Here we have the Metal Blade Records debut of Knoxville, Tennessee-based brutal deathcore act Whitechapel entitled This Is Exile. For those of you unfamiliar with Whitechapel, they’re a six-piece, consisting of three guitarists, a bassist, drummer and vocalist.

The material contained on This Is Exile can be described in a single word; SLAMMIFICATION! This is the term Razorback Records head honcho Billy Nocera came up with to describe shitty brutal death metal and deathcore that’s overflowing with pointless breakdowns and obnoxious riffs repeated over and over until you want to grab a pen and stab yourself in the ears to make it stop.

Every song has the same basic structure; chug-chug-chug-chug-pause-chug-chug-chug-chug RAAAAAWWWWRRRRR… GUHHHRRRR HUHHHRRRR GUHHHRRRR… chug-chug-chug-chug-pause-chug-chug-chug… the riffing is pretty simplistic, so I’m not entirely sure why three guitarists are required, when one shitty one could do it all himself. I guess six guys jumping around dressed up like emo hipster faggots looks way more brutal than just four idiots slammin’ to this shit. Actually, since they’re hicks and hipsters I’ll refer to them as hicksters from now on.

Musically, Whitechapel isn’t the worst deathcore I’ve ever heard, but it’s really nothing different from the 800 other hipster douchebag bands playing this exact same style. The music contains the exact same breakdowns, power chord riffs and drum beats you’d expect from this style of music. The best way to describe Whitechapel would be to think of a typical The Black Dahlia Murder album and get rid of the melody and replace it with deathcore slam riffs.

The lone bright spot is the varied vocal approach of Phil Bozeman who displays a surprising amount of range. He goes from deep grizzly bear vocals, to raspy growls, to deathcore barks, to the occasional shriek. He doesn’t have the greatest vocals I’ve ever heard, but he brings enough to the material that it makes the band slightly more interesting to listen to than if they had a vocalist who sang in a single style.

To be honest, I was a little surprised by the music contained on This Is Exile. Despite the band being a deathcore band from Tennessee, there were no lyrics discussing the virtues of fucking your cousin or banjo plucking with song intros featuring lines from the movie Deliverance (ie. “I bet you can squeal like a pig. Weeeeeeeeee!”). Actually, that probably would have made This Is Exile more entertaining.

Judging by all of the shit talking I’d heard about Whitechapel I was honestly expecting a lot worse from This Is Exile. For what it is, it’s okay, but by no means is this something that appeals to me in the slightest. That said, listening to Whitechapel, for me, is much like eating at White Castle; it leaves me nauseated, gassy and with a wicked case of the sharts. I can’t wait until this horrible fad dies and all of this hipster and hickster retards cut their hair, get jobs and stop playing this crap. Or at least once the big labels stop releasing it anyway. Written By: Teufel