Whitechapel (band)

Whitechapel is an American deathcore band from Knoxville, Tennessee. The band is named after the Whitechapel district in East London, England, referencing the series of murders committed by Jack the Ripper. The group comprises vocalist Phil Bozeman, guitarists Ben Savage, Alex Wade, and Zach Householder, bassist Gabe Crisp, and drummer Ben Harclerode. Founded in 2006 by Bozeman and Savage, the band has released six studio albums, eleven music videos and are currently signed to Metal Blade Records. Whitechapel's 2010 album A New Era of Corruption, sold around 10,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release and debuted at position No. 43 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band's self-titled fourth album was released on June 19, 2012 and debuted at No. 47 on the Billboard 200, selling roughly 9,200 copies in its first week.

History

Formation and The Somatic Defilement (2006–2007)

Whitechapel was founded in February 2006 by Knoxville residents Phil Bozeman, Brandon Cagle, and Ben Savage. They were soon joined by Alex Wade (formerly of Redwinterdying) as a guitarist, along with bassist, Gabe Crisp, and drummer, Derek Martin. The group recorded their first demos in March of that year. They named themselves after the location in London known as Whitechapel where the occurrence of the infamous Whitechapel murders were committed by Jack the Ripper.^[1] In 2007, the band signed to Siege of Amida Records in the United Kingdom, and Candlelight Records in North America, and later acquired new drummer Kevin Lane and released their debut full-length album The Somatic Defilement in June of that year.^[2][3][4]

This Is Exile (2007–2010)

In October 2007, the group signed to Metal Blade Records, and in 2008 released their second album entitled This Is Exile.^[5][6] The album reached No. 118 in the Billboard Top 200.^[7] In May 2008, the band toured on The Summer Slaughter Tour, and in August 2008, they began their first ever headlining tour with Impending Doom, A Different Breed of Killer, and Through the Eyes of the Dead.

In 2008, they were starting to tour with more popular bands such as Parkway Drive and Unearth on the Never Say Die! tour. They have produced a video for the song "Possession", along with one for "This Is Exile". Whitechapel has also toured on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival on the Hot Topic Stage along with the bands Job for a Cowboy, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth and The Black Dahlia Murder, and alongside bands of the main stage such as Slayer and Marilyn Manson, who headlined the tour.

Whitechapel toured with Darkest Hour and Trivium on Trivium's 2009 and 2010 "Into the Mouth of Hell We Tour".^[8]

A New Era of Corruption and Lane's departure (2010–2011)

Whitechapel recorded their follow-up album to This Is Exile from December 27 to March 31 with Jason Suecof as the chosen producer. The band early-on announced a summer 2010 release date for the record.^[9] The name of the album was later confirmed to be A New Era of Corruption. A song from A New Era of Corruption entitled, "The Darkest Day of Man" was performed live before the album's release.^[10] Months later it was released as streaming media online.^[11] A New Era of Corruption was released on June 8, 2010, sold around 10,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release and debuted at position No. 43 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[12]

Whitechapel's focus on mass exposure over their small, dedicated following has provided them with featured spots in both California Metal Fest IV and 2010's Warped Tour.^[13] They have also been announced to play Download festival in 2010, and will be a part of the second stage showcased.^[14] A headlining US tour with Impending Doom, Oceano, I Declare War and Miss May I was held before the end of November. During December 2010, drummer, Kevin Lane willingly left the group to return to college and due to his ankle not being on par and would hinder the band; former Knights of the Abyss drummer Benjamin Harclerode joined the band in Lane's replacement.^[15] A live music video for the song "Breeding Violence" was released February 7, 2011. Whitechapel did a US headlining tour titled "The Welcome To Hell Tour" with The Acacia Strain, Veil of Maya, Chelsea Grin and I Declare War throughout February and March 2011. This tour was followed by another headlining tour of the same name in Europe with The Acacia Strain as direct support and Impending Doom opening the show. Whitechapel also co-headlined the 2011 Summer Slaughter Tour, alongside The Black Dahlia Murder. In the fall and winter of 2011, Whitechapel embarked on a US tour with The Devil Wears Prada, For Today and Enter Shikari.

In September 28, Whitechapel released a new song titled "Section 8" and confirmed a limited edition EP titled Recorrupted;^[16] the EP was released on November 8, 2011.

Recorrupted and Whitechapel (2012–2013)

Whitechapel undertook a US headlining tour titled "The Recorruptour" with Miss May I, After the Burial, Within the Ruins, The Plot in You and Structures throughout March and May 2012.^[17] Whitechapel also played the entire Mayhem Festival 2012.^[18]

The band recorded their self-titled fourth album at Audio Hammer Studios with producer Mark Lewis, which was released June 19 via Metal Blade Records, debuted at No. 47 on the Billboard 200, selling roughly 9,200 copies in its first week.^[19][20] The first single, entitled "Hate Creation", was released on April 30 via the Metal Blade Records YouTube channel.^[21] Whitechapel had to cancel the European tour with August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada due to an illness in the family. They co-headlined the Brothers of Brutality tour in January and February with The Plot in You, Obey the Brave, Unearth, and Emmure as well as co-headlining the "Don't Pray for Us" tour with Asking Alexandria, Motionless in White, Chimaira, and I Killed the Prom Queen.

On April 16, 2013, a remixed and remastered edition of their debut album The Somatic Defilement was released via Metal Blade Records.^[22]

Our Endless War (2013–2015)

The band announced via Twitter and Instagram that a new album would be recorded in the Fall of 2013. With this announcement they released a video of a new guitar riff. On August 31, 2013, the band announced via Facebook that drum tracking for the album had begun. On November 29, 2013, vocalist Phil Bozeman stated via YouTube that the band's last day in the studio would be December 9, and said that by then, everything should be done and ready to be sent to mixing and mastering. He said that he didn't yet have a release date for the album, but simply said "sometime next year, sometime after Christmas". On December 7, the band posted an in-studio teaser of the new album on both Facebook and YouTube. On December 10, the band announced that tracking of the album had been completed. On February 26, 2014, it was announced the new album would be called Our Endless War, and the album's lead single, "The Saw is the Law", was released. They also announced a North American release date of April 29, 2014, and released the album artwork and track listing on the same day. Our Endless War itself received mixed reviews upon its release. On 20 February 2015 the band published a video for the song "Let Me Burn" from the album.^[23] A lyric and live music video were released for the title track, "Our Endless War", and a music video was released for "Worship the Digital Age".

Mark of the Blade (2015–present)

On September 13, 2015, Phil Bozeman informally announced in YouTube vlog that the band was currently in the process of writing a new album entitled Mark of the Blade, which was released on June 24, 2016.^[24] Phil also stated the album would feature clean vocals performed by himself.

Musical style and influences

Whitechapel is generally considered a deathcore band.^[25][26][27] Whitechapel have stated that they are influenced by a wide variety of artists, including Cannibal Corpse, Meshuggah, Slipknot, Dying Fetus, Bloodbath, Pantera, Metallica, Slayer, Suffocation, Deftones, Despised Icon, Behemoth, Nile, Gojira,^[28] Vader, Necrophagist, Carcass, Aborted, Amon Amarth, Agnostic Front, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Napalm Death, Entombed and Cattle Decapitation.^[29][30]

In an interview Bozeman has stated: "Me and Ben [Savage] are more the death metal kind of guys like Cannibal Corpse and Bloodbath, Zach [Householder] is too but he’s more into epic black metal and European metal, Norwegian black metal and he brings a lot of that influence, Alex [Wade] has more of a hardcore background and that’s his influence."^[31]

Members

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

• Recorrupted (2011)

Demos

• Demo 1 (2006)
• Demo 2 (2006)
• Demo 3 (2011)

Live albums

• The Brotherhood of the Blade (2015)

Music videos

Concert tours

• June Tour '07 (June 1–28, 2007)
• Siege of Amida Us Tour (July 1 – 23, 2007)
• Heaven vs Hell Tour (August 24 - October 9, 2007)
• Live Free or Mosh Hard 2007 (November 10 - December 15, 2007)
• The Doomsayers 2008 Tour (January 31 - March 2, 2008)
• The Ultimatour (April 25 - May 13, 2008)
• Summer Slaughter 2008 (June 20 - July 28, 2008)
• Headlining Tour (August 28 - September 27, 2008)
• Unearth Tour (October 1 – 30, 2008)
• Never Say Die! Euro Club (November 7 – 29, 2008)
• Australian Tour January 2009 (January 6–17, 2009)
• 'Blood Apocalypse' North American Headlining Tour (March 11 - April 18, 2009)
• Despised Icon Euro Trip (June 18 - July 4, 2009)
• Mayhem Festival (July 10 - August 15, 2009) Marilyn Manson, Slayer, Killswitch Engage, Bullet for my Valentine, Cannibal Corpse, Job For A Cowboy, Behemoth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel Trivium, All That Remains, God Forbid
• Into The Mouth Of Hell We Tour (September 11 - December 12, 2009
• Soundwave 2010 (February 20 - March 1, 2010)
• Into the Mouth of Hell We Tour UK (March 5 – 24, 2010)
• Job for a Cowboy Headlining Tour (April 21 - May 27, 2010)
• Warped Tour 2010 (June 24 - August 15, 2010) Suicide Silence, Parkway Drive, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Attack Attack, Bring me the Horizon, Whitechapel, Of Mice & Men, The Word Alive, Dropkick Murphys, Every Time I Die, Bad Religion
• The Corruptour (October 1–23, 2010)
• UK Fall 2010 Tour (November 4–10, 2010)
• The Welcome To Hell Tour (February 10 - April 22, 2011) Whitechapel, The Acacia Strain, Veil of Maya, I Declare War
• The Summer Slaughter Tour 2011 (July 22 - August 21, 2011) The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Dying Fetus, Six Feet Under, Oceano, As Blood Runs Black, Abigail Williams, Powerglove
• Dead Throne Tour North America 2011 (November 3 - December 18, 2011)
• The Recorruptour (Part.1: March 10–30, 2012) Miss May I, After the Burial, Within the Ruins, The Plot in You, Structures
• Dead Throne Tour Latin America 2012 (April 21–29, 2012)
• The Recorruptour (Part.2: May 3–18, 2012)
• Mayhem Festival 2012 (June 30 - August 5, 2012)
• 10 Years of Perseverance Tour (September 13 - October 12, 2012)
• 2012 European Tour (October 18 - November 19, 2012)
• Brothers of Brutality Tour (January 1 - February 11th, 2013) Whitechapel, Emmure, Unearth, Obey the Brave, The Plot in You
• 2014 Summer Tour (May 17 - June 23, 2014) Devildriver, Whitechapel, Carnifex, Revocation, Fit For an Autopsy, Rivers of Nihil
• Our Endless War Tour (October 14 - November 14, 2014) Whitechapel, Upon A Burning Body, Glass Cloud
• Mayhem Festival 2015 (June 26- August 2, 2015) Slayer, King Diamond, Hellyeah, The Devil Wears Prada, Whitechapel, Thy Art is Murder, Jungle Rot, Sister Sin, Sworn In, Shattered Sun, Feed Her to the Sharks, Code Orange
• Warped Tour 2016 (June 24 - August 13, 2016) Sum 41, Chelsea Grin, Motionless in White, Wage War, Crown the Empire, New Found Glory, Hail the Sun, Silent Planet, Veil of Maya, Volumes, Oceans Ate Alaska, Coldrain, Old Wounds
• Straight Outta Hell Tour (September 30 - October 21, 2016) Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Despised Icon, Carnifex, Oceano

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Whitechapel (band).

• Official website