Whitechapel, who were inspired to call themselves so whilst watching Ian Holm rendition of Jack The Ripper in From Hell, a band who formed not so long ago in 2006 in their home town of Knoxville, USA, have gone from strength to strength over the recent years. It was in 2007 with the release of concept album This Is Exile when the band joined Metal Blade Records that they really hit the big time, pushing them to the front and setting a high bar for bands in Death Metal

Now, in 2010 has seen the highly anticipated release of their third offering, A New Era Of Corruption. One of Whitechapel’s original guitarists’, Alex Wade explains how the response has been to the latest release:

WADE - “The response has been amazing. We sold 10,600 copies [in the] first week in the US and charted number 42 on the Billboard 200; which is pretty crazy to think a four year old Death Metal band could break the top 50 on the Billboard 200. We were very happy with how well it did.”

RMN - This Is Exile was all about creating beings, the destruction and “exile” of these armies and discovering who really is the darkest person. So what exactly is the new album all about?

WADE - “With every album we want to progress in some form or fashion. Now that doesn’t mean we want to change our sound, because we will always be as brutal and as dark as possible, but we like to progress and make ourselves more professional with every CD we release. With this CD we really focused on the song writing and made an effort to write memorable songs rather than just throwing a bunch of riffs together.”

RMN - The latest video of Whitechapel is for The Darkest Day Of Man Watch Here at Metalblade.TV and is not for the faint of heart, in a positive sense; one might call it “sick.” Featuring gory animation and directed by David Brodsky who has worked with the guys before, Alex explains the story behind the video:


WADE - “Honestly we just shot the band performance parts of it and then we gave David Brodsky a vague idea of a man being torn apart and turned into a machine and he hired an animator to do the animation of it. It definitely came out pretty gruesome, which I think fits the music perfectly.”

RMN - Whitechapel are a Deathcore band at the forefront of the scene right now, so do the band ever feel pressured by this title?



WADE - “There is definitely a little pressure there but I feel we are all very confident musicians. We just do what we do, we are always worried about putting out music that will please our old fans and help gain us new ones, but it’s not like we don’t sleep at night. We just pick up our instruments and do what we do best and that’s making heavy, angry and brutal Metal.

RMN - Death Metal, Deathcore and the “scene” are under constant scrutiny by selective fans of the Metal genre. Bringing a new style of mosh pit with moves like 2 stepping and windmilling that is criticized for endangering fellow moshers and contradicting what a mosh pit is all about. So putting all stigmas to the genre aside, what is Alex’s own opinion on the scene?

WADE - “[Death Metal is] doing well in both countries. I feel like it has been and continues to rise quickly into the mainstream. Take that as you will, but I think it’s great because it is giving bands like us a chance at making music out career, which is every musician’s dream I believe.”

RMN - So with Death Metal becoming mainstream, more acts are appearing on the underground and it is important to stand out from the crowd. What advice would be given to new bands looking to tackle the scene?

WADE - “Do something new and different, pay attention to song structure and create something interesting for your listeners, not just blast beats and breakdowns. IF you can deliver something good that they have never heard of before you are sure to grasp the attention and devotion of die-hard metal heads.”

RMN - To finish, Alex talks about Whitechapel’s busy tour schedule including the perfect tour line up for all Death Metal fans; Job For A Cowboy, Annotations Of An Autopsy and the brutal lords themselves:

WADE - “We have been great friends with JFAC since the Rockstar Mayhem Festival tour in the US in 2009 and we just direct supported them in the US on their headliner in May. It was a blast and we can’t wait to bring it across the pond for our overseas fans to enjoy. We have never played with AOAA but we have met them and they are great dudes so I’m sure we will have a great time with them as well.

Right now we are on Warped Tour in the states, and then we will be doing a short US headliner in the fall, with headlining dates in Alaska and Hawaii as well. And then we finish up the year with JFAC European headliner so we are pretty slammed this year to say the least.”

Buy a New Era of Corruption available now on Metal Blade Records