Death metal, by definition, is music that is distorted and aggressive in its sound. On this new Whitechapel album, the storyline is just as distorted and aggressive.
Whitechapel set about writing their new album with a specific challenge in mind: match the heaviness of earlier works written in their twenties as now middle-aged men. The result, Hymns in Dissonance, is a vicious, incredibly intense, monster effort that shows Whitechapel at peak performance. Mission accomplished tenfold.
The deathcore/death metal luminaries completely eschewed the clean vocals and reflective lyrics that adorned recent albums in favor of relentless, pulverizing riffs, by turn guttural and banshee shouts, and a fictional lyrical tale replete with graphic violence and gore. Song titles like “A Visceral Wretch,” “Hate Cult Ritual,” and “The Abysmal Gospel” give listeners a teaser of the bedlam that lies in waiting.
Phil Bozeman’s not-of-this-earth, raw, and shrill vocals bludgeon and inspire, placing him deservedly on a level with legends like Six Feet Under and ex-Cannibal Corpse frontman Chris Barnes, and Cradle of Filth singer Dani Filth. His visceral lyrics and overwhelming rage convey a story in which the protagonist tortures and defiles victims using methods that encompass the seven deadly sins.
Guitarists Alex Wade, Ben Savage, and Zach Householder generate all-consuming, rapid-fire, and heaving riffs that embody malice. Savage’s solos flawlessly accent the songs. A high point is his fade-out on album closer, “Nothing is Coming For Any of Us.”
The rhythm section, consisting of bassist Gabe Crisp and drummer Brandon Zackey, both propel and reign in the musical maelstrom to superb effect.
Hymns in Dissonance simply put, is a malevolent masterpiece. The album, Whitechapel’s ninth, was released on March 7, and the Knoxville-based band invade the area for shows on March 20 at the Theatre of Living Arts in Philadelphia and March 22 at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville.
We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Bozeman and Savage in a joint interview.
Hymns in Dissonance is full-on deathcore/death metal. It harkens to your early material. What inspired this direction?
Phil: That’s what I grew up on: death metal and heavy music in general. I thought it would be interesting to try to see what we could write, as far as super heavy music, as nearly 40-year-olds rather than 20-year-olds or 21-year-olds. It was cool to just go back and dig up those roots and see what we could come up with as now middle-aged men.
Ben: We saw it as a welcoming challenge to try to get back in that mindset of writing the heaviest music we can make, because we felt like we had kind of reached a certain point. We took the music as far as we really could take it over the last few albums. On A New Era of Corruption, we went down a certain path of trying to expand our palette. With the new record, it felt like another challenge.
Phil: We’ve covered a lot of different angles over the years as far as writing music goes. It’s all been a natural progression; none of our albums have been forced. They all have their challenges.
What is Whitechapel’s songwriting process? Does it differ from album to album?
Ben: It’s sort of the same on every album. It’s kind of like a writer’s room that you’d see on television. We all get in a writer’s room and throw ideas out and see what sticks. The good ones rise to the top and we kind of craft it from there. It always starts with an essential idea and we build around it. We all carry our own weight.
Hymns in Dissonance comes three-and-a-half years after Kin, your previous effort. Was the pandemic a major factor in the gap?
Ben: We finished Kin in 2020, and then it took a long time to release because of the pandemic.
Phil: The amount of stuff that we have still on hard drives… if every single thing that we had was usable or would work, we would have 10 or 12 more albums.
This album is definitely one best enjoyed played in full while reading the lyrics andexploring the album art. A lot of people these days play individual tracks on streaming services or watch a couple of YouTube videos, which takes away from the listener immersing themselves in the music and the story.
Ben: The album art connects with the music and then the lyrics. It is all super thought out by the band. With short attention spans, you lose that connection.
Phil: It’s a dying breed. I had a conversation with my best friend that I went to high school with the other day about it. I feel like our generation… I don’t want to say our childhoods were better – that’s not what I’m saying. I think that music back then, how it was released, how it was promoted, how you got it was [better]. I feel like kids today are missing out. Going into my record store and seeing the Cannibal Corpse album that I wasn’t of age to buy and figuring out how to get it precisely because of that? Now there’s no mystery to anything anymore. Everything’s accessible. Everyone knows about the artists’ lives because everything’s on Wikipedia. It was cool to have that imagination. There’s none of that anymore. I just miss it. There’s no theatrics anymore. That’s why I appreciate bands like Ghost. They’re putting on a theatrical performance. Whether you like the music or not, they are doing what old school bands used to do.
How many songs from Hymns in Dissonance do you plan to perform on tour?
Phil: Around four or so including the two that have been released – “A Visceral Wretch” and “Hymns In Dissonance.” It’s always fun to see how the new songs go over live to see who is paying attention, who really digs it. People can say all they want online, but I think the people who really love it are the people that come out to the shows. There’s going to be more in the future. I would imagine that we’re eventually going to do a Hymns in Dissonance front-to-back tour.
Hymns in Dissonance tells a story about a cult leader, with lyrics based on the seven deadly sins. There are people impaled on inverted crosses, rotting, and a lot of gory, graphic violence. It also has a Carcass vibe in that some of the terms will have listeners headed for the dictionary.
Phil: I love horror and novels and storytelling in general. The lyrics are all fictional. This story is a continuation of This Is Exile (2008). It almost screamed for a sequel. I thought that was a perfect album to kind of build off of. I like the story of that one, it’s very dark, it’s very fictional. I know in metal a lot of people don’t care about the lyrics. I personally do. A lot of people find one line that they think is cool or catchy, but I love horror, novels, and storytelling in general. This Is Exile screamed for a sequel as far as storytelling goes. It was kind of the perfect album to build off of. It’s all fictional. It’s all my fucked-up thoughts that I think of whenever I’m writing lyrics. I kind of put myself in the shoes of an author, and I’m by no means an author, but this is my only outlet for that. There was a fight between good and evil on Exile; there’s no real ending to it, no real ‘who won’ kind of ending. Everyone was exiled, everyone was defeated. There was this guy, Daemon, that I created in This Is Exile. This guy on Hymns in Dissonance believes he is the younger, jealous brother. He wasn’t chosen. Daemon was the successor to him. This is him proving himself, committing all these horrible atrocities, and the seven deadly sins, too. Sequels can either hit or miss, and I think this one hit.
LISTEN TO HYMNS IN DISSONANCE NOW WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO MUSIC! PURCHASE PHYSICAL COPIES OF THE NEW ALBUM & TOUR TICKETS ON THEIR WEBSITE!
