One of the most uncompromising deathcore bands in today’s extreme music, Tennessee’s Whitechapel has been a band I followed for so many years. Getting them after hearing the song Possession off on This Is Exile through Headbangers Ball as a teenager I have never felt so appreciative and well-rounded that a song so intense, very visceral has made me wanting more music from this band. Since the course of their formation, Whitechapel not only has toured with some of the biggest names in extreme metal from Carnifex, Cannibal Corpse, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Job For A Cowboy, Lamb Of God and Slipknot to name a few, their career has been nothing but positive and parallel. After the success of 2019’s The Valley which in my opinion was Whitechapel’s most strongest, emotionally driven and progressive albums since A New Era Of Corruption, Kin is the latest offering by the band and is released through Metal Blade Records.
Now, if anyone knows Whitechapel’s sound from their early days, you might be little disappointed because Kin is a continuation to The Valley and while I don’t necessarily think it is a direct sequel to The Valley, Kin is a album that showcases and demands all immediate attention to hear the most brilliant, emotive and melodic styled arrangements of deathcore in a very longtime. From the single Lost Boy which reminded me of a heavier version of Tool for the clean style vocals and layers upon layers of wonderful and vibrant progressive undertones, to other heavy hitters such as A Bloodsoaked Symphony, Orphan, The Ones That Made Us and the beautiful instrumental side of Without You, you can tell clearly that they have matured and grown to become such professional musicians and throughout hearing this record, I can say this is the direction I’m glad Whitechapel is taking leaps and bounds and adding such diversity to the songwriting, arrangements and progression.
Not only has Kin taken naturalistic song variations, polished production, matured songwriting and a continuation that’s undeniably straightforward where the deathcore influences have been stripped a tad bit, the musical ability by the band really showcased how far they’ve been a band for so long just to incorporate many hybrids of music into one massive listening experience showcases a lot of progression upon hearing the album front to back. Whitechapel’s Kin have accompanied to construct and create massive amounts of mentality which musically, atmospherically and lyrically proven why this band are along the way to create their most distinguished and polished albums they’ve ever produced. Kin has definitely caught me by a instant surprise displaying the band’s most experimented material to date and I can safely say that if you loved The Valley, Kin is a massive improvement which shows the next evolution onto new branches and heights.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
