#whitechapel — Public Fediverse posts

Whitechapel tenements (not *that* long ago).
#photography #Whitechapel #EastLondon #tenement #washing

Some bands just know what they’re about right away. Australia’s blackened death metal band Complexant poise themselves as a rising star in the continent/country/island’s extreme metal ecosystem, storming the scene with “a sound defined by weight, darkness, and unrelenting intensity.” There’s little fanfare to Complexant’s promo around their debut full-length Apex: in so many words, they merely promise to kick as much ass as they can fit in a thirty-four-minute session. They’ve tormented their home country since 2022, but Apex aims to make Complexant a global menace. But can Apex raise Complexant to the cream of the blackened death crop?

That Apex is a debut isn’t too shocking. Complexant play a dense, modern-sounding brand of brutal death metal dusted with black metal vitriol and (slight) deathcore stank. Think Cordyceps—restless riffing, crushed production, murderous intent, etcetera—but with more human-sounding vocals and a willingness to let their boots off your neck from time to time. Apex is heavy, raw, and blunt, but Complexant’s greenness shows in some undercooked ideas and seriously ham-fisted moments. Clean vocals worm their way onto “No Angels Weep” and “Afterlife,” which aren’t nearly as vital as vocalist Dan Greigsy’s screams and tack on an unwanted Stone Sour butt rockiness to the latter track’s ending. Endings are another issue. Although it’s worth celebrating Complexant’s realization of the power of editing, “Heretical Supremacy” and “Critical Mass” both end before they’ve hit their stride. Add some clumsy lyricism—”Cyclops, you only see through one perspective.” (“Cyclops”), “My head is at critical mass. One more thought and my cranium will surely collapse.” (“Critical Mass”)—and Apex’s rawness sometimes doesn’t work to Complexant’s benefit.

But more often than not, Complexant uses Apex’s bluntness as a proper instrument of devastation. Under the oppressive fury of drummer Seb Su’s blast beats, guitarists Shannon Zivkovic and Gavin Bradley and bassist Chris Tuckley churn out seething, brutish riffs one after the other, underpinning Greigsy’s incensed performance across Apex. Songs like “Swing Myself to Sleep” and “Eye for an Eye” attack with a balanced approach of imposing, dissonant blackened chords and neanderthal death chugs, the former deploying some fucked up noodling bits in the bridge and the latter ending in seriously caustic heaviness. Complexant’s mix highlights Su’s drums, who complements the guitars with a similarly dynamic balance of concussive speed (“No Angels Weep,” “Apex”) and groove (“No Hope for Sanctuary,” “Eye for an Eye”) while littering just enough fills across Apex for good measure. Finally, Complexant utilize breakdowns conservatively and effectively to punctuate dramatic moments in their songs (“Swing Myself to Sleep,” “Cyclops”) rather than writing everything tailored to the breakdown. Apex is a thematically uncompromising record, and thus benefits from the unsophisticated sound Complexant bestows it.

Not to be cruel, but Apex sounds best to these ears when Complexant sound just miserable. Apex features some truly harrowing and uncomfortable lyrics, and these moments usually encompass Complexant’s best material. From the suicidal ideation of “Swing Myself to Sleep,” to the vengeful murder fantasies of “Eye for an Eye,” to the proclamations against life itself on “Afterlife,” Complexant don’t endear themselves to you with their sunny dispositions. When Greigsy screams, “Eye for an eye when you take a man’s life. You brought a weapon, a weapon to a fist fight,” (“Eye for an Eye”), you best believe the instrumentals rise to meet his vitriol. At times Apex reminds me of Whitechapel’s The Valley in both sound and in barefaced confessional lyricism, reaching its emotional zenith on closer and album highlight “No Hope for Sanctuary.” Relaying the speaker’s childhood home life, his early claim of how he “was raised by fucking vandals” is bolstered by scenes of harrowing domestic violence and abuse, offering up an apt metaphor of being trapped under debris for the unstable environment he came up in. Apex doesn’t reach greatness as a whole, but in these uncompromisingly bleak moments Complexant reach the mark.

I had a good time having a bad time with Apex. Proving further that everything from Australia wants to kill you, Complexant can bring the hurt with the best of them, and Apex is a more than adequate exercise in hostility. Even where songwriting faltered, Apex is still enjoyable through the simple joy of the disgusting riff. Now, if Complexant hone their songwriting further by the time they’re ready for album number two, we’ll have something truly worth watching. If for our own safety, at the least.

Rating: Good!
DR: 4 | Format Reviewed: ???1
Labels: Bleeding Art Collective and Blood Blast Distribution
Websites: complexant.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/complexantband
Releases Worldwide: July 31, 2026

Deux amis ratent leur correspondance à Londres et se retrouvent dans les ruelles de Whitechapel. Ce qui commence comme une escale érotique et complice bascule dans l'horreur la plus sombre.

Jack l'Éventreur n'a jamais vraiment quitté ses rues.

⚠️ Contenu 15+ : érotisme et horreur graphique.
📖 Sur #Panodyssey ou #Substack

https://lien.gabrieldax.fr/5

#Horreur #Érotisme #JackLÉventreur #Whitechapel #Fiction #GabrielDax #Nouvelles #Mastolivre

New post: Whitechapel and Sylosis team up for massive 2027 UK and Ireland co-headline tour https://moshville.co.uk/news/tours/2026/03/whitechapel-and-sylosis-team-up-for-massive-2027-uk-and-ireland-co-headline-tour/ #Sylosis #Whitechapel

I've just created an 'animated' video to visualise my short story, Advantagement. It's not my day job. Be nice. 🧐🫠
https://ridleypark.blog/2026/02/20/advantagement-visualised/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
#philosophy #politics #society #humancondition #video #language #communication #animation #shortstory #writing #belgravia #classroles #genderroles #history #Whitechapel #London

Sometimes an album comes around ye olde promo pit that looks and smells familiar, but plays like something else entirely. Today’s entry into the “what the heck am I actually listening to?” hall of infamy is Phasma’s Purgatory. The third record from the Greek/US duo, and the first carried by a label—our beloved Transcending Obscurity Records—Purgatory continually subverted every expectation I had. In doing so, it became one of my biggest pleasant surprises in recent memory.

While early Phasma works boasted a songwriting style and sound that evoked a grotesque Whitechapel/Vampire Squid lovechild, Purgatory is a charred and venomous affair of only a tenuous relation to that concoction, and all the better for it. Conjuring a vision where Vimur, Harms Way, and Crypts of Despair’s first two albums merged into one mangled mass, Purgatory writhes and slithers through an unholy collection of brutal riffs, immolating tremolo flares, and swaggering grooves. While Phasma’s vocal approach largely carries over from early works, pairing a guttural roar with piercing screeches, but minimizing previously prevalent items like subterranean gurgles and glass-shattering squeals, it takes on an altogether more intimidating character here. Instead of showing off the full range of technical skills and range as this unit had to prove on their self-titled debut, Phasma took Purgatory as an opportunity to be as mean and concise as possible.

Purgatory by PHASMA

Simplifying their song structures, doubling down on memorable hooks, and restricting technical expositions to a minimum helped Phasma achieve their goal, resulting in a work that feels genuinely terrifying. Opening duo “I” and early highlight “II” prove this within thirty seconds of their introduction, but also create a delightful deviation from the usual songwriting tricks I expect from one phrase to another. For example, “I” makes me think a huge breakdown is about to drop right at the start, only to blast into the shadowed iciness of black metal, then dive seamlessly into a gym-ready hardcore groove. Subverting my expectations becomes a regular occurrence in Purgatory. “II,” “III,” and “VI” all venture deeper into doom-laden dungeons than I would’ve ever anticipated from a record as evil and high-energy as this. Harmonized melodies and layered guitar pyrotechnics only enhance this effect when things transition between paces and moods in a snap (“II”). By thusly offsetting their stripped-down writing with constant fiery twists and gnarly turns, Phasma crafted a remarkably exciting and rich experience that is an absolute joy to experience over and over again.

Despite its truncated 27-minute runtime, Purgatory burgeons with invigorating ideas all meticulously arranged, but initial spins suffer at the hands of a production of unforgiving loudness. “IV” in particular challenged my ability to appreciate the fantastic lead-into-chug-triplets and Vampire Squid riffs that bulge out from densely packed bass rumbles and glassy cymbals, in no small part because everything is so in-your-face as to flatten entirely. “V” feels a similar impact, though an eerie, bass-driven atmospheric break and subsequent Atrae Bilis-esque bridge briefly alleviates that effect. Understanding that the intended purpose of Purgatory is to oppress and destroy, a little more headroom in the mix and master would’ve allowed Phasma to hit harder and better highlight the myriad clever details distributed throughout.

Thankfully, the production isn’t so ruinous as to make my experience with Purgatory anything less than a delightful treat. As I spent more time with it, I loved it more, craved it regularly, and found additional moments to take home. Memorable beyond what I anticipated, and more engaging than I dared hope, Purgatory is a resounding success in all areas other than engineering. In some circles, that one weakness won’t matter much. In the end, it didn’t matter much to me either, such is the strength of Phasma’s songwriting.1 This is one trip to limbo you won’t want to miss!



Rating: Great!
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Transcending Obscurity Records
Websites: phasmaproject.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/PhasmaProject
Releases Worldwide: February 20th, 2026

New post: Gig Review: Lorna Shore / Whitechapel / Shadow of Intent / Humanity’s Last Breath – O2 Academy, Birmingham (9th February 2026) https://moshville.co.uk/reviews/gig-review/2026/02/gig-review-lorna-shore-whitechapel-shadow-of-intent-humanitys-last-breath-o2-academy-birmingham-9th-february-2026/ #Humanity'sLastBreath #LornaShore #ShadowOfIntent #Whitechapel

The iGGi Game Jam '26 successfully concluded last Friday: we made it!

Massive thanx to all participants, incl. the "Friends of iGGi" who joined the jam or post-GJ session, and the organising team who made it all happen!

Read the article 👇 to get "tHe fU= p1ctur9" ;)

https://www.iggi-phd.org/news/iggi-game-jam-2026

#gamejam #gamedev #Phd #research #whitechapel #QueenMaryUniversityLondon

The #fantasy District of Spittle-Fields is inspired by the historical district of #Spitalfields in East London.

The district #map in the adventure includes many actual #Whitechapel street names, like "Frying Pan Alley" and "Black Step Lane".

The Place Names of #Middlesex:
https://archive.org/details/bwb_kt-597-263/page/n9/mode/2up?ref=ol

Just #Whitechapel things... 🐴
#London #horse #horseAndCart #weirdLondon #loveLondon

Metal Blade Video 🤘 I BEAR THE NUMBER...666! • Whitechapel's new video for "Prisoner 666" is now playing! #whitechapel: Watch here: https://youtu.be/YJ0bofXlfyw
New album, 'Hymns In Dissonance' OUT NOW
Buy here: http://www.metalblade.com/whitechapel http://dlvr.it/TP5Pvd LinkInBio for More 🤘 #MetalBladeRecords #HeavyMetal #Metal

Wretched – Decay Review

By Dear Hollow

Wretched has always been a strange beast, incorporating the heft of deathcore with the technicality and atmosphere of more progressive acts. While breakout album (and my introduction to the band) Beyond the Gate was an elegantly elegiac deathcore album, swaying between the patient sprawls of “Birthing Sloth” and the bouncy chugs of “My Carrion,” follow-ups Sons of Perdition and Cannibal reflected the changing of the guard at vocals, as Glass Casket frontman Adam Cody injected an unhinged frenetic energy that had the band flirting with grind and thrash. Decay is an important album, released eleven years after its predecessor and existing as a return to form for a band that never had a slump.

While Cody injected the North Carolina act with a sense of urgency, the return of original vocalist Billy Powers returns Wretched to its more elegant and patient approaches. Although deathcore is on the bill, most of the proceeds recall The Black Dahlia Murder and Inferi rather than the Suicide Silences and Whitechapels of the world – landing somewhere in the core- and melo-realm of Vale of Pnath or early The Faceless.1 Yes, you’ll find some sticky chugs that punch through periodically, but the emphasis on the interplay between ominous and melodic shines brightest in Decay, reflecting a concept album that returns to the mythological roots as well as its musical roots – serving as a narrative prequel to the concept behind Beyond the Gate. Retaining that chthonic atmosphere, the balance between the light and dark and newfound experimentation are tantalizing, if imperfect, elements in the rebirth of Wretched.

If Beyond the Gate was your favorite Wretched record, Decay is a welcome return. Waltz-like 6/8 timing, drawn-out passages collapsing into Steve Funderburk’s signature melodic cascades, and periodic breakdowns amid the elegiac, adding a necessary spike to the beautiful melodies. Powers’ vocals, as is the case in debut The Exodus of Anatomy and Beyond the Gate, can feel a bit jarring in their raspier tone and regularly impressive range (feeling asynchronous with the elegant instrumental musings) – but he delivers a charismatic performance that drives the music forward. The bookends of Decay find themselves in this realm, balancing melody with chunky bite and shifting tempos (“Decay,” “The Royal Body,” “Blackout”), while more aggressive rhythms and anthemic lyrics offer bouncy fun (“Malus Incarnate,” “The Golden Tide,” “The Golden Skyway”). While this range works, some tracks feel too rooted in the former, relying on overly long and uninteresting sprawls rooted in semi-heavy open strum patterns (“The Crimson Sky”). Taken as a whole, the first act can be a bit too heavy a mood-setter than a series of interesting songs, as well, due to Wretched’s more subdued approach.

The centerpieces of Decay find Wretched tossing out the template and flipping off the comfort zone. Blessedly, the experimentation is not without an adequate transition, as its simultaneously most brutal and most melodic (“Radiance”) appears to move fluidly into the more experimental meat. Grungy clean vocals and wailing guitar solos move through an almost Southern-fried bluesy melodic template (“Clairvoyance”), a heavenly choral interlude gives rest before the journey (“The Mortal Line”), and the longest Wretched track in its discography: the sixteen-minute long “Behind the Glass”2 moves between moods of despair, forgiveness, and light through layers of guitar leads, violin, flutes, and even accordion, deteriorating into viciously dark chugs. This is capped off by an unsettling foray into dissonance and jagged rhythms (“Lights”), before returning to the more aggressive third act.

At its worst, Wretched offers either dull shimmies of monotonous strums or a progressive edge so wild it can be disorienting. What’s remarkable, though, is that it nonetheless feels distinctly like Wretched, and a return to the mythological heyday of their sophomore effort – that flexibility has been a strength all along. Sure, Powers’ vocals can feel out of place in the gentler moments, some tracks don’t land, the heft is lacking, and the track list is shaped like an epic with weird-ass moments to shake you loose, but the band’s storytelling through its songwriting is well intact, if not better, than eleven years ago. It’s a welcome return to form for Wretched and speaks to avenues of possibility. The fifth full-length suggests more potential than it achieves but the moral is the same: ironically, no decay in sight.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Metal Blade Records
Websites: wretchednc.bandcamp.com | wretchedmusic.com | facebook.com/wretchednc
Releases Worldwide: October 17th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #Deathcore #Decay #GlassCasket #Inferi #MelodicDeathMetal #MelodicDeathcore #MetalBladeRecords #MirrorOfDeadFaces #Oct25 #ProgressiveDeathMetal #Review #Reviews #SuicideSilence #TechnicalDeathcore #TheBlackDahliaMurder #TheFaceless #ValeOfPnath #Whitechapel #Wretched

Psycho-Frame – Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother Review

By Dear Hollow

Deathcore doesn’t give a shit. There was a moment when bands like Lorna Shore and Slaughter to Prevail attempted to make deathcore more accessible to other metal fans, incorporating blackened/symphonic textures or nu-metal influences. However terrible, solid, milquetoast, or well-intentioned you found it, that’s not the spirit of deathcore. Psycho-Frame has steadily been building a fanbase around their particularly unhinged take on deathcore with the release of 2023 EPs Remote God Seeker and Automatic Death Protocol, and we’re finally faced with a full-length debut: Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother. But don’t expect heavyhandedness – expect just heavy. Dumb heavy. Basically, the music for the sellout. Get those fists swingin’, Hot Topic frequenters! We’re goin’ to the mall.

Psycho-Frame embodies a trend in deathcore that is layered in nostalgia. Fearing that the style has lost its teeth, bands like the nation-spanning six-piece1 embrace the days of MySpace (think old-school Chelsea Grin or Bring Me the Horizon). It’s raw, groovy, and devastating, brandishing a brand wavering between thick-ass breakdowns settling on the ocean floor and lightning-fast blastbeats and unhinged technical thrills. Psycho-Frame otherwise benefits from a two-vocal attack, with Mike Sugars relying on a tough Frankie Palmeri bark attack while Jonathan Whittle offers fierce shrieks, horrific bellows, and the occasional pig squeal. It’s big, dumb fun that doesn’t overstay its welcome, embracing a savage edge contrary to contemporary acts off the same ilk: the rawness of Killing of a Sacred Deer or the melodic technicality of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Psycho-Frame emerges as the elite, its loud and ouchy production amped to louder and ouchier, its vocal attack barbaric and ominous, and its songwriting whiplash-inducing. It’s everything you love – and loathe – about deathcore.

There’s little nuance in Salvation Laughs – if it’s thoughtful songwriting and careful construction you’re after, Psycho-Frame ain’t it. It doesn’t have a lick of the tragedy its title implies because, remember, deathcore doesn’t give a shit. It recalls the chaos of This is Exile-era Whitechapel, The Cleansing-era Suicide Silence, or self-titled Chelsea Grin in its chunky viciousness and stonewalled rigidity. Neck-snapping tempo shifts are a norm, downtempo Black Tongue chugdowns assaulting your ears one second before ravaging them with ripping blastbeats and shredding riffs. Riffiness is a trait not often expounded upon by deathcore, but it appears often throughout Salvation Laughs, giving an unexpected head-bobbing groove and pinch harmonics (“Blueprints for Idol Genocide,” “Endless Agonal Devotion”), jaw-dropping fretboard wizardry that recalls Beneath the Massacre and pairs neatly with numbskull density (“Apocalypse Through Lysergic Possession”), while slam’s gurgling lurch a la Ingested adds nice sonic depravity (“Filleted and Fucked,” “Still Water Salvation”). Each member offers his best, the dual shrieks and roars commanding charisma, the guitars offering flaying technicality and caveman knuckle-dragging meatheadedness equally, bass holding up the sound amid the fray, and drums retain a sharp metallic ring that adds to the unhinged quality Psycho-Frame possesses.

For the same reasons, some will love Psycho-Frame, others will understandably loathe it. In many ways, it feels like the insanity of mid-2000s deathcore distilled into a bullying thirty-eight minutes. It’s relentless, it’s over-the-top, and perfect to make frowny faces at while you windmill your way through the pit. That being said, some parts of the album are guiltier than others: when groove dominates, the result is an insane little number, but when that’s toned down to channel Suicide Silence, it sounds pitifully stale (“The Portal,” “BLACK_WAVE II”). Furthermore, there are short-lived spoken word samples scattered throughout the album, which provide more of a blush than the creepiness factor they are attempting to instill. But apart from the nitpicks, for nearly all the reasons mentioned in the paragraph above, Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother can be the thorn in a metalhead’s side – Psycho-Frame is truly an apt representative of deathcore.

For better or worse, Psycho-Frame is deathcore, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything else. It’s big and dumb, overly loud and obnoxious, with enough groove, rawness, and wonky tricks to carry its dual vocal attack into something resembling enjoyment. It’s a low-ceiling, low-floor situation, because Salvation Laughs in the Face of a Grieving Mother can either bring some fun into your day or utterly ruin it. I had fun with Psycho-Frame because of its refreshing simplicity and relentless brutality – but it’s still a cautionary tale.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed:
Label: Sharptone Records
Websites: psychoframedc.bandcamp.com | psychoframe.com | facebook.com/psychoframedeathcore
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #BeneathTheMassacre #BlackTongue #BringMeTheHorizon #ChelseaGrin #Deathcore #Ingested #Jul25 #KillingOfASacredDeer #LornaShore #PsychoFrame #Review #Reviews #SalvationLaughsInTheFaceOfAGrievingMother #SharpToneRecords #SlammingDeathcore #SlaughterToPrevail #SuicideSilence #ThusSpokeZarathustra #Whitechapel

For #ThursDeath from four hours ago:

#Whitechapel: A Visceral Retch

https://song.link/xd9h7hqbg43bh

#Deathcore

FFO #Carnifex #IntoTheSilo #SuicideSilence