Review: Whitechapel Return to Form in Epic Fashion on Hymns in Dissonance

It’s nice to branch out and try new things every so often. After all, variety is the spice of life; even the things you love most can start to feel stale and played out from time to time, and nobody took that to heart more than Knoxville, Tennessee’s resident deathcore juggernauts Whitechapel, whose last two albums were a massive, slightly polarizing stylistic departure. Both 2019’s The Valley and its successor, 2021’s Kin, were strikingly slower and much more melodic than anything we were used to hearing from this band — a somber, unflinching interrogation of trauma and grief inspired by Phil Bozeman’s own turbulent past.

It was a bold move on their part, one that they knew might alienate a good portion of their fanbase but one that, in hindsight, was also necessary to bring about a sense of catharsis and closure. Healing from trauma is a complex and never-ending process, but at some point you can and should leave the past where it belongs in order to unburden yourself of it and move on. For Whitechapel, that time has come.

Their artistic detour has finally come full circle; they’ve said what needed to be said, explored what needed to be explored, and now it’s time to get back to doing what they do best, namely kicking everyone’s teeth in with their trademark blend of pulverizing deathcore. There’s electricity in the air and blood in the water. The boys are starting to feel hungry again, famished even, and that hunger has culminated in a veritable explosion of fury and passion fueled by a palpable sense of newfound purpose.

Fans will be delighted to hear that the ferocious new album Hymns in Dissonance is indeed one of Whitechapel’s heaviest offerings since the glory days of The Somatic Defilement and This is Exile. It captures that same raw energy and mouth-frothing rage in a way that, for one reason or another, hasn’t been seen for quite some time, but with a new and improved modern twist borne of the nearly twenty years of experience they have accumulated since then.

First and foremost, holy shit, do we need to talk about Phil’s vocals. This might be my favorite performance in his entire catalogue, and as well all know, that is saying something. Bozeman has always been in the upper echelon of deathcore vocalists, a reliable go-to representative of the genre as a whole, but this album in particular showcases just how broad his range can really be, minus the clean singing segments, of course. From gurgling, spewing lows to piercing highs and just about every conceivable pitch in between, the man puts everything he’s got and then some into this record, and the end result is enough to illicit a stank face from even the staunchest naysayers.

Another highlight is the addition of their brand-new drummer Brandon Zackey, who came out swinging for the fences on this album like he had something to prove. His playstyle fits the band’s new (old?) direction perfectly, utilitarian enough to not hog the spotlight but more than bombastic and stylish enough to elevate everything to that all-important next level. For a prime example, see the absolute barn burner that is the third track “Diabolic Slumber”, but be sure to keep an extra pair of underwear handy because it’s a doozy. All of the songs are heavy, but the opening half of that song is particularly… unfriendly. Somebody’s gonna get hurt to that song at a show in the near future, I’m calling it now (see the tour dates below and plot out your route to the emergency room from there).

Honestly, Bozeman and Zackey do the lion’s share of the work on this album, but that’s not to insinuate that the rest of the guys are slacking off, by any means. The guitarists’ and bassist’s jobs are simply much more straightforward- to create a tsunami of sheer unadulterated tone that’s practically its own percussion instrument, while the drums and vocals add the necessary flair that distinguishes one series of monstrous chugs apart from the other. It’s a phenomenon that happens a lot in deathcore, one that can be something of a turn-off to people like me who get burnt out on breakdown after breakdown after breakdown before too long, but even I have to admit that they fucking nailed it on this one.

What makes Hymns stand out in its field, at least to me, is how it utilizes its own momentum in a way that is near surgical in its precision and confidence. It’s difficult to put into words what it is that makes specific variations of DUNDUNDUNDUN work more than others, but when it does, it just makes sense. It may not be the most technical music out there (though there are a number of solos scattered throughout providing the occasional much-needed breath of fresh air), but there is still painstaking attention to detail in terms of pacing and flow. It feels like a fully realized, thoroughly fleshed out idea, a hellish puzzle whose pieces fit flush together to hide the jigsaw lines and create a picture that is concise, unified, and utterly horrific.

Experimentation and deviation from the norm can be a good thing; stagnation is the enemy of progress and all that, but at the same time, sometimes it’s good- healthy, even- to return to one’s roots in order to figure out the next step of the journey. You can’t fault a band as successful as Whitechapel for wanting to try something different after a while, especially when there’s a story begging to be told. They are artists, after all. But then again, there’s also something to be said for sticking to your guns and knowing what you’re good at, and I think I speak for most, if not all, of us when I say- it’s good to have you back, boys. Welcome home.

Hymns in Dissonance drops Friday, March 7 via Metal Blade Records, pre-order your copy here

WHITECHAPEL ‘HYMNS IN DISSONANCE’ TOUR
w/ Brand Of Sacrifice, 200 Stab Wounds, Alluvial

3/18/2025 The Ritz – Raleigh, NC
3/19/2025 Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
3/20/2025 Theatre Of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
3/21/2025 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
3/22/2025 Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
3/24/2025 L’Olympia – Montreal, QC
3/25/2025 Danforth Music Hall – Toronto, ON
3/26/2025 Saint Andrew’s Hall – Detroit, MI
3/28/2025 House Of Blues – Chicago, IL
3/29/2025 Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN
3/30/2025 Bourbon Theatre – Lincoln, NE
4/01/2025 Summit – Denver, CO
4/02/2025 The Grand @ The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
4/04/2025 The Palace Theatre – Calgary, AB
4/05/2025 Union Hall – Edmonton, AB
4/07/2025 The Pearl – Vancouver, BC
4/08/2025 Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
4/09/2025 The Showbox – Seattle, WA
4/11/2025 Ace Of Spades – Sacramento, CA
4/12/2025 The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
4/13/2025 Nile Theater – Mesa, AZ
4/15/2025 The Studio @ The Factory – Dallas, TX
4/16/2025 Aztec Theatre – San Antonio, TX
4/18/2025 The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
4/19/2025 The Masquerade (Heaven) – Atlanta, GA