Whitechapel 
                                                                                                   Title: The Somatic Defilement
                                                                                                           Label: Metal Blade 

'The Somatic Defilement' is Whitechapel's debut album after a signing to Candlelight Records in 2007 and has just been re- released by Metal Blade.  Now Whitechapel are like Marmite you either love it or hate it!  Now Metalcore has a lot of haters, this seems to be the case especially so with Whitechapel. 

I admit it’s not my favourite genre in Metal,  but I kind of really enjoy Whitechapel, this album is a dark, grisly and a stunningly gruesome, dark debut.  

Focusing its entire story on the murders committed by Jack the Ripper, it’s a slashing concept album of gore and nastiness very cleverly done.  In fact even the band’s name derives from the area in London where Jack The Ripper slew his victims.  

 

The album opens with an excerpt of an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer.  Then Phil Bozeman letting out not one, but TWO insanely low growls, that make your hair stand on end!  'Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation' is insanely heavy, it will make your head spin and yours ears bleed. 

There are a hell of a lot of death Metal influences on this album like the heavy and insanely grinding 'Festering Fiesta' and 'Exciser' for instance.  Throughout this album the lyrics are psychopathic bordering on hellish insanity, take Charles Manson, Jack The Ripper, Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dhamer lock them in a room for a week and record their thoughts then you kind of get the idea of the hostility, ugliness and pain in the lyrics all delivered with more venom than a rattle snake by Phil Bozeman.

 

The drumming is insanely intense and delivered from Lucifer’s locker.  There’s so many tracks that stand out and batter your very being, if you want blast beats a plenty and aggressive killing vocals then 'The Vicer Exciser' will thrill you and get into you head causing chaos, it’s the strongest track and the most vicious lyrically. 

 

This album was kind of the land mark for death core and one the band with their millions of fans will look back on with fondness, its brutal, destroying and damn hostile, it’s an awesome debut.  If you have never listened to Whitechapel, but love your horror and Gore check out this album by possibly the best death core band around.

 

Review by: Seb Di Gatto

 

Tracklisting:

1. Necrotizing
2. The Somatic Defilement
3. Devirgination Studies
4. Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation
5. Fairy Fay
6. Ear To Ear
7. Alone In The Morgue
8. Festering Fiesta
9. Vicer Exciser
10. Articulo Mortis