Beginning as a generic deathcore band, Whitechapel have proven themselves time and time again. With their last album being a drastic change, yet at the same time only showing the tip of the iceberg, we’re treated to the full glacier in Our Endless War. Opening with “Rise” a slow, slightly melancholic acoustic guitar intro, we’re then teased into the albums title track, although on the surface sounding like the usual chugging, once the chorus bursts open and Bozeman’s anthemic lyrics are uttered its clear that Whitechapel are here to stay. Although sometimes juvenile, the lyrics are undeniably very well written. Creating choruses that stick in your head for days and easy to learn lines ,even if most of them are incredibly nihilistic.
I will admit on first listen I thought the album was very bland and even a step back from what they had achieved in their self titled effort, however you cannot read a chapter of a book and expect to understand the novel… There is the obvious “The Saw Is The Law” which is a surefire crowd pleaser, with enough groove to give Pantera a run for their money added in with a tasteful little solo, but the true highlights come later in the album. “Let Me Burn”, originally being my least favourite track on the record, I penned as being slow and bland, just gets better with every listen and is arguably one of Whitechapel’s best written songs, a slow burner if you will.
The overall feel of the album is very much modern, with song titles “Worship the Digital Age” where Bozeman preaches about how electronic devices have enslaved us, the band were even asked by fans to re-record the albums guitars as they had too much of a new age sound, which fits perfectly with their evolved Whitechapel 2.0 persona. Although Whitechapel have not been around for long, they are rather quickly becoming a very influential band, gone are the passé breakdowns which bore you to tears. They have seemingly ushered in a new era for the modern metal band, crafting songs that not only sound great from the word go, but get better with every listen. Although as I had said before their self titled effort was more technical, Our Endless War has a sense of fluidity with each track standing tall and not being forgotten or worse just seen as filler. A great album at first, that gets better with every spin.
