This Is Exile
This Is Exile sounds heavy immediately, but becomes more interesting when Whitechapel allow their guitars to do more than support the hardest moments. Low vocals and firm deathcore rhythms remain central while melody and freer development give the songs more space.
Father of Lies begins with plenty of guitar movement and a rhythm section which responds forcefully. Phil Bozeman's deep voice adds weight. The production sounds full and makes the relationship between the separate guitars clear. The heavy sound offers more substance than one large layer of low chords.
The title track keeps slower, heavily accented passages firmly in view, but later finds room for a memorable melodic change. That contrast strengthens the attack. The band never have to abandon their style to try something different with the structure.
The instrumental Death Becomes Him matters to the album's flow. Its threatening guitar lines add another colour and briefly remove the voice from the centre. Later, Messiahbolical takes more time to develop its different ideas. The ending feels more adventurous than a final succession of heavy impacts.
The first half does not always use that space as convincingly. Some passages remain close to the genre's established elements and stand out less beside the more interesting later songs. This Is Exile still contains plenty of strong decisions, however. Guitars receive recognisable roles, drums add movement and heavier passages become part of a larger whole. Whitechapel make a forceful, direct record which improves when it looks beyond the next slow riff. The conclusion shows how many possibilities remain within that approach, giving the final part of the album a particularly convincing sense of purpose.
