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SCVRECRVW - PLAGUE (FT. ALEX KOEHLER) [OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO] (2026) SW EXCLUSIVE

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SCVRECRVW "PLAGUE" (FT. ALEX KOEHLER) OUT NOW!

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Great announcements recently

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Despised Icon – Shadow Work Review

By Owlswald

Widely regarded as one of the original architects of deathcore, Canada’s Despised Icon hardly needs an introduction. But just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past two decades, here’s a brief introduction: back in 2002, when MySpace was all the rage and everyone had a friend named Tom, five dudes from Montreal dropped their debut LP, Consumed by Your Poison. Heavily influenced by the likes of Suffocation and Dying Fetus, these Canadians continued to hone their crushing sound on 2005’s The Healing Process by injecting metalcore and hardcore elements into their deathly framework. This unique formula culminated with their third LP, The Ills of Modern Man (2007)—the crown jewel of their discography that made Despised Icon deathcore royalty. The rest, they say, is history. Fast forward 18 years and, following a hiatus and three subsequent albums, the group has now readied their seventh LP, Shadow Work. So, dust off that windbreaker and lace up your best pair of New Balance kicks; it’s time to dive into Shadow Work.

In typical Despised Icon fashion, the opening title track instantly rips one’s jaw from its joints with a strong, technical launch. Leading the assault is Éric Jarrin and Ben Landreville’s signature pitch-shifted guitar squeals (a staple since 2019’s Purgatory), which, alongside rapid-fire tremolo scales, synchronize perfectly with Alex Pelletier’s blistering rhythms and Sebastien Piché’s grinding bass to fuel the album’s heavy, frenetic passages. The dual-headed vocal attack from Alex Erian and Steve Marois sounds as strong as ever, alternating raspy screams, slam-style pig squeals and hardcore chants that add a sharp, aggressive edge. Guest spots from Matthew Honeycutt (Kublai Khan TX), Scott Ian Lewis (Carnifex) and Tom Barber (Chelsea Grin) compliment Erian and Marois’ delivery but ultimately land with mixed results. Shadow Work’s powerful first half (“Shadow Work” through “The Apparition”) proves Despised Icon can still execute with the same ferocity as on past efforts. Conversely, Shadow Work’s energy wanes toward the end with formulaic pit anthems (“Obsessive Compulsive Disaster,” “Fallen Ones”) settling into a cliché hardcore spirit, though the record’s strongest material warrants repeat listens.

The first half of Shadow Work delivers a powerful blend of technical proficiency and a dash of genre experimentation before the album settles into a more formulaic hardcore groove. “Death Of An Artist” is a straight-up, drum-driven banger that introduces new wrinkles like clean vocals, dissonant high leads and a tasteful thrash and death eeriness that adds fresh flavor to Despised Icon’s well-known formula. Similarly, “The Apparition” is a relentless burner, injecting elements of symphonic death and black metal while maintaining the group’s core sound. Across the album’s succinct 37 minutes, monolithic breakdowns are plentiful—tense builds frequently give way to gut-punching beatdowns replete with fret slides (“Shadow Work”), air raid sirens (“The Apparition”) and stutter-step riffing (“Death of an Artist”), delivering a seismic release and an irresistible urge to pit.

However, Shadow Work hits a predictable wall at its midpoint, slumping into an over-reliance on tropey, Hatebreed-adjacent, inspirational anthems. Characterized by pervasive gang vocals, two-step riffs, and cheesy lyrical themes, tracks like “Fallen Ones,” “Obsessive Compulsive Disaster,” and “Reaper” feel less about pushing Despised Icon’s established deathcore boundaries and more about catering to the masses, thereby detracting from Shadow Work’s initial aggression. While Scott Ian Lewis’ gruff, thrashy vocal textures on “In Memoriam” effectively add a new element and the raucous “Omen of Misfortune” or “ContreCoeur” offer relief, Despised Icon’s heavy reliance on clichéd, tough-guy hardcore vocal cadences and themes holds Shadow Work back. For instance, lines like “From the ground up, never gave up, from the gutter to the surface” (“Reaper”) leans too far into its hardcore roots. Even the otherwise stronger early track “Over My Dead Body” is hampered by a cheesy hardcore/nu-metal feel in its bridge, its jarring cadence and Honeycutt’s yelling of “bitch” further exposing Shadow Work’s central weakness.1

Shadow Work is a good record marred by frustrating dualities. The first half unleashes the punishing, technical ferocity and syncopated slams that cement Despised Icon’s legacy as godfathers of deathcore. Yet, Shadow Work’s potential is sacrificed in the latter half, by leaning too hard on formulaic, predictable hardcore anthems. By repeatedly prioritizing comfortable clichés over their trademark sound, Despised Icon ultimately delivers an uneven album that only teases at the complete savagery fans know these legends are still more than capable of delivering.

Rating: Good
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Nuclear Blast
Websites: despisedicon.com | facebook.com/despisedicon
Releases Worldwide: October 31st, 2025

#2025 #30 #CanadianMetal #Carnifex #ChelseaGrin #Deathcore #DespisedIcon #Devourment #DyingFetus #Hatebreed #KublaiKhanTX #NuclearBlast #Oct25 #Review #Reviews #ShadowWork #Suffocation

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Lorna Shore, Chelsea Grin, Brand of Sacrifice Among First Bands Named for Sonic Temple 2026

https://www.metalsucks.net/2025/09/04/lorna-shore-chelsea-grin-brand-of-sacrifice-among-first-bands-named-for-sonic-temple-2026/

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Psycho-Frame – Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother Review

By Dear Hollow

Deathcore doesn’t give a shit. There was a moment when bands like Lorna Shore and Slaughter to Prevail attempted to make deathcore more accessible to other metal fans, incorporating blackened/symphonic textures or nu-metal influences. However terrible, solid, milquetoast, or well-intentioned you found it, that’s not the spirit of deathcore. Psycho-Frame has steadily been building a fanbase around their particularly unhinged take on deathcore with the release of 2023 EPs Remote God Seeker and Automatic Death Protocol, and we’re finally faced with a full-length debut: Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother. But don’t expect heavyhandedness – expect just heavy. Dumb heavy. Basically, the music for the sellout. Get those fists swingin’, Hot Topic frequenters! We’re goin’ to the mall.

Psycho-Frame embodies a trend in deathcore that is layered in nostalgia. Fearing that the style has lost its teeth, bands like the nation-spanning six-piece1 embrace the days of MySpace (think old-school Chelsea Grin or Bring Me the Horizon). It’s raw, groovy, and devastating, brandishing a brand wavering between thick-ass breakdowns settling on the ocean floor and lightning-fast blastbeats and unhinged technical thrills. Psycho-Frame otherwise benefits from a two-vocal attack, with Mike Sugars relying on a tough Frankie Palmeri bark attack while Jonathan Whittle offers fierce shrieks, horrific bellows, and the occasional pig squeal. It’s big, dumb fun that doesn’t overstay its welcome, embracing a savage edge contrary to contemporary acts off the same ilk: the rawness of Killing of a Sacred Deer or the melodic technicality of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Psycho-Frame emerges as the elite, its loud and ouchy production amped to louder and ouchier, its vocal attack barbaric and ominous, and its songwriting whiplash-inducing. It’s everything you love – and loathe – about deathcore.

There’s little nuance in Salvation Laughs – if it’s thoughtful songwriting and careful construction you’re after, Psycho-Frame ain’t it. It doesn’t have a lick of the tragedy its title implies because, remember, deathcore doesn’t give a shit. It recalls the chaos of This is Exile-era Whitechapel, The Cleansing-era Suicide Silence, or self-titled Chelsea Grin in its chunky viciousness and stonewalled rigidity. Neck-snapping tempo shifts are a norm, downtempo Black Tongue chugdowns assaulting your ears one second before ravaging them with ripping blastbeats and shredding riffs. Riffiness is a trait not often expounded upon by deathcore, but it appears often throughout Salvation Laughs, giving an unexpected head-bobbing groove and pinch harmonics (“Blueprints for Idol Genocide,” “Endless Agonal Devotion”), jaw-dropping fretboard wizardry that recalls Beneath the Massacre and pairs neatly with numbskull density (“Apocalypse Through Lysergic Possession”), while slam’s gurgling lurch a la Ingested adds nice sonic depravity (“Filleted and Fucked,” “Still Water Salvation”). Each member offers his best, the dual shrieks and roars commanding charisma, the guitars offering flaying technicality and caveman knuckle-dragging meatheadedness equally, bass holding up the sound amid the fray, and drums retain a sharp metallic ring that adds to the unhinged quality Psycho-Frame possesses.

For the same reasons, some will love Psycho-Frame, others will understandably loathe it. In many ways, it feels like the insanity of mid-2000s deathcore distilled into a bullying thirty-eight minutes. It’s relentless, it’s over-the-top, and perfect to make frowny faces at while you windmill your way through the pit. That being said, some parts of the album are guiltier than others: when groove dominates, the result is an insane little number, but when that’s toned down to channel Suicide Silence, it sounds pitifully stale (“The Portal,” “BLACK_WAVE II”). Furthermore, there are short-lived spoken word samples scattered throughout the album, which provide more of a blush than the creepiness factor they are attempting to instill. But apart from the nitpicks, for nearly all the reasons mentioned in the paragraph above, Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother can be the thorn in a metalhead’s side – Psycho-Frame is truly an apt representative of deathcore.

For better or worse, Psycho-Frame is deathcore, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It’s big and dumb, overly loud and obnoxious, with enough groove, rawness, and wonky tricks to carry its dual vocal attack into something resembling enjoyment. It’s a low-ceiling, low-floor situation, because Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother can either bring some fun into your day or utterly ruin it. I had fun with Psycho-Frame because of its refreshing simplicity and relentless brutality – but it’s still a cautionary tale.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed:
Label: Sharptone Records
Websites: psychoframedc.bandcamp.com | psychoframe.com | facebook.com/psychoframedeathcore
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #BeneathTheMassacre #BlackTongue #BringMeTheHorizon #ChelseaGrin #Deathcore #Ingested #Jul25 #KillingOfASacredDeer #LornaShore #PsychoFrame #Review #Reviews #SalvationLaughsInTheFaceOfAGrievingMother #SharpToneRecords #SlammingDeathcore #SlaughterToPrevail #SuicideSilence #ThusSpokeZarathustra #Whitechapel

AMG Goes Ranking – Whitechapel

By Dear Hollow

The life of the unpaid, overworked metal reviewer is not an easy one. The reviewing collective at AMG lurches from one new release to the next, errors and n00bs strewn in our wake. But what if, once in a while, the collective paused to take stock and consider the discography of those bands that shaped many a taste? What if multiple aspects of the AMG collective personality shared with the slavering masses their personal rankings of that discography, and what if the rest of the personality used ~~a Google sheet~~ some kind of dark magic to produce an official guide to, and an all-around definitive aggregated ranking of, that band’s entire discography? Well, if that happened, we imagine it would look something like this…

Usually, when we do something like this, it increases our street cred in the underground, but I’m dead-set on ensuring our cred goes up in flames. This is Whitechapel, the epitome of why boomer metalheads yell at young ‘uns. For a hot minute, the Nashville juggernaut was ranked among the likes of Suicide Silence, Job for a Cowboy, and Carnifex, thanks to their brutalizing and divisive attack of deathcore. Toss in some lyrics about slaughtering prostitutes in 1880s London, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for millennial Hot Topic fandom.1 In retrospect, however, thanks to the act’s historic three-guitar attack and the iconic performances of vocalist Phil Bozeman, their whole “Cookie Monster with breakdowns” thing was a cut above the rest. I say that not just because I was a teen raised as an evangelical not allowed to listen to “This is Exile” and “Possession” (but secretly did anyway), although I’m sure that plays a very minor part.

Contrary to other long-running deathcore acts like Suicide Silence and Chelsea Grin, flexibility has been the key to Whitechapel’s longevity. Three distinct eras emerge: (1) deathcore for spooky Hot Topic frequenters (2006-2010), (2) chuggy minimalist deathcore (2012-2016),2 and (3) deathcore for Phil Bozeman to unpack personal traumas (2019-2021). With that, in anticipation for the upcoming “return to roots” release Hymns to Dissonance, let’s revisit the eight albums of Whitechapel, that deathcore band you stopped listening to because geezers said deathcore was lame.

– Dear Hollow

Dear Hollow

#8. The Somatic Defilement (2007) – The influence of this album cannot be understated, but its crisis of murky grime and polished clarity – with a never-again-addressed orchestral flare – makes Whitechapel’s first official foray a confused album, nonetheless worthy of the likes of Suicide Silence and Carnifex. Punishment front and center with a murderizing theme that reflected its Jack the Ripper-inspired moniker, there’s a lot of chunky breakdowns and Phil’s absolutely vicious vocals in their fledgling stage, reflected in chunky hatred (“Fairy Fay,” “Ear to Ear”) and shining riffage that cut through the murk (“Vicer Exciser”). Plenty gained with few highlights.

#7. Our Endless War (2014) – Located smack-dab between two other albums stuck in existential crisis, Our Endless War is the pinnacle of the whole cringeworthy “the saw is the law” schtick (sorry Sodom), paired with questionable production choices and simultaneously too much and too little Meshuggah-isms. While tracks like “Let Me Burn” and “Diggs Road” kick some serious ass, the album is doomed by excessive vocal layering and unnecessary songwriting choices. While it benefits most heartily from the three-guitar attack and feels the heftiest of its era, slow bruisers (“The Saw is the Law”) feel stuck in the dense muck and more allegro offerings (“Our Endless War,” “Mono”) can’t seem to keep up.

#6. Mark of the Blade (2016) – It’s not that this one is bad, but it’s often overshadowed by the album that emerged next, as “Bring Me Home” and “Decennium” introduced clean vocals. While retaining the saw imagery and three guitars layered for maximum heft, Mark of the Blade cleans up the obscene murk for a more organic and rhythmic album that is heavy on punishment (“The Void,” “Tremors,”), surprisingly catchy and anthemic in its structure (“Elitist Ones”), and experimental enough for a human touch (“Bring Me Home”). It’s the punchiest of its era, with drummer Ben Harclerode making his last appearance on a Whitechapel album.

#5. Whitechapel (2014) – A landmark album in its own right, this self-titled effort saw Whitechapel cutting the excess from their sound into a lean, mean, killing machine. Groove shining in the spotlight, its starkness allows more freedom, as tracks can delve into more ominous atmospheres and different instrumental tricks (“Make Them Bleed,” “I, Dementia”). However, like any good Whitechapel album, the triple-pronged groove aligns wonderfully with Phil Bozeman’s most menacing performance, descending the tracks into a nadir of darkness and Meshuggah-esque ferity (“Dead Silence,” “Devoid”). A start of a new era.

#4. Kin (2021) – Everything that made The Valley so effective, but with more of the Tennessee flair and a more polished feel. Whitechapel explores the cleanly sung and the wailing guitar solos, enacting a beautiful and yearning feel that doesn’t descend into the bleakness of its predecessor but rather looks upon it as lessons learned. It maintains heaviness even if it is less feral than much of its discography – all for the sake of emotion. With more of Bozeman’s cleans contrasting with that trademark density (“Anticure,” “History is Silent,” “Orphan”), an instrumental and technical theatricality (“Without Us,” “A Bloodsoaked Symphony”), and a slightly Tool-esque edge (“Lost Boy,” “Kin”), it leaves trauma and torture in the rearview.

#3. This is Exile (2008) – As the only album more popular than The Somatic Defilement, it gets extra points for its influence – but the mania at its core has never quite been replicated. While its predecessor had enough chunky breakdowns to kill a grown elephant and This is Exile has its fair share of mindless chug (“Possession,” “Somatically Incorrect”), a palpable groove and wild technicality keeps things both grounded and utterly batshit (“Father of Lies,” “To All That Are Dead”). Yes, the back half finds itself dwelling more in hellish menace than punishment (“Death Becomes Him,” “Messiahbolical”), but for many an introduction to Bozeman’s unmistakable roar and a chaotic technicality that left Suicide Silence in the dust, it was pure deathcore nirvana.

#2. A New Era of Corruption (2010) – While not as popular as This is Exile, A New Era of Corruption is everything its predecessor was and more. Whitechapel amps the dystopian and anti-religious themes with a stunning blend of its early era colossal chunk and a good use of techy leads and dissonant swells, as tracks feel more mature, fleshed out, and purposeful (“Breeding Violence,” “End of Flesh”), the darkness of progress’ terrible cost seeping through (“The Darkest Day of Man,” “Necromechanical”), and a chunky charisma not unlike The Acacia Strain (“Reprogrammed to Hate,” “Murder Sermon”3). A New Era of Corruption was the pinnacle of Whitechapel before its self-titled reinvention.

#1. The Valley (2019) – Bozeman’s cleans in The Valley were a landmark in deathcore’s storied and bloody history, but more impressive is that Whitechapel remained remarkably deathcore – if not more devastating – in spite of them. Cutthroat brutality remained first and foremost, with shredding guitars filling every emotional crevasse (“Forgiveness is Weakness,” “Brimstone,” “Black Bear”), while clean vocals are used as moments of yearning vulnerability and hopelessness (“When a Demon Defiles a Witch,” “Hickory Creek,” “Third Depth”) and apathetic sprawls of godless wilderness reflect an existential emptiness (“We Are One,” “Doom Woods”). It’s an unflinching discussion of pain and trauma in the derelict corners of Tennessee and a vintage horror movie aesthetic that meshes surprisingly perfectly. The Valley is a balancing act of vicious and heartfelt, a monument for deathcore and -core styles in general, seeing Whitechapel’s longevity fully established. Every emotion on the spectrum is present on The Valley, an outstretched hand shrouded by the weight of doom and dread.

Alekhines Gun

For many, deathcore represents the gateway drug to heavy music, enjoyed in your youth before you mature into “real metal” proper, discarding breakdowns and angsty lyrics for reflections on the time signatures of the universe and bigger song structures. Not so, say Whitechapel. Since erupting from the ether in 2006 and dropping their first album a mere year later, this band has remained a fixture in the metal world at large, ever growing in popularity and under the disapproving eyes of genre purists everywhere. Tours opening for the likes of Cannibal Corpse and The Black Dahlia Murder while having such luminaries as Cattle Decapitation and Archspire opening for them have established them as breakdown-heaving mainstays in a world of vests and guitar solos. To celebrate their newest release, we have opted to don our Wvmps and Pvsers hats and rank their discog for your disapproval. You gosh darn elitist ones…

#8. Our Endless War – The last descent into full-on arena-bent mindless groove, Our Endless War finds Whitechapel spinning their wheels with gleeful abandon. Any sense of techy approaches or interesting guitar was stripped down, in favor of a continued distillation of simplistic grooves over Meshuggah-In-Denial tones. Buoyed by the smash hit “The Saw is The Law” – essentially the “Living on a Prayer” of deathcore – Our Endless War is bland, inoffensive, and an easy choice for the bottom of the list. It’s catchy enough – a smooth, sanded-down object of easy grooves and basic-tier breakdowns with Bozeman’s vocals drowning out the riffs as if to hide how boring they are. Tailormade for an alternate universe where heavy music is played in elevators, Our Endless War is bland, easily digestible comfort food.

#7. Mark of the Blade – Still overly polished, still easy-listening, Mark of the Blade at least flows better as an entire album rather than merely being a factory-assembled collection of grooves. Here, the first merciful signs of restlessness in the Whitechapel camp began to be felt. “Dwell in the Shadows” and “Brotherhood” broke out some swell guitar playing, which was almost entirely lacking in Our Endless War, while “Bring Me Home” finally debuted those Heckin’GoshDarn clean vocals and much more dynamic songwriting. It helps that they managed to write a second “The Saw is The Law” in “The Mark of the Blade” to keep their ability for instant catchiness on display. All in all, Mark of the Blade manages to be slightly more interesting than its predecessor, as well as be the bookend of one era for Whitechapel while ushering in the next.

#6. The Somatic Defilement – This is a fun debut ruined by some moderately whack production. Much deathcore at the time had a strange predilection for light switch-click sounding drums and guitar tones thick as plywood, and just as crunchy. The Somatic Defilement overcomes this on the strength of its songwriting. Already avoiding the dubstep style tension-build-and-release permeating breakdowns, Whitechapel emerged from the nothingness fully formed and with a set musical vision. Its youthfulness overcomes its tonal flaws, and its roughhewn edges stand as a stark contrast to what would come later.

#5. The Valley – The first major shift in the Whitechapel sound since their self-titled, The Valley sees the band putting on the closest thing they had to prog boots. Featuring oodles and stroodles of emotive (though unfairly derided as emo) clean singing, acoustic passages and honest-to-goodness ballads, the band attempt to take the listener on a musical journey rather than merely offer up a collection of violent snippets. Songs like “Third Depth” tries to mesh the disparaging sounds with mixed results, while bouncing between tracks like “Forgiveness is Weakness” and “Hickory Creek” keep the listener in a state of tonal whiplash. Not quite as consistent as what would come later, The Valley is still an interesting addition to the Whitechapel canon for its efforts, if not quite its delivery.

#4. Whitechapel – On the heels of a pair of monster successes, the self-titled dropped and announced an immediate bid for stardom. Gone were much of the techy nuances and songwriting that actually used three guitar players, opting instead for immediate savagery and accessibility. On the other hand, this newfound sense of immediacy allowed for an excellent sense of hooks, with their old flair boiled down to moments littering songs. Bouncy leads in “Section 8” and harmonized breakdowns in “Dead Silence” showed the band hadn’t forgotten to imbibe songs with flourish and flavor, a skill that would quickly fade out as they continued their ascent to bigger and basic things. Easily the best of the middle era of albums.

#3. This is Exile – The Certified Hood Classic, this album dropped and almost instantly defined what deathcore was supposed to be. A massive sounding album in both writing and by production values of the time, This Is Exile demonstrated fantastic growth in musical writing chops and performances. Solos rip and shred, breakdowns are creatively inserted and (mostly) avoid walk-in-place stereotypes, and each song comes with personality and pizzazz. Touring it for an anniversary with The Black Dahlia Murder showed that the compositions still hit just as hard today, reminding that deathcore as a genre can be intelligent and engaging.

#2. Kin – A fantastic sequel, Kin grasps the mood swung for by The Valley and usurps it in every way. “To the Wolves” assault with peak modern era violence, while the flow into softer moments and use of cleans are much more organically blended. Higher use of melodic leads and atmospheric layering’s allowed the beauty to shine with the brutality, and the closing title tracks fantastic power ballad transition into synth-laden classic rock styled soloing represents everything The Valley wanted to be. Much more enjoyable as a full body of music rather than a collection of tracks, Kin sees Whitechapel grasping their musical vision in the fullest sense, with an excellent display of vulnerability and pathos littered among trademark forehead-shattering groove.

#1. A New Era of Corruption – Criminally overlooked by fans, criminally neglected in setlist selections, A New Era of Corruption is one of the greatest records in the genre. Taking every skillset from This Is Exile and cranking it up to eleven, this album finds Whitechapel operating at a peak they have yet to return to since. All three guitarists are on full display in the compositions; the breakdowns hit harder, the leads are techier, and the production actually sounds like a full band. Flirting with borderline Nile atmospherics in “Breeding Violence” and full on cinematic flirtations in “Unnerving”, 2010 saw Whitechapel at the peak of their powers, experimenting and tinkering and constantly challenging themselves to write better, bigger, and meaner. A genuine benchmark for the sound of deathcore, listeners can only hope for an eventual return to this ruthless display of excellent musicianship marred with ear-gauge shattering blunt force trauma. If you haven’t listened to this album in a while, you owe it to yourself to give it a spin.

Iceberg

I’m a core kid at heart; it was one of my gateway drugs into metal. While Whitechapel lived on the periphery of my metal consumption for my formative years, the combination of 2019’s The Valley and the pandemic gave me the drive and time to dig into their entire catalogue. Since then I’ve always had a soft spot for the Knoxville sextet, and deathcore in general. There’s something about knuckle-dragging breakdowns, whiplash tempo shifts, and gurgly vocals that lights a fire in my icy core. And as one of AMG‘s official deathcore apologists, I jumped – nay, catapulted myself – at the opportunity to ride Hollow‘s rickety train to breakdown town.

#8. Mark of the Blade (2016) – Mark of the Blade marks the end of Whitechapel’s more-metal-than-deathcore era, and showcases a band running low on creative fuel. What’s put on record is the most radio-ready, sanitized version of Whitechapel, and time hasn’t been too gentle with her caresses. The proximity to Slipknot-esque nu-metal is at its most blatant, the breakdowns are toothless, and the songwriting feels like the band is spinning their saws for the third album in a row. Phil’s cleans make their first appearance in “Bring Me Home” and “Decennium,” and while they’re a harbinger of things to come, they feel sorely out of place here and don’t do much to right the ship.

#7. Our Endless War (2014) – Smack in the middle of the band’s metalcore period, OEW doesn’t feel as phoned in as Mark of the Blade, but loses some of the snarling intensity of the self-titled release. Saws are beginning to spin. Anthemic choruses are beginning to rely on the tired trope of repeating the song’s title. Breakdowns feel more at home at Knotfest than Summer Slaughter. The album has its moments, though; “Worship the Digital Age” is a bit on-the-nose but an earworm, and “Diggs Road” is a strong closer that presents one of the album’s best melodic material in its fist-raising chorus. But against what has been, and what’s to come, Our Endless War fades into the background.

#6. The Somatic Defilement (2007) – Grimy, grindy, blood-soaked, and slammy, Whitechapel’s debut showcases all the hallmarks of turn-of-the-century deathcore with the production of a greenhorn band (especially those drums). But the hunger of a young band is real; the bpm is redlined, the breakdowns are ignorant and prolific, and Phil’s vocals are at their most porcine and guttural. Tracks like “Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation” and “Vicer Exciser” still hang with the best of them in terms of sheer stankface headbangability. While it lacks in the way of diversity, The Somatic Defilement’s charm has aged like fine hobo wine, and it steadily climbed this list the more I revisited it. In some ways this is Whitechapel at their most genuine.

#5. Whitechapel (2012) – Arguably the most transitional of all Whitechapel albums, the self-titled release sees the band with one foot in ragged deathcore roots and another in the sleek, modern production of metalcore. Tracks like “Hate Creation,” “Section 8,” and “Possibilities of an Impossible Existence” still snap necks and crush spines, but there are changes bubbling beneath. There are more breaks from the onslaught; a piano introduction here, washy acoustic guitar there, tempos dipping below breakneck speed. Overall, Whitechapel ends up being workmanlike, middle-aged deathcore, selling you exactly what it advertises.

#4. Kin (2021) – If it ain’t broke, why fix it? Whitechapel smartly took The Valley’s formula and ran with it, crafting a sequel that seamlessly moves from it’s predecessor (from a lyrical perspective – literally), while doing their best to improve on an already formidable blueprint. While Phil’s clean vocals have never sounded better, they can be too much of a good thing, with parts of the album sagging under the weight of these relaxed vocal passages (“Anticure,” “Orphan”). The bookend tracks are deserving of all-time playlist status, as is mid-album burner “To The Wolves,” but there’s a whiff of filler and a lack of brutality on Kin that keeps it from the lofty highs of The Valley. A fitting closer to a sordid tale but a solid middleweight in the band’s discography.

#3. This Is Exile (2008) – If The Somatic Defilement is the wind-up, This Is Exile is the body blow. Whitechapel burst forth in their second full-length effort – a full-throated refutation of the sophomore slump – as a true blue deathcore outfit in complete possession of their faculties. Solving the production problem of their debut makes This Is Exile a much more satisfactory listenable, and subsequently, this the best example of Whitechapel’s core sound. No envelopes are being pushed here, but the package is stuffed to the brim with quality. The one-two punch of “Father of Exile” and “This Is Exile” chug and blast their way through your brain stem, right up until they wrap their wretched mitts around your throat for the ubiquitous–if not a bit overdone here–breakdown. While “Possession” foreshadows the band’s metalcore meanderings to come, this album is so firmly cemented in early aught’s deathcore that it’s impossible to classify as anything else.

#2. A New Era of Corruption (2010) – If This Is Exile is the body blow, then A New Era of Corruption is the haymaker. ANEoC takes the deathcore template perfected on This Is Exile and pushes its brutality to new limits. The end result is an embarrassment of riches for fans of the heyday of deathcore that wields rather than relies on the breakdown. “End of Flesh” might be one of my all-time favorite Whitechapel tunes, perfectly reining in the feral instincts of earlier records while retaining their ferocity inside a clear song structure. The dissolution of the final breakdown into a distant snare drum shows an attention to detail as of yet unseen in the band’s discography. With very little fat to trim, and a tight production job that stops just short of the dreaded sheen (see the self-titled album), ANEoC is the most musically mature record Whitechapel ever put out. That is, until…

#1. The Valley (2019) – I’m not sure anyone really saw The Valley coming. Whitechapel must have, because they clearly gave shit a good shake up. Deathcore purists should stop reading here; I decree this album as nothing short of a revelation. From the dusty acoustic guitars ushering the album in and out to the much-improved clean vocals and storytelling, Whitechapel bolstered nearly every aspect of their sound. Smartly returning to his concept album roots, Phil’s deeply personal and tragic story of family gone wrong breathes new life into Whitechapel’s modus operandi and cleverly shows just how far the band has come from their razorwire days. I reserve special praise for session drummer extraordinaire Navene Koperweis, who takes an already impressive history of Whitechapel drumming and enhances it with unique, progressive instincts. The album rides the sweet spot between tension and release, with just enough old school piss ‘n vinegar marching alongside the more contemplative, wizened moments (something Kin failed to achieve). The Valley is a stunning opus from a band newly emerged from their chrysalis, a dark and wounded creature that’s transcended the deathcore label and become something wholly different.

AMG’s Official Ranking:

Possible points: 24

#8. Our Endless War (2014) 5 points

#7. The Somatic Defilement (2007) 6 points

#6. Mark of the Blade (2016) 7 points

#5. Whitechapel (2012) 13 points

#4. Kin (2021) 17 points

#3. This is Exile (2008) 18 points

#2. The Valley (2019) 20 points

#1. A New Era of Corruption (2010) 22 points

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Assemble the Chariots – Unyielding Night Review

By Dear Hollow

Although Unyielding Night is the first full-length of Finland’s Assemble the Chariots, they have long felt more veteran than their peers. Releasing a string of EPs that transition from djenty deathcore to an early progenitor of blackened deathcore, Unyielding Night is as epic a debut as they come. Simultaneously conjuring a future of an interdimensional war among the stars with the age-old philosophy of heroism and plight, it is an album devoted to all things bombastic and cinematic. Soaring symphonic soundscapes, blazing riffs, and relentless percussion combine with an original story, it tells the tragedy of the cursed planet Aquilegia against a mysterious solar system-consuming hive-mind entity called the Evermurk – excelling in lore and mythology. Unyielding Night is a blackened deathcore album and a damn good one at that: one whose attack is effective and future is tantalizing.

Unyielding Night is the first installment of the act’s planned Ephemeral Trilogy, and Assemble the Chariots’ waste no time abusing breakneck tempos and soaring atmospheres. While the trend too often, in line with Lorna Shore’s influence, has been to copy-and-paste symphonic Dimmu Borgir-esque keys atop milquetoast deathcore,1 Assemble the Chariots walks the way of Ovid’s Withering and Mental Cruelty in its relentlessness. A penchant for riffs, a blazing intensity reminiscent of Fleshgod Apocalypse, a futuristic vision akin to Mechina, and songwriting that somehow manages to balance all of it are all features of this behemoth. Featuring a boundary-pushing fusion of the traditional and the futuristic, the epic and the dismal – Assemble the Chariots offers a journey that balances the visceral and the punishing.

While Assemble the Chariots does profess deathcore, don’t expect the antics of the low-and-slow brutalizers of decades past. Unyielding Night is absolutely relentless and caustic, tempo abusing and unabated in its bombast; even its more placid spoken word-focused interludes crescendos into insanity are noteworthy. A lethal combination, symphonic overlays contrast mightily with riffs galore, as opener “Departure,” “As Was Seen By Augurers,” and “Empress” move fluidly between cutthroat riffs and shifting moods of hope and devastation, while the darker “Reavers March” and “Equinox” match the more morose and dread-inducing subjects. Power metal’s more decadent theatricality makes appearances in the warbling tenor of “Emancipation” and the Kamelot-esque choirs of “Galactic Order” and “Keeper of the Stars” offer a more ghostly appeal. The most blackened moments occur in the tremolo and shrieking of “Empress” and “Galactic Order,” which add a neatly blasphemous and evocative dimension to the album. While inevitably Unyielding Night will conjure similarities to darker deathcore acts like Lorna Shore or Shadow of Intent, Assemble the Chariots simmers and shimmers with energy and fury.

Notably, for as high-brow and potentially alienating as this science fiction/fantasy story and its grand length are, Assemble the Chariots does an excellent job of balancing atmosphere with accessibility. The neck-snapping grooves of “Admorean Monolith” and “Keeper of the Stars” offer necessary tactical grounding on such a relentless attack in their relatively straightforward riff-centric rhythm-based address, while the chill-inducing shreds of “Evermurk” and “Empress” are easily climaxes of intensity, ensuring that Unyielding Night’s baseline of blazing has breath to grow and crescendo. Smartly composed, the album is structured with the natural dynamics of a plot, reflecting the intriguing lore that undergirds each movement and the moods reflecting the tragedy or hope contained therein. Furthermore, while lyrics growled or shrieked by vocalist Onni Holmström tell the story explicitly, they are partnered with the instrumentals, just as accountable for storytelling.

Subtlety is not a priority in Unyielding Night, and Assemble the Chariots offers an album whose intensity and pomp align impressively with the grandiosity of the tragedy of Aquilegia. As such, it’s long, it’s over-the-top, and it’s constantly intense, and likely too much for some listeners. Those nostalgic for the knuckle-dragging Hot Topic “djunzzz” eras of Chelsea Grin or Suicide Silence will also be disappointed. However, Unyielding Night is a powerful, energetic bombast that tastefully includes deathcore’s signature brutality without diving headlong into stagnation – nearly the exact opposite. The tragedy of the planet Aqualegia is told in a rich tapestry of color and emotion, and I eagerly await the next installments. Assemble the Chariots is something special.

Rating: 4.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: STREAM
Label: Seek & Strike Records
Websites: assemblethechariots.bandcamp.com | assemblethechariots.com | facebook.com/assemblethechariots
Releases Worldwide: July 22nd, 2024

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