Once upon a time, deathcore was a spurned, scorned, and mocked genre of music. The kind of Hot Topic scene fodder only eclipsed in stupidity by crabcore, but as time has passed the genre, and its flagship acts, have differentiated and evolved beyond the "killing whores" gimmick of years past, to the point that some of its offshoots - djent, namely - are well-respected and discussed in the underground music community.
Whitechapel, the Tennessee act who appeared at the tail-end of deathcore's heyday (2008's The Somatic Defilement), are no different. Following the trail blazed by Job For a Cowboy, Whitechapel have slowly transitioned from deathcore to bonafide death metal over the course of six years, with 2012's self-titled album surprising metal critics and deathcore fans alike, who praised the album's BDM-style songwriting and avoidance of deathcore tropes.
Two years later, the band have released their fifth record Our Endless War, and while Whitechapel's maturation has undeniably continued, Our Endless War marks the start of a transition back into deathcore, but not in the way you'd expect. Lyrically and musically, Our Endless War cranks out a palpable hardcore influence, with the title track being the most sterling example. Beginning with a mighty D-beat that segues into guitar-vocal medleys that could easily be from a Mammoth Grinder record, the song opens the record with a fist-pounding anti-government rant. And, while the lyrics are nothing to write home about, they're the first example of the record's awesome "fuck yeah!" moments. You know, those parts of Hatebreed or Terror songs where you can't help but point your finger and scream along? Well, Our Endless War features tons of them, with Phil Bozeman's characteristic brutally low-end roar belting out such eloquencies as "no one cares...KILL YOURSELF!" on 'Mono' or "THE MOUTH OF HELL IS OPEN WIDE TONIGHT!" on 'Let Me Burn'.
If you go into a deathcore record expecting well-written lyrics, you're generally going to be sorely disappointed, and with Our Endless War Whitechapel embraces the dumb, effortlessly navigating the middle between tongue-in-cheek stupid (think Thy Art is Murder's hilariously obtuse descriptions of hellbeasts destroying humanity), and good ol' deathcore angst a la Suicide Silence. It's a sign of Whitechapel's experience in the genre, and particularly commendable when you consider their debut album featured "gangrenous vagina" used un-ironically.
Our Endless War is a forty-five minute, ten-song mosh trip during which there's always something to get excited about. Breakdowns are used tastefully and scarcely, and while saying Whitechapel uses 'riffs' might still be a stretch, Our Endless War's tight, three-guitar assault features enough bounce and heaviness to have you nodding your head no matter the song. Things only really start to drag around the middle of the final track 'Diggs Road', when the band abandons all pretense of rhythm and runs amok through what's almost an ambient break. But otherwise, Our Endless War features a bunch of new ideas, and the album even closes with a southern-rock style guitar solo.
The trouble with reviewing deathcore is that it exists in a small microcosm of its own - with its own tropes, cliches, and ideas that arose spontaneously due to the genre's exile from traditional metal. There's thus very little cross-pollination between the two genres, outside of the more obvious BDM elements Whitechapel bring to the table. But nevertheless, Our Endless War represents a step in 'traditional deathcore''s evolution. Just as much as djent saw the dynamic grooves of deathcore taken to the next level by the introduction of polyrhythms, albums like Our Endless War, and artists like Whitechapel will see the evolution of the crossover between death metal and hardcore that metalheads began turning their nose up at a decade ago.
That's not to say Our Endless War runs totally error-free - it is still a deathcore record, and thus suffers from many of the same problems that have always plagued the genre. For as fun and heavy as the guitarwork is, it can get boring hearing the same four or five frets continuously, even if they're ingeniously arranged thanks to the genius of Alex Wade & co. And while Phillybo may have been one of the first practitioners of deathcore rapping, that doesn't mean it's any less eyeroll-inducing to hear it used. Nevertheless, for a band that were writing some of the most generic deathcore this side of Suicide Silence, Our Endless War is a refreshing little snack that shows that deathcore bands haven't run out of ideas yet.
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