White Chapel Recorrupts The Masses

Whitechapel have been carving out a name for themselves in the genre of death/extreme metal since their debut The Somatic Defilement was released in 2007. The guys from Knoxville, Tennessee have been perfecting their hardcore sound and clawing their way up the hardcore scene. 2010’s A New Era of Corruption was a success on multiple levels and left fans in high anticipation of its follow-up. Well, the guys just released an EP entitled Recorrupted to tide the fans over until that full length album is completed.

Recorrupted is comprised of five tracks: one new song, one cover, two remixes and one acoustic. “Section 8” is the lone new track and it is Whitechapel delivering what they do best. It’s extreme and intense with crushing guitars and is a good indicator of where that next album might just take us. Vocalist Phil Bozeman is in rare form on this one and his guttural delivery is close to perfection.

Up next is the cover of Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength”. I have to admit that is a great spin on the song and it takes the song to a very dark place. Again, Phil’s vocals play a huge part in the dark edge that this cover has. The acoustic track, “End of Flesh”, is a reworking of the song originally found on their A New Era of Corruption album. Now, I know that an acoustic song from such a heavy band may automatically have fans pressing the next button and skipping over this track. I really hope that they take the time to listen to it because it’s an amazing stripped down version of the song. It shows that the guys are versatile and that their sound shouldn’t necessarily be put in a box and labeled.

The first remix is for “Breeding Violence”, from A New Era of Corruption, and it was done by Big Chocolate and has a dubstep sound to it. The remix for “This is Exile”, from the same titled album, by Ben Weindman of the Dillinger Escape Plan is really interesting. It is creepy and eerie at times and almost sounds like it would be at home on FX’s American Horror Story as its soundtrack. It even has a bit of a Trent Reznor feel to it.

This EP is really cool and I think that the fans will really like it. I am not sure on the remix of “Bleeding Violence”, but I think they will be pleased with the rest of it. The triple guitar attack of Ben Savage, Alex Wade and Zach Householder is an arsenal of sound just waiting to unleash on the listener. This EP also shows that the guys have a few tricks up their sleeves. If it’s an indicator of where they may be heading with the new album, then fans have a lot to look forward to. I encourage fans of the band and even fans of this genre to pick up the EP and give it an honest chance. I do believe that you will be happy if you do and you certainly will be rocking.