ALBUM REVIEW: Kin – Whitechapel

WHITECHAPEL are not a deathcore band. Just a few years ago that would’ve been a laughable statement; cursory listens to The Somatic Defilement or anything prior to 2017’s The Valley would point squarely at deathcore as their niche. But with the aforementioned album and now this year’s new album, Kin, it’s clear that they’ve outgrown its confines and pushed into new territories.

Phil Bozeman has long been regarded as one of metal’s finer vocalists, but with The Valley he, along with the rest of the band, embraced new ways of writing and performing. It gave rise to their first experimentations with cleanly sung vocals, something they’ve continued with on Kin to resounding success. 

A dark, almost country acoustic guitar opens first track I Will Find You. Lyrically it picks up immediately where Doom Woods left off at the end of The Valley and the theme continues throughout the album, invoking the supernatural too as it describes familial bonds and tension, issues of self-acceptance and personal growth. The band often lean more into groove territory, much like on Kin’s predecessor. There’s sparse but tasteful lead work on I Will Find You for instance, while lead single Lost Boy is perhaps the closest they come to their older sound. Its frantic pacing and rapid-fire drumming is still more reminiscent of death metal than deathcore though and it expands into an almost PARKWAY DRIVE-esque chorus. It’s short-lived however, preferring to return to the hurtling minecart that characterises the verses. 

A Bloodsoaked Symphony is an early album highlight; starting quietly, it builds into a towering, groove-laden number that more than lives up to its name. Bozeman’s imperious roar shines throughout with its presence. Even without much variety in pitch, the tones and emotion is conveyed and there’s more than a little Winston McCall to be heard. Anticure after that makes for the band’s first big foray into clean vocals on Kin, opting for a grungier vocal approach that sounds not too dissimilar to BREAKING BENJAMIN atop its stirring guitar work. The Ones That Made Us reverts back to the groove metal of before, making Anticure seem almost a distraction, a song to break up the heavier elements that make up the album. Fortunately, WHITECHAPEL do enough to rebuke this criticism, utilising cleans as less a gimmick and more something they deploy for emotional impact such as on History Is Silent and Without Us. 

Kin is at its best when both the heavy, grooving death metal elements are fused with the grungier, emotional spectrum such as on Lost Boy and the aforementioned Without Us; other times it feels more incongruous and shoehorned together whereas the fusion feels far more organic and a natural progression in their sound. The production is bold, giving just the right amount of heft to the guitars in heavy moments and a touch of delicacy in quieter moments. Bozeman’s vocals are brought to the fore without overshadowing other instruments and the drums pound thunderously. 

As the new era of WHITECHAPEL continues, it’s clear that they’re in their element here, writing what they want to and pushing themselves in new sonic directions rather than re-treading the same old deathcore ground as before. Their evolution beyond the genre may have been surprising at first but now feels inevitable given the quality they’ve shown themselves capable of producing. Kin is another strong entry in one of modern metal’s more enviable catalogues. 

Rating: 8/10

Kin is set for release on October 29th via Metal Blade Records.

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