Whitechapel Brings The Chaos And Carnage Tour To Jannus Live

May 16th

March 29th of 2019 marked the release of Whitechapel’s newest album The Valley on Metal Blade Records. Long time producer Mark Lewis was behind the helm once again, making this the 4th album since the bands 2012’s self titled release. This record has manufactured 5 singles of the 10 tracks off the album including the brutal riff driven “Black Bear”, the dark and unstable “Third Depth”, The Valley’s intro track “When A Demon Defiles A Witch”, the melodically driven “Hickory Creek” and the absolutely bone crushing “Brimstone”. Throughout the bands career, they have never been the type to be complacent or stick to more traditional elements to the genre, and this record shows their wide range with how differently each song is structured.  Whitechapel has always tried to evolve as a band and they write for themselves because they want the art itself to evolve. With the exit of former drummer Ben Harclerode, Chason Westmoreland had filled in behind the kit for touring since 2017. But the band had reached out to veteran drummer Navene Koperweis (Entheos, Animals as Leaders and Animosity) to play on this album, but because of prior commitments, he could not. So enter Alex Rudinger (Obscura, the Faceless, Monuments) to take the reigns on this tour and additional shows up until October. Even with multiple lineup changes, Whitechapel always brings in the best talent around.

The Chaos & Carnage Tour is stacked with a ridiculous amount of talent including Uncured, Fallujah, SPITE, Revocation, Dying Fetus and of course, Whitechapel. If you’ve never seen the band perform live before, you will be treated to a 7 string onslaught of not one or two but three axe wielding guitar players, a percussion and bass section that has more earth shaking low end then an EDM concert and some of the deepest and most fierce growling vocals in metal today. Over the course of the bands brutal 14 song set, the fans in attendance circle pitted, head banged and chanted “WHITE-CHAP-EL!!!” with everything they had. They wanted the band to know that they were there to represent and to give back all that the band had given to them. Singer Phil Bozeman had stated in an interview that “We make music for ourselves first and foremost, and if fans like it, great. If they hate it, great. That’s the beauty of art. You do it for yourself and if you’re lucky, make a living off it.” People are sometimes confused by or resist change in many forms, especially in music. So when you have a band that tries to expand and re-invent themselves, it is not always met with open arms just because “It sounds different” from their last album.” My hat’s off to Whitechapel and to any band that shares that mentality of the music being for them first.

Whitechapel has select dates as part of the European tour which kicks off on June 15th in Paris, France and runs through July 6th. The next U.S. date are in October on the 12th at Great Stage Park and then again on the 13th at one of the biggest festivals of the year at EXIT 111 Fest. The bands catalog is extensive and impressive to say the least, but The Valley is some of their best work yet, so if you haven’t listened to it or picked it up yet, get over to the bands website, iTunes or any music streaming service and embrace the dark desire to watch you slip away… into oblivion!