While I haven’t been on board the WHITECHAPEL train as long as most of you, I have really come to dig their music for the past dozen years or so. I think what did it was seeing them live in Dallas, TX, not once but twice two summers in a row. Their energy was equally contagious and infectious.
Then 2014’s Our Endless War came down like Porkins’ X-Wing in Star Wars, and I was all kinds of in. You add to that my favorite tune from that album, “The Saw is the Law” (which they usually close shows with), and I was really all in.
If memory serves me correctly, I’ve missed nary a tour since, up until 2021. I can’t stress enough just how great they are live. But enough memories, because WHITECHAPEL’s new album, Hymns in Dissonance, has reached us today via Metal Blade Records. If you know anything about these boys, well…
Right from jump “A Visceral Retch” and “EX Infernis” swoop in and should have most of the villagers scrambling for cover. Vocalist Phil Bozeman sounds like he hasn’t eaten in days and your carotid artery looks just right, like Goldilocks’ porridge.
The opening track “Prisoner 666” feels like a sonic punch downstairs while you ask for more. Then the title track, and my favorite, “Hymns in Dissonance,” comes in and just wrecks shop, busting windows and setting shit on fire sonically.
“Hate Cult Ritual” I can only liken to the sound of Hell’s gates opening, and the album-closing “Nothing Is Coming For Any Of Us” swings the hammer of destruction down on our heads one last time before slinking off into the night.
All told, WHITECHAPEL has delivered the goods yet again. With Hymns In Dissonance, they have added yet another weapon to an already stacked arsenal. This is guaranteed to get all heads a-banging, so what are you waiting for?
STANDOUT TRACKS: “Hymns in Dissonance,” “Nothing Is Coming For Any of Us,” “EX Infernis,” “Hate Cult Ritual”
– THE MAESTRO
