided to listen to their debut studio record yesterday just to see if they have any potential. After listening to their debut, I opted to hear their follow-up materials. Finally, after four awful records from the band, I decided to stop. Then I came to a conclusion that I wasted half of a good day, owing to the fact that I took the time to tuned in to Whitechapel's crappy albums.

The Somatic Defilement is a shoddy piece of deathcore music that should not have been issued into the public. And honestly speaking, this is the only bearable album that the band had put out. The rest of their later records are a bunch of a more degraded carbon-copy of the debut. See, it's releases like these that made me stay away from picking up any materials from this music class. Even their three guitar players weren't able to give the album a lift. Really Whitechapel???! You had all the reinforcement that you can get, yet you guys have still failed to deliver even just a little amount of respectability to your album.

The whole offering is comprised of shitty generic breakdowns that even an eight year old can play much better, if that certain eight year old kid was taught well. Every damn track in here is loaded with pesky and annoying breakdowns. That's just one of the worst parts in this album. Another nauseating facet of this album is the triggered drumming. Often times when it comes to mediocre releases the drum section can save the whole album, but in this case it only made the whole listening experience more boring than ever. And then there's the feeble high pitched vocal cry of their frontman. Does he even know that he is not going to impress anyone no matter how hard he tries? I mean, his vocal delivery is utterly shallow, uninspired, and bizarre.

All-inclusively, The Somatic Defilement is a crummy and good-for-nothing debut album. I won't even bother expect that the band will make a decent release someday. I've listened to four of their six studio album yesterday and none gave any justice to my ears. Oh boy, I sure regret that I took their records into consideration yesterday.

Deathcore for people who hate deathcore. - 95%

grimwinter13, January 28th, 2017

The deathcore scene of the mid-late 2000s is one of the most criticized eras of metal. I’m sure most of us remember the neon band tees, gauged ears, and emo-kid hairdos. The music was a cornucopia of breakdowns, pig squealing, dropped A guitars, and lots of ex-girlfriend lyrics. All in all, those were ridiculous days. And to make matters worse, you had countless bands trying so hard to copy the sound of Suicide Silence’s The Cleansing. Hence, the term “Suicide Silence clone” was born.

And yet, amidst this movement of scene kid poserdom, you could potentially find a release that truly stood out from the generics. And Whitechapel’s debut full-length comes to mind.

The Somatic Defilement is not a Cleansing or Doom. Forget the HxC breakdowns, emo lyrics, and (cringy) anthemic vocal breaks. Just throw those out the window. Take what’s left and add in a tech-death influence, guttural vocals, and some breakdowns much more intelligent and memorable than expected. That’s the sound you get from Whitechapel back in 2007.

The album begins with a audio clip of Dahmer with some creepy static, and then rips into the title track. “The Somatic Defilement” kicks off with a massive slam riff accompanied by vocalist Phil Bozeman’s deep, guttural growling. The song’s intro does drag on for some time, but finally transitions into a complex riff reminiscent of old Cryptopsy. The song contains many of these riffs before the first breakdown begins. What you’ll notice is that there’s no buildup, no anthemic vocal break, and no bassdrop. Just pure downtuned, vicious breaking. The other breakdown is just as heavy, and neither does that one use the moshing rhythm. To make things interesting, the song concludes with a melodic outro, the band fading away and leaving a violin section to finish the song.

Throughout the rest of the album, you’ll find much more of this. What’s nice about The Somatic Defilement, that I can’t say about a lot of other deathcore albums, is that the songs can be distinguished from each other. The guitar riffs are quite interesting, actually. There’s no solos, or really any “shredding” so to speak, but Ben Savage, Zack Householder, and Alex Wade definitely possess much skill and writing ability. Drummer Kevin Lane performs excellently – his double-bass usage is not overdone like you’d hear in a lot of other deathcore bands, and his diversity in rhythms and blast beats give him much credibility.

Bozeman is an excellent vocalist in general, but this album is where he shined his brightest. His growls and gutturals are powerful as all hell, deep, and menacing. His high screams aren’t the best, but fortunately he utilizes them very sparingly.
Whitechapel’s lyrics on this album are probably the least deathcore thing about it. The whole album focuses on a narrative of Jack the Ripper. The lyrics are styled like traditional death metal – instead of complaining and crying, there’s gore, torture, sadism, rape, and other pleasant things you might hear from the likes of Obituary and Cannibal Corpse.

My favorite track on the album is “Vicer Exciser”, which relies on speed, being possibly the fastest song on the album. It doesn’t take even to breathe, keeping it technical and brutal the whole way through, and its brevity gives it that feeling of a spontaneous, vicious sonic attack. The breakdown in the middle is insane.

Now, as a deathcore fan, I tend to be more accepting of the genre. But I do understand why a lot of older metal fans dislike it – it really is a very silly genre and there’s definitely a lot more style to it than substance. But The Somatic Defilement is that album which when you hear, you’re expecting some emo kid to be screaming about his pathetic life with the band just chugging constantly – but instead, you’re treated to an intelligent fusion of oldschool technical death metal and pure, unwatered hardcore. Even if you don’t like deathcore, this album is worth checking out. You might be surprised. For deathcore fans, it’s an essential genre classic.

Atrocious - 0%

Heimir, December 19th, 2016
Written based on this version: 2007, CD, Candlelight Records USA

You read that right.

0/100. As in, there were one hundred possible points that Whitechapel's debut could have achieved, and it scored zero. Is that histrionic? Maybe. But maybe not - as extreme as it sounds, I wouldn't hesitate to say that this album is devoid of artistic value.

Maybe it's the concept - or rather, how horribly the concept comes across. At heart, a concept album sung from the perspective of Jack the Ripper is pretty metal. Plenty of bands, good and bad, have delved into the minds of serial killers, from Slayer to Sepultura to Slipknot. It's a lyrical genre that suits the music well. Metal can be beautiful but is so often insidious and evil, and the serial killer is perhaps the most frightening image it can conjure - all the spectacle of a slasher flick villain without the celluloid to keep you safe. So it should work, right? Well, not always. The key to effectively evoking a killer is to sound either maniacally insane or cold and calculating. Vocalist Phil Bozeman accomplishes neither. His shock-value lyricism reads like a comb through medical journals and thesauruses. Sure, lots of great metal bands ham it up a bit in the lyrics sheets, but you don't always need to "eviscerate" when "gutting" will do the job.

Typical death metal and deathcore themes are touched on throughout the record's mercifully short run. There's necrophilia, dismemberment, and a fair share of gross-out language intended to offend more than express. Sadly, Bozeman makes it clear that he has absolutely no idea how to actually use the vocabulary he employs. Some lines, like "I find a sense in malpracticing the common ways", aren't even complete thoughts, much less well-structured English sentences. Others, such as "I must purloin the genitalia", read like absurdist humor. Even worse are lines like "You've been dismembered and molested", which explicitly steal lyrics from bands who actually know how to use them.

This thievery isn't confined to the lyrics, either. Nearly every breakdown, intro riff and vocal rhythm in the album has been recorded by better bands in years past. The album sounds like a "worst-of" compilation from the biggest Florida death metallers, sewn together by a Hollywood producer aiming to cash in on the newest bunch of kids in camo shorts and half-inch plugs.

If that image isn't what you associate with metal, this is not the album for you. Bozeman's boring, "brutal" vocals bog down the already unlistenable lyrics. Three guitars try and fail to do what one well-written guitar easily could. Pounding drums ignore any nuance, preferring to pummel the listener into oblivion - a feat that would be much more easily accomplished if the bass drum sounded like a bass drum instead of a typewriter.

Ultimately, the album is a sheep in wolves' clothing. It's like Whitechapel went to the death metal Wikipedia page and took their best notes. They've got the growled vocals, and the detuned guitars, and the provocative lyrics. But this formula won't give you a good album. It'll give you Death Metal For Dummies, the best way to sound like death metal to someone who's never heard the style before. Behind the jagged logo and the noisy music is just a bunch of guys who don't fully understand what they're trying to do.

I've given this album more than a few chances. No matter how hard I try, I just can't find a single redeeming feature on The Somatic Defilement. Steeped in breakdowns and groove sections, it exemplifies some of the very worst traits of modern metal. Whitechapel has certainly made some decent records throughout their ten-year tenure, but this is not one of them.

CRUSHING! - 100%

BlackMetal213, April 18th, 2016

Heavy death metal inspired riffs? Check! Blast beats? Check! Effective use of crushing breakdowns? Check! To the world of deathcore, Whitechapel is a band that needs no introduction. They are from Knoxville, Tennessee and have generated a lot of polarizing opinions in the realm of extreme metal. "The Somatic Defilement" was the band's first release after a couple of fairly decent demos. This is, in my opinion, their heaviest album and also their best to this date.

Whitechapel is known for incorporating three guitarists. This has sparked a fair amount of controversy among much of the general population of metal fans and because Whitechapel is a deathcore band, most people are quick to loathe them for this. I personally think these three guitarists add a great deal to the music, mainly in terms of sheer brutality. This is one of the heaviest albums ever released by a deathcore album and even competes with a lot of actual death metal bands in my opinion. There aren't a whole lot of technically impressive riffs here. Most of the song structures follow a generally similar pattern to one another, utilizing death metal riffs and the breakdowns typical in deathcore, which are, of course, enhanced a bit by the bass. Although most of the time, the third guitar detracts the bass a bit which really is not that big of a deal for me. Really, this band has created a good balance between the two and the three guitars only enhance the experience. The guitar work in the title track is probably my favorite on the entire album. From the riffs to the breakdowns, to that melodic section at the end that leads into the orchestral outro. Unfortunately, this album does lack guitar solos. I like to hear a few solos in my deathcore but in reality, that can be a very rare thing. "Festering Fiesta" contains a section that almost qualifies as a solo but it wouldn't be until the band's next album that they actually started using them somewhat. Even so, this does not degrade my opinion of the album at all, because it's just so damn good otherwise. Just listen to the crushing breakdowns in "Vicer Exciser"! Man does that song rip.

The drums follow along smoothly with the riffs and breakdowns and never deviate from the flow. There is a lot of double bass and blast beats which are very common in deathcore, thanks to the drums being heavily influenced by death metal. They don't really step outside of their comfort zone, rather they stick to similar ideas throughout the album's 32 minutes. This is nothing to worry over, however; these drums get the job done in the most efficient ways possible. This album's sole purpose is to absolutely crush you and the drums definitely contribute to that. In addition to the drums, Phil Bozeman's vocals are as brutal as ever. He uses a no BS guttural approach and on this album, he probably give his best vocal performance. Songs like the title-track contain a lot of low, evil sounding growls. He uses a mix of growls and screams but generally sticks to a lower growl, and his screams become more prominent on later albums. I much prefer his growls on here over anything. The lyrical content generally revolves around the murders committed by Jack the Ripper in Whitechapel, England. Because of his killings being gruesome in nature, the lyrics can be pretty "messed up" which adds a lot to the already brutal music. I have definitely heard worse, though. What's somewhat funny in a sick, twisted way is how a lot of his victims seemed to be prostitutes so in a way, this album is all about killing sluts. Oh, yay!

I must say this is one of the finest deathcore albums ever recorded, as well as my first Whitechapel album and one of the albums that made me realize maybe not all deathcore is crap. Really, I would recommend this to not just a fan of deathcore but a fan of death metal as well, preferably brutal death or slam. If you're a fan of deathcore, however, you probably have already heard this. If not, you are certainly missing out.

Another classical deathcore release - 94%

Erasofmisery, October 31st, 2015

This is an absolute fucking monster of an album. This easily takes the cake for being one of the heaviest deathcore albums. There is very little to complain about, because the brutality of the album is so enjoyable, it doesn't even matter.

Phil Bozeman's vocals here are very strong, and low. He growls, gurgles, grunts, and screams extremely well. It seems like he went with a slam approach with the abundance of gutturals and the deepness of his vocals on the album. Needless to say, he is a huge part of this album and his contribution is a very big one.

The guitars are almost on the same level as the vocals. They unleash some very brutal chugged riffs that sound very slam and make the album seem even heavier. However, they don't chug the whole entire album. There is still some noticeable melody and some very clever sounding passages which stand out and shine very well. They tend to get a bit repetitive, but for the most part the guitars are very solid.

The bass isn't too easy to hear, but I've actually been able to hear it a bit in some parts. It's pretty much the same as the guitar so it's not terribly special, but just being able to hear it is always a plus because with bass that is a rarity.

The drumming, wow the drumming. It's not outstanding or amazing, but fuck it's still pretty crazy. Kevin Lane unleashes some of the fastest and heaviest double bass kicks. His drumming sounds devastating, and he absolutely obliterates the kit. He also knows how to follow with the rest of the band and remains strong and consistent throughout the whole album. The breakdowns, while a bit excessive, are extremely well done, especially for the time. They hit hard and deliver with intensity, and heaviness. Some of the breakdowns on Devirgination Studies, and Vicer Exciser are great examples of this. I understand this is an old deathcore album, but the production still falls flat a bit, while still not being awful. The Somatic Defilement is a masterpiece because it is almost perfectly executed and incorporates slam influences to it, which makes it only sound even heavier. Very good album, please check it out.

So Fucking Good - 100%

DarknessShadows666, June 23rd, 2015

(Update from 2016-08-17: not only was my previous review of this album a bit outdated and I have slightly different thoughts now, but reading it a year later, some of the things in that review just made me cringe. This is a slightly rewritten version that I find a bit less cringe-worthy.)

Whitechapel is a band that needs no introduction. Anybody familiar with the deathcore genre knows who this band is. I personally think they are the best in their genre and they're personally my favorite band in general. I honestly think everything they released is awesome. I'm not trying to sound like a mindless sheep who just blindly worships everything a band releases. I just think their entire discography is THAT good. This is certainly no exception. This album was probably the heaviest deathcore album released during its time and to this day, is still one of the heaviest deathcore albums (and albums in general) that I've ever heard.

The intro, "Necrotizing," is just a serial killer sample. It's okay I guess. It doesn't too much other than just go along with the album.

Phil Bozeman is one of the best vocalists in deathcore, hands down. The only vocalist in the genre I currently think is better than Phil is Dickie Allen from Infant Annihilator. His growls can go extremely low and sound brutal as hell, and his screams are amazing. He gets some shit for his screams but I think they pretty damn good. He does more lows a bit more than highs. He also shows the impressive amount of time he can hold a growl for on the title track. And on the title track, I think I heard 2 gang shouts.I normally think gang shouts sound stupid but those didn't sound too bad.

Phil's lyrics are pretty damn great as well. This might just be me but I don't see why he gets crap for his lyrics on their later albums. As most of you know, this is a concept album based on the murders Jack the Ripper committed. I like the detail he uses to describe the torture. The only song on the album that isn't really related to Jack the Ripper is "Alone in the Morgue." According to Phil, it's "a simple song about a coroner who is a demented necrophiliac." "Festering Fiesta" might be about Jack the Ripper but Phil also said that it "focuses on more of a Jeffery Dahmer approach." I also think it was kind of cool how "Articulo Mortis," the final track, is basically a fabrication of Jack the Ripper conversing with one of his dead victims and feeling regret for what he did. So overall, the lyrics are awesome in my opinion.

The instrumentation is top notch, heavy and can be pretty technical. The guitarists do a pretty solid job are creating good and memorable riffs. The riffing is mostly based influenced by brutal and technical death metal, but there are some melodic death metal riffs that pop up here and there that wouldn't sound out of place coming from a band like The Black Dahlia Murder. There are also some Meshuggah-esque guitar lines, like in "Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation," which are pretty cool too. The drums are very fast and impressive with some pretty good blast beats. The bass is inaudible. The breakdowns are crushing and chaotic too. There are a lot of them, which might turn some people off. But if it makes anything better, they don't use the same breakdown more than once. So that might be an upside for some people. There is also some symphonic stuff at the end of the title track that I really dig. The production on this album is really raw and dirty, which adds to the ridiculous heaviness of this album.

One flaw with this album that isn't really a flaw for me, but might turn some people off is that this album is a bit repetitive. A lot of the tracks on here sound kind of similar, although I don't think it's to the point where it just sounds like one giant song. Then again, that's probably because of how many times I listened to this album.

So, overall, The Somatic Defilement is a damn awesome record. It's pretty much a musical equivalent to a morbid horror movie. Although this is indubitably their heaviest release, I personally prefer This is Exile and A New Era of Corruption. But that doesn't make this album any less amazing and it's definitely worthy of the praise it gets from the deathcore fanbase and it was a great note to start their career on.

Truly moving album - 91%

GuardAwakening, March 20th, 2013

The Somatic Defilement is Whitechapel's debut full-length after a signing to Candlelight Records and many local Knoxville shows later, they made an audience for themselves in the ripe year of 2007 where deathcore was just launching itself off. Whitechapel smashed into the scene with this outstanding and dark, dark debut. Focusing its entire concept on the murders committed by Jack the Ripper (heck even the name of the band is named after the district where he did the killings), the record is an audial horror story and the musicianship is a rollercoaster of brutalizing riffs, breakdowns, slams, blast beats, guttural growls (and shrieks) and most importantly; musicianship passion. The band's three guitarist compliment each other perfectly and play each one of their own parts, sometimes even having their own specific sections.

Usually I listen to the album I'm reviewing while I review it, but I am so used to this record down to its very essence, listening to it while only talking about its quality would be unnecessary.

Every song on this release is totally memorable and I can recite so many lyrics of so many of the songs. Not only have I heard this record well over 90 times, but the songs themselves just feel so right and original to their own kind. If you want a moving piece ending with an enchanting orchastral ending; the title track has that for you, if you desire full on brutal death metal-esque gurgles and shredding riffs provided by tri-guitar force? Throw on "Devirgination Studies" or "Fairy Fay". If some bits of mathcore influence in your brutal music tickle your fancy, then put on "Festering Fiesta". Speaking of that song, by the way, it feels like the band suddenly decided to become fans of Dillinger, but alas even they stated themselves that Blood Has Been Shed is one of their many influences so I can't be surprised a little hint of mathcore could be found. Also another interesting note, I would like to add, the band apparently rips off Between the Buried in Me at 2:27 on the song "Alone in the Morgue". By what I discovered, BTBAM actually play this exact part in their song "Anablephobia" but with two guitarists and a bassist playing the third note wherein Whitechapel instead play all three notes with their three guitarists. So in all, it's not so much stealing, but I guess taking a part and making it more of their own. Not a bad move at all, just wanted to make note of it.

Finally, I wanna talk about the vocals; this is the album where Phil Bozeman finally makes his big move and his voice is AMAZING. He growls, gurgles and shrieks his way to oblivion truly putting the icing on the cake of an album put around the story of the Jack the Ripper and the absolute utter horror the band displayed the story with. This record could no way be completed without his voice. All the agony, hostility and violence conducted by the lyrics of his growls is brilliance in perfection and that's the best way I can put it. Aside from every other member I've spoke of in the band right now, Kevin Lane's drumming is another thing I want to point out, although his performance is much, much better on This Is Exile, here he plays almost unstoppably good and the production around his kit is almost hand-and-hand beauty.

I would recommend this album to anyone who isn't easily scared away from extreme metal bearing down to the nitty gritty of bands such as Devourment, Bloodbath, Suicide Silence, Carnifex, Suffocation, Job for a Cowboy or The Black Dahlia Murder. This is deathcore at what seems to be its best form (at least to me) not many metal albums do for me what this record has done for me. To me, this album is about as artistic as a high budget film and I couldn't put it any better way. If you thought deathcore couldn't have original pieces or outstanding bands in its genre, you need to think again. This album will always have a special place in my metal collection.

"And now you rot..."

My expectations don't meet yours - 85%

DomDomMCMG, February 2nd, 2012

Whitechapel are probably the biggest band in deathcore right now, and with good reason. They're excellent! Their sound has undergone a few changes since their formation, while still staying true to the deathcore sound. Apart from a couple demos nobody cares about it started with this. A brilliant combination of brutal death metal and deathcore.

The first thing we hear is an intro with an excerpt of an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer. Serial killer samples are an obsession with brutal death metal/deathcore bands, and Whitechapel prove no different. Despite the useless intro, the album kicks off to a good start, with Phil Bozeman letting out not one, but TWO insanely low growls, with Kevin Lane showing us his blasts.

The guitar work on this release (played by 3 guitarists) is a mix of crushing breakdowns and faster and at times slightly melodic riffs. The fact there are 3 guitarists is never really shown, apart from the triple harmonised breakdown towards the end of Alone In The Morgue. This album is stuffed with breakdowns and they are very typical of the genre. Nothing you haven't heard before. However, you won't have heard it in the track before. Every breakdown in this release has small but noticeable differences. Most deathcore bands seem content with just using the same breakdown 32 times an album (Chelsea Grin), but Whitechapel know not to do this.

No bass. Not once.

Phil Bozeman is a monster vocalist. His growls are sickeningly low. However, his high vocals are pretty unspectacular, but thankfully he doesn't use them too much. His lyrics are pretty gory and violent, especially for a deathcore band. He uses some degree of medical terminology that would make Jeffrey Walker proud. However, he uses words like "fuck" and "shit" quite a lot, which is a shame, because the rest indicate he's a much more capable lyricist.

The drums are pretty much non-stop triggered to fuckery blast beats, but Kevin Lane still knows to use perfect fills during the breakdowns to stop them getting boring. The production even saves the drums from sounding sterile and lifeless. They genuinely have a heavy tone rather than just "click click click" over and over.

Overall, a brilliant start for one of deathcore and extreme metal in general's best bands. Get this if you like your deathcore with a fuckton of slam/brutal death metal influence.

Mall rage - 15%

mrdanteaguilar, May 5th, 2011

I have to say This Is Exile did not fail to satisfy my metal needs. Even though it was kind of generic, I would take it anyday instead of this. I'm glad Whitechapel decided to move forward and leave their generic scene metal roots behind, but I'm pretty sure they were aiming directly to the mall when they forged this lame breakdownpallooza that has very little (if at all) death metal moments. This is The Somatic Defilement by Whitechapel.

Lyrically it's plagued with sadistic and gory elements that might remind you of Carcass or Hemorrhage and make you think they really took the time to compose these fantasy gore worshiping death metal lyrics. Also Phil Bozeman knows how to enunciate the words without going all ''grrrrrr'', and his voice doesn't sound bad at all, so this aspect is very acceptable. The only bad thins is how whiny the high pitched vocals sound.

Now, let us jump to the guitar part. Or should I say breakdown part? Yes, perfect for those moshpit kids who don't give a flying fuck about the music with low tuning and poorly executed palm muted riffs. In other words, ''chug chug chug''. They almost remind me of Thy Art Is Murder's ''Infinite Death'', being bland, generic and trendy. Musically, Whitechapel didn't put too much effort elaborating this album and instead decided to throw some random guitar leads here and there just to create the illusion of being a death metal band. Fairy Fay makes you think the song will be some punishing death metal when it starts, but after a couple of seconds more breakdowns come in, completely destroying the atmosphere.

Bass... completely unaudible.

I guess since they were just beggining and this is their very first official release, their drummer wasn't that good. You can tell by the sloppy double bass and the sloppier drum fills and chops. Just take your typical Job For A Cowboy song and take out the drummer's triggers. That's how bad they sound. Perhaps the best part is the whole album's intro. No guitars, no bas. All you can hear is blast beating while some guy describes how is it to preserve someone forever even if it's just a part of it.

Overall this is no different from other hundreds of deathcore acts out there. I gave them 15% because of how clever the intro was.

Smells like teen somethin' - 30%

autothrall, December 4th, 2010

Whitechapel is one of the three major acts in the contemporary 'deathcore' genre here in the US, which, depending on which side of the 15 year old age barrier you fall, is either one of the most exciting or dreadful trends in all of extreme music. Not as fashionable as California's Carnifex, nor as evolutionary and intense as Arizona's Job for a Cowboy (on a good day), they seem to represent a more blue collar approach to the popular medium. Alas, this doesn't really translate into anything interesting musically, because the Knoxville brutes make most of the same mistakes as many of their less interesting peers, while adding nothing to the table that we weren't already sick of when metalcore turned from its waking, esoteric promise to insufferable pop inflected trash.

The Somatic Defilement seems to operate heavily around some of the most generic breakdowns the human mind can conceive. Breakdowns that were dated even as a seminal band like Earth Crisis or Hatebreed were taking off their training wheels. Add a pinch of math or djent metal influence (Meshuggah, specifically), slight passages of melodic death ala At the Gates, and dual grunt/snarl vocals that sound like your average overbearing tribute to early Carcass, Morbid Angel and Deicide, and let simmer for 32 minutes of dejected, which blows its load all too soon with almost all of its most potentially interesting tricks in the title track, which features several flighty death metal passages dispersed among numerous chug downs. "The Somatic Defilement" is like being teased with a death metal carrot down a shady alley only to be jumped by a pack of metalcore kids wearing huge pants and wallet chains.

This is not the only track that throws away its better seconds to a wasteland of mediocre mosh chugging. "Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation" cycles between a decent opening volley of technical, clinical death spasms to some Meshuggah-like riffing, and then closes with an awful, hack palm mute sequence. "Fairy Fay" gives you about 10 seconds of something brisk before it too segues into the gutter, though there's a nice atmosphere as the lyrics bounce over the mutes into the bridge sequence. "Alone in the Morgue" teases us once more with its intense double bass driven old school death metal riff, sort of a mesh of Suffocation and Pestilence, but then erupts with some choppy, uninspiring riffs and guitar squeals before...you guessed it, another flatulent break down heavy on the palm muting, which completely strangles the momentum.

It's pretty unfortunate, because you can tell if these guys could stop fucking around and further some of their better ideas, they'd manifest into at least an average brutal/tech death metal outfit. Granted, that in itself is not for everyone, but personally I'd find it more compelling than what often seems a ceaseless tirade forged to sate the lowest common denominator of metal and hardcore fans; the mosh tyrant who couldn't give two shits about music, just a free chance to beat on people without spending a night in the slammer. Whitechapel do pen some pretty sadistic lyrics about molestation, murder and sexual malpractice, so in this way they're not a far cry from your typical gore or rape fantasy death metal element, with a slightly more psychotic spin, but the music doesn't even come close to building to a climax before it constantly lets you down with its shallow, vapid grooving and 'tough' sounding death/core vocals.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This Is As Good As Deathcore's Going to Get - 97%

MutantClannfear, September 12th, 2010

And now for the sentence that will destroy all my credibility: this album is actually a great deathcore album. I'll give you a moment to let that sink in. Now, anyway, I know how we all think of deathcore as "sloppily executed", and "disgraceful". To an extent, I can actually agree. I, too, hate my music filled with such bullshit as "breakdowns", "pig squeals", and "br00tality", and I think anyone who enjoys music simply for those three factors should be anally impaled on a stick covered in barbed wire. However, Whitechapel have found the best combination with this album. It's br00tal enough to appeal to the scene kids, but it still has the actual elements that real metalheads will love.

Looking from a moderate distance away, Whitechapel (or their first album, I should say) is semi-brutal deathcore. I've heard people declare that Whitechapel has "black metal" influence, citing the vocals and their screams, but to that I say fucking bullshit. More on this subject later. But basically, this album has about everything right. There are a few awkward parts in the music, but overall, this is great. The guitars make great riffs, the drummer definitely knows his shit, and the vocalist is just shocking.

Let's start with that guy, the vocalist, okay? If deathcore ever had a wedding for whatever reason (perhaps marrying emo and becoming the worst hybrid genre on Earth, emo-death?), Phil Bozeman would be the "best man"...literally. This guy is definitely the most talent that has come out of deathcore thus far. His growls beat all but the most brutal death metal vocals, and they have the natural gurgle that simply makes them sickeningly awesome. This guy could fit great into a brutal death metal band, and I promise you no one would be complaining. Sometimes, though (particularly, when his voice is raised almost halfway), his voice leans just a bit too close to the "I'm awesome, dude!" side of deathcore. His gutturals are just amazing, though. Listen to "The Somatic Defilement" at 0:22. Some would say that he sounds like a fucking toilet; I say "Isn't that basically what brutal death metal aims for in the vocal department?" His highs are high and raw, but for God's sake, men, this is not signs of a "black metal influence". Black metal screams are raspy, and full of Satan-loving hate. These are comparatively clean, and they're hateful, all right, but you can tell it's a different kind of hate. A bit leaning towards "I'm going to stick your hand in a blender". Either way, blackened or not, these highs are good. The only place where I absolutely despise them are at 0:58 in "Festering Fiesta". Tell me that doesn't "scream" (hurr hurr) Suicide Silence. These guys were trying to escape the grip of typical deathcore in this album as a general rule, but it appears they got pulled back in for a few awful seconds. They're not as good as they could be (honestly, these would be better if they WERE black metal screams, as they would fit better with the melody of the guitars), but they appear to have been vocalized exactly as the singer desired, and thus the vocals are a success overall. Sometimes the vocals are layered together, like at the end of "Articulo Mortis" where the highs and lows collaborate to say "And then you rot", and it has potential to send chills down the listener's spine.

Although you won't notice it by ear, there are three guitarists taking part in the riffs on this album. This is the only part that I think is just stupid, because you'll never hear more than two of them playing at once. But besides that, this band makes quite good riffs. Many of them are focused mainly on a mix of distortion and brutality, and melody. A few standout ones to look for are the riff after the intro of "Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation", the one proceeding the intro of "Devirgination Studies", or the beginning of "Alone In The Morgue". The breakdowns are probably the best you'll hear in the world of breakdowns. Honestly, that's not saying much. The breakdowns aren't typical -core shit for the most part, though. They're mostly fast, technical, and they have the decency to stop the music before the breakdown commences so it's not entirely terrible. Some are slow beyond belief, but even then, the band makes the breakdowns interesting because of the tuning in their guitars (the downtuned, slightly quirky factor makes the breakdowns more tolerable than, say, Suicide Silence, who are downtuned but just boring), because there is usually a constant cymbal echoing throughout the song, and because more often than not there's an instrumental or ambient noise behind them, like 1:43 in "Devirgination Studies". I hear people talking about how this album uses the breakdowns excessively. For one, yes, every song has a breakdown, but it's usually no more than two, and it's usually short. For two, have you heard Whitechapel's follow-up to this album? It's literally half-composed of breakdowns, which is more than can be said for this album. Like most deathcore albums, however, the bassist is nowhere to be found on this entire composition. I always joke that they do that because they're idiots and they don't know how to play an instrument. But if the guitarists are any indication, this guy has talent, so he needs to stop letting his instrument get tuned out of the album's mixing process.

The drummer is probably the most talented face in deathcore (except for maybe JFAC's drummer, but I only realized how good he was when he started playing death metal). The set itself sounds pleasurable: the bass pedal sounds like a muted snare, and the snare sounds just a bit silenced and tapered. The crash sounds dry and flat, but the other cymbals have a desired "ding" to them that fits well with the music. He plays fills mostly with the bass pedals (and he makes some really cool rhythms with them, I might add), but he uses the whole goddamn kit at times. Not a drum nor a cymbal is untouched in this album. His works may sometimes be simplistic, but these moments are quite outweighed by the times he's being technical with himself. Want an example? Just listen to the riff of "Ear to Ear" at 1:41, where he's blasting almost like Inferno himself in excess of 200 beats per minute. Later in this song, we see he can be technical with himself while slowing down a bit, and the result is almost godly.

The lyrics are great. Although Whitechapel's other two albums are random ranting on religion with a third-grader's vocabulary, they have quite a way with words here. It's probably the only time I've heard gutting, raping, and overall destruction of decency being put into a form that was beautiful. ("Pass the tissues, please... *sniffle*") Their vocabulary is quite rife with words that make spelling bee participants cringe and writers start using these five-dollar gems, like "suppuration", "abattoir", "inimical", "ingurgitate", and "zygoma". They also know quite well how to write lines about rape without sounding like a sexual pervert or an idiot: "As she chokes and gargles spit/ I amputate her salty clitoris". Again, these lyrics are performed by a deathcore band, but I feel this element of theirs could find their place in a different genre (in this case, goregrind).

This is the best deathcore that will ever sprout from the face of the Earth. Although most of the genre's offspring is a failure, some break through the membrane of horrendousness into mediocrity. This album went past that, however. I think it's safe to say that Whitechapel's full-length will never be touched in terms of deathcore. As Whitechapel have shown, even they can't come near topping this album. They can only sit back, look, and reminisce at the masterpiece they created back in the year of 2007.

B-r-e-a-k-d-o-w-n! - 45%

The_Evil_Hat, June 20th, 2008

Whitechapel, a band that has earned countless fans in and outside of the walls of the Deathcore genre. I normally run like the plague to escape bands of this genre, but I gave these guys a chance. I’ve always said that the reason I don’t listen to Deathcore isn't because it’s Deathcore, rather I don’t listen to it because I think the majority of Deathcore bands are abominable, breakdown starved, shit mongering, clones. After making a statement like that, I couldn’t exactly refuse to listen to this album when it was recommended to me, at least not if the reason was based on the fact that it was Deathcore without looking like a total hypocrite.

I approached this album expecting nothing more than the average Deathcore, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The riffs are more than segues to breakdowns here, in fact, they’re the main attraction. The majority of the riffs aren’t particularly –core related, instead they seem to be far closer to the Death Metal side of the fence. While they aren’t going to be confused for a Nile riff, they have just the right amount of –core influence to make them original Death Metal riffs, rather than tired Deathcore riffs. The riffs are generally heavy, but there are quite a few melodic sections which help to add some contrast and show off a bit more of the guitarists' skills. The best one of these mini solos is in Festering Fiesta.

Unfortunately, all is not perfect from a riff based sense. Whitechapel’s riffs barely resemble Deathcore at all, and they were evidently afraid of being ostracized from the steaming turd of a genre. In an attempt to get back into their Neanderthal friend’s good graces, they resorted to a simple tactic. They packed every song to the brim with breakdowns. These aren’t the well thought out breakdowns of a band like The Red Chord, and they don’t pack the pummeling brutality of a Slam band like Devourment. These are the lowest of the low; these are the dreaded traditional Deathcore breakdowns. There are a handful of good breakdowns to be found on this album (Articulo Mortis, Fairy Fay) but they are rare and far between. The rest of the album is filled with the generic, soulless and horrid breakdowns that plague a band like Waking the Cadaver. (Okay, they aren’t THAT bad) Every song has at least two or three breakdowns, and they drag the quality of the music down into the gutter in quite a few cases. They disrupt any kind of flow that the album might have possessed, and prevent the majority of the songs from being enjoyed straight through without a wince every few seconds. To get to the interesting and unique riffing, you have to wade through miles of knee deep breakdown consistency shit. While a breakdown once in a while can propel a song to new (and brutal) heights, they are overused to a sickening extent here.

The pacing of the album is generally good, and it doesn't get too repetitive due to its short length. Unfortunately, there is one slightly baffling pacing blunder which occurs very early on in the album. The first track (which also happens to be the title track) ends in a truly perplexing fashion.The end comprises of some classical music. While on an individual track basis it works as a great ending, I think it was a bad idea to place it at the end of the first track. It felt like it would have worked far better at the end of the album, and reset the tension levels back to what they had been before the title track had begun.

The guitars are generally done well. They aren’t particularly technical, but they don’t need to be. They are suitably heavy when necessary, and can also be quite melodic at times. There are quite a few parts where two of the three guitars are creating a harmony and this offers good contrast to the standard brutality of the album. Unfortunately, the guitars aren’t flawless. This isn’t due to any faults in their playing, but rather due to the fact that (for some idiotic reason) there are three of them. Two would have been more than enough for any of the harmonies presented here, and more than enough for any of the standard riffs or breakdowns. The third guitar never causes any specific problems, but it completely drowns out the bass which sacrifices an extra degree of heaviness that the band might have been able to achieve without it and it offers no positives to make up for this injury.

The drummer is head and shoulders above almost any other Deathcore drummer I’ve heard. He doesn’t rely on blast beats as a crutch, instead he uses them only when it would fit the music and add an extra degree of drive and heaviness. Quite often he uses rapid paced double bass drumming, similar to a band like Nile (although he never approaches George Kollias in speed). During the breakdowns they manage to be quite heavy and are one of the few redeeming aspects of these parts. His tone is also quite good, and escapes the flat and powerless drum tone that countless other Deathcore drummers use. The only exception is the hi hat, which, while not bad is sometimes grating. Still, the only example where it actually annoyed me was in the title track and it isn’t a particularly big problem.

The vocals are another standout here. Instead of the standard (and atrocious) Deathcore pig squeals, these are very varied and always done well. They range from a lower guttural (similar to Dying Fetus), to a more traditional death growl, to a higher shriek. The lyrics are very well thought out and the album is based off of the exploits of Jack the Ripper. While some liberties are taken, they follow the story quite well and are suitably twisted. They are somewhat understandable too, while you won’t hear every word they are far from the unintelligible gurgles of a band like Cock and Ball Torture.

Overall this is very good for a Deathcore album. If it were not for the breakdowns, it would probably score in the seventies. Still, due to their atrocious presence, its score is unfortunately dragged down. Despite this, I urge you to check this band out if you, like me, generally dislike Deathcore. This band managed to avoid instant deletion (unlike the majority of their fellows) and I will check out their upcoming album, which, hopefully will tone done the suffocating amount of breakdowns. Standout tracks include: Ear to Ear, Festering Fiesta, Articulos Mortis, and Fairy Fay.

Acceptable Deathcore - 80%

ScatologyDomine, May 1st, 2008

I obtained this album for quite interesting purposes. After a scathing MySpace rant delivered by one of the anti-core metalheads, calling more or less every band to become somewhat popular after 2005 "JFAC-Worship," I checked out a few of the bands that were apparently so horrible. One of the better bands I found was Whitechapel.

The influence of Job For a Cowboy and similar bands is evident, but there is also a considerable amount of slam death influences (I know a lot of people seem to have strong opinions about slam, almost as much as deathcore, but it applies), evident on such tracks as "Viscer Exiser." There is also influence from some older Death and Black Metal, as seen a bit on "Fairy Fay."

The band does have 3 guitars and a bass, but truthfully, two of these could be dropped. The only situation the third guitar has any use is continuing the breakdown during the harmonized solo on "Ear to Ear." The band talk about further harmonies, but they are not highlighted on this album.

The drums are a refreshing change from most deathcore, at least as far as tone. No deathcore band would be caught without a double-bass pedal, and most of them have horribly tinny and fake-sounding drums. Whitechapel finally had the common sense to stuff some goddamn blankets in the drum and get a lower, 'thud'-like tone. The drumming itself isn't much different from the rest of the popular deathcore bands these days: Blast, slam, blast, slam, breakdown. Horribly stereotypical, but it goes with the music well.

If you're looking for revolutionary lyrics (though the Jack The Ripper theme is interesting and while gory, at least a little more unique than most bands), experimental music, extreme technicality or a true progressive sound, this isn't your album. But if you're only looking for a little solid deathcore, The Somatic Defilement will not disappoint.

Hey, Deathcore that isn't bad?! - 82%

Destroyeroftheweak, December 16th, 2007

After thoroughly listening to this album, I've decided to change my rating.

Many many people on this site are aware of the mediocrity of the "deathcore" genre. From such acts as Job for a Cowboy, Bring Me the Horizon, Suicide Silence, and other embarrassing excuses for bands. But when it comes to music, Whitechapel are quite the contrary. They are not the typical deathcore band with the scene kid hair and open-string breakdowns. These guys mean business.

The Somatic Defilement is in no way revolutionary or even near groundbreaking, but provides the listener with well made deathcore. It's really hard to say you like a deathcore band but for many death metal fans, this is a guilty pleasure. Now to get to the music. There are three guitarists, but this isn't very noticeable at all due to the lack of solos and chuggy/slam riffs. Rarely, you can hear triple harmonization. Now to the vocals...deathcore is known for its typical shit faux-lows and screams. Whitechapel implement screams but in a way such as Benighted. The vocalist does perform lows very well and has a wide ranged voice. The drumming is typical. Blast and then breakdown and then slam groove.

Many death metal influences are found in this album. Such as the somewhat grind part of "Festering Fiesta" and the brutal death metal influences in "Vicer Exciser". A lot of this shit is catchy, beware. The lyrics are borderline pathological and are pretty cool. This album DOES have many breakdowns. If you can tolerate them, then you will be fine. Other than that, with crushing rolls (The Somatic Defilement) to moshing d-beats (Vicer Exciser) to extreme lows (Fairy Fay). The Somatic Defilement is a satisfying album.

If you can tolerate breakdowns, repetition, and deathcore screams then purchase this album.

Highlights: Vicer Exciser, Festering Fiesta, The Somatic Defilement
Some cool riffs +
Good drumming +
Good vocals +
Cool lyrics +
Lame cover art -
Some lame breakdowns -
Deathcore -
Repetition -

3 Guitars? Seriously? - 20%

slitxurguts, November 22nd, 2007

Whitechapel - The Somatic Defilement, I've head a lot about this release from friends. Two of them went as far as to claim this as their album of the year. I've listened to the album in its entirety twice now and I'm not impressed.


The general sound here is mid to slow tempo deathcore, wit a heavy focus on slow breakdowns. There is a high variance of vocal styles, unfortunately however most of the vocals are annoying and unconvincing. All of the deliveries reek of Doom EP worship. The Domm Ep influence can actually be heard on most of the album as a whole either directly or indirectly.


The Guitars (all three of them) have a generically heavy sound, managing to be distorted but to sound too sterile at the same time. As for the guitar parts themselves, they are allegedly played by 3 guitars, but it seems to me that a reasonably skilled guitar player could play 60-70% of this without double tracking. I guess the other guitars are there so they can chug extra hard on the breakdowns. In the more melodic parts some a hint of At The Gates worship sneaks in ala The Black Dahlia Murder. Guitar solos? Don't hold your breath, the only thing here is a little toned down melodic cheese in between breakdowns. No solos proper. Also most of the breakdowns lose all of their impact due to being telegraphed out so far that you'd need to be retarded not to predict when they're coming up.


The drum performance here is one of the most emotionally desolate that I have ever heard. Absolutely no individuality or feeling is conveyed at all. Fortunately the drummer often drops down to half time cymbal hits over either 8th notes or just slow speed groove beats, when he does this he is easily ignored.


The bass may as well be non-existent most of the time due to being buried under 3 guitars, but I suppose it adds to the heaviness of a few of the breakdowns. No real complaints here due to simply not being able to here it for better or worse.


All in all, a few of the breakdowns are satisfyingly heavy, and this is also far from the worst deathcore album I've head. Still, there is virtually nothing this album has to offer that hasn't been done a hundred times better. Not recommended to anyone who doesn't have a razor fringe and a septum piercing.