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IN RETROSPECT... - Whitechapel: A New Era of Corruption
This is one of those cases of simple "What the hell was I thinking?" madness. In 2010, Whitechapel issued their third full-length release and, for some reason, I loved it. I played the hell out of that CD in my car for quite a while. However, it was eventually shelved as I simply started to get a little dull of it. But, then, something happened at some point, and now I can't really stand it on a personal level like I did before.
Usually, when I sit down and review a CD I love or loved, it doesn't end well. This one ends up proving that correct. I have no idea what it is about A New Era of Corruption, but when I threw this one in my player after glancing over it in my collection looking for something to listen to in the car, I wasn't expecting it to sound so...dull. The album's music still felt heavy, but it just felt like I was suspended in water or something, trying to move faster, but simply couldn't. The slower paces of the songs really just frustrated the hell out of me, and three songs in I was ready to rip the disc out of my player had I not reached my destination. With that being said, there were some notable tracks I did enjoy that had catchier material, but even those track for my personal tastes really didn't stack up to what my memory of this release was.
For a while, I called this album one of Whitechapel's finest and, given their previous efforts, I'll still stand by that statement. However, I cannot say that this is anything too breathtaking for the Deathcore field on a personal level. Nothing here really inspired me to want to mosh or anything where I stood, or even made me want to push down the gas pedal a little more. I dug the atmospheres more then anything else, and as a fan of Deathcore I'll always find that a pivotol part of this album, and the band's overall sound. The heavier material being performed thanks to the three guitars sounds good, but given the simplistic material that half the time didn't even feel too catchy to me as I was driving down the road at the posted speed of forty five miles an hour, I not once felt compelled to bang my head to the track or just start belting out guttural vocals along with it despite not knowing the lyrics.
It's definitely true that when I sit down and really examine an album, I can tear good releases in my personal eye apart and never be able to hear them the same way again. A New Era of Corruption didn't suffer this fate under my critical eye, but instead was scorned by my personal tastes. While this isn't bad enough that I'm going to sell it off to a used CD store for one dollar US (I checked, not worth it...), it'll become an album sittin in the collection building up dust. Maybe I can find a use for it to go along with a video game at some point, but in that case I think I'd just rather throw in some traditional Death Metal. I'm not someone who hates the Deathcore genre, and like I said I do respect the band for what they bring to the table, but as far as what I want in my car goes, this effort simply is not it. I can't really even picture myself laying down with this release to have something on in the background as white noise to fall asleep to, or just have while reading a book or something.
My critical review of this album isn't going to be too far away. I admit that when really looking into A New Era of Corruption, there is a decent amount of things to be said in the positive light that makes it better then anything Emmure has done, or even No Time to Bleed by Suicide Silence. But, this doesn't mean I have any plans to get back in my car and listen to the rest of this CD one more time on my way back home from the office. This revisiting was nice, but, who knows. Maybe I'll open up an eBay account and sell it off. But, see, this is the question I ended up asking myself at the end of the that casual spin: Does it shock me?
I honestly don't have any idea what it was that made me love A New Era of Corruption when it dropped. I had never been a fan of their material before, but something about this one struck me. Perhaps it was the potential of the group on the release thanks to the atmospheric material and how heavy it was. But the second I popped it in this time my jaw just dropped in disgust. It's amazing how such a short time can really change one's opinions about something they love, but when you really break something down for the first time it can damage it even more. With the review being composed after I post this article on the site, it's pretty safe to say my view of the release will be a little more favorable when torn into critically, I'm sure. But, overall, it just doesn't give me that same thrill it did once before, and I simply cannot explain why. Perhaps it's the time I spent with the new EP Recorrupted? I don't remember being too fond of those song in a casual, personal view either, so that might be why this album rubs me the wrong way. Or, perhaps I just never really noticed how simple this album truly was in the end.
Either way, I'd honestly like to be able to enjoy this album again. Not simply because I paid the money for it and it's in my collection, but rather I did enjoy it at some point and it'd be nice to be able to pop it back in and just kick back with it once more. But, for now, I'll sit back here while tearing it apart and probably ask myself repeatedly what it was that I was thinking when it came to this release.
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