"I honestly don't think that we ever have to prove anything to anyone, we do this because we enjoy it, and if people want to listen and support us, that's just a bonus," says Bozeman. "With this record we knew what we didn't want to do. We wanted to get away from the faster stuff, because we're burned out on that 260bpm blastbeat thing. We've done that. Ultimately none of us agree with genre pigeon-holing, and we're not afraid to write what we want to write, no matter what anyone else thinks."
I appreciate Whitechapel. I didn't really get to know them until their self-titled release (my personal favorite), but they struck me as a deathcore group with some substance to their sound. Anyone familiar with their earlier records will tell you that the band has enough influence from the brutal and technical death camps to warrant some respect in terms of musicianship. But then they released Our Endless War, and I started to lose interest. Something about that album just didn't sit right with me, and for others this feeling started with the Whitechapel. But I keep an open mind and have seen groups rally before. Maybe Mark of the Blade would be the follow-up I was looking for.
So here is where I explain my decision to open with the above quote: it justifies a lot about the record, and helps me maintain my mission statement of constructive criticism. With Mark of the Blade, Whitechapel continue in much the same trajectory set in motion by the last few records, and similar to that of Suicide Silence. Songs are slower, simpler, and more focused on groove than ever. The fact that this is a conscious decision makes it slightly more respectable in my mind, but as the band puts it, they don't care what I think anyways. Touche.
Understand, there are things I do enjoy about this album. "The Void," "Mark of the Blade," and "The Elitist Ones" are all decent enough songs ("anthems" even) that are both heavy enough to satisfy the extreme and catchy enough to continue making a mark on the mainstream. Some of these guitar parts like the Meshuggah-esque "Tormented" or rapid-firing wah-wah of "Venomous" reignite the spark that got me into the band to begin with. There's even a handful of respectable solos to be found. The real problem I have with Mark of the Blade is the lyrics. Unfortunate words come to mind like "sophomoric," "derivative," and "uninspired"; these are not terms you want anywhere near something you have put hard work into.
And that's just the thing: I know that these guys have worked hard on their music. I bare them no ill will. I just can't abide by simply recycling old cliches ad nauseum. Now it's a fair point that plenty of other albums I have heard even this very year may suffer from the same issue, but the vocals on those releases were often so indecipherable as to render this a moot point. The fact that the very intelligible delivery plays such a central role to the music here is what makes it such a problem. A few excerpts:
"It's like I've got a gun to my head." "I just don't give a f#@k!" "Nothing will ever be the same!" "There's nothing left!" "F#%k the world, I don't care anymore!" "I know where you lay your head." "Now that the tables have turned..." "You've created a monster." "You reap what you sow, you pay what you owe!"
Sadly, those last 6 are all from the same song. Listen, at the end of the day, I don't mean to say I expect every band to produce poetry. Quite to the contrary. A few well-placed, well thought out words can speak volumes, even when those words are contemptuous and filled with foul language (see Great American Ghost). God knows that my own writing and reviews sometimes recycle ideas and even full phrases, but there's a difference between that and simply dusting off every old gem we have heard literally thousands of times before from other musicians. I just think that these guys are capable of better.
All of this to still say that I have fun with this record. It's something I can jam out to, and some of the screams on here are totally righteous. Phil has some hellish pipes that are unmatched in vitriol. I also actually enjoyed the atypical, Norma Jeanish “Bring Me Home” and ominous instrumental, “Brotherhood.” Whitechapel is one of the better mainstream deathcore acts out there, and looking at their greater body of work, they have earned it. All I am saying is that with acts like Within Destruction and Azgard coming out of the underground to shake up the game, they better watch their asses. Mark of the Blade is out today via the excellent Metal Blade records. Make the decision for yourself whether to pick it up wherever CD's are sold.