WHITECHAPEL | LIVE REVIEW
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Mon 17 June
Having been witness to their assault on a packed-out tent at the Download Festival a mere 24 hours earlier, I am now about to witness Whitechapel’s assault on a packed out venue. The Tennessee five-piece are in town to show off the new tunes from new album The Valley and only on a few occasions have I felt like our beloved Clwb Ifor Bach could collapse at any moment, due to the ferocity portrayed onstage.
The begin the aural assault with the crushing Brimstone, a track that channels the devastating heaviness of a band like Morbid Angel, and the moshpit responds in organised violence that suggests the security are in for a long evening. It rarely lets up as the band pummel through several newer numbers, including Forgiveness Is Weakness and Black Bear, which are received warmly and vigorously by the sold out Cardiff crowd. By the time older favourite Mark Of The Blade is rolled out, I genuinely feel that vocalist Phil Bozeman may be on the cusp of soiling himself with his guttural Glen Benton-style vocals, which are only given the odd bit of relief during the clean-vocalled bits, few and far between as they are.
The other element of Whitechapel’s live performance to behold is the shredding ability of guitar duo Alex Wade and Ben Savage, both of whom peel off each other while keeping that balance of brutality and beauty in perfect tandem. When A Demon Defiles A Witch offers one of those slight vocal respites I was talking about – but only for a few mere seconds before Let Me Burn takes the pace back up. The band forgo the brooding scowls on their faces for a second to offer up thanks to the Clwb crowd, who have been superb tonight, but then it’s straight back to more savagery from both band and crowd as they finish up with the superbly titled The Saw Is The Law.
Not your average poorly attended Monday night gig, Whitechapel are on fire right now – and, with the heat generated in this room, so am I. It’s not hardcore, it’s not death metal, it’s a bit of both. It’s deathcore, Whitechapel are by far the finest purveyors of it, and they’ve again shown Cardiff just why.
words CHRIS ANDREWS