Heavy Song of the Week: Whitechapel Display Deathcore Mastery on “Bedlam”

Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, we highlight the new single “Bedlam” from Whitechapel. A listener like me rarely meaningfully connects with deathcore. Over years, I’ve learned this is more of a generational issue than a qualitative one per se. Both the death metal and hardcore I bonded with growing up doesn’t meaningfully add up to the sound of deathcore and even the metalcore I’m most interested in tends to be from the more chaotic and mathy camps. So why does Whitechapel seem to strike me so hard? This is a question I’ve spent a lot of time mulling over. “Bedlam,” Whitechapel’s newest single, eschews the art rock and progressive metal influence that had been creeping in to their sound over the past decade, wielding those lessons learned to create an atmospherically rich grinder of a track. At no point does Whitechapel do the stereotypical production tricks or heavily digitized guitar tones that mark so much of deathcore, but neither do they seem ashamed of the genre they’ve mastered, nor should they. They maintain the ferocity of hardcore and the more brutal and intense wing of metalcore but filled out with genuine death metal riffing, a locked-in Meshuggah-esque command of rhythm and vocals that feel like genuine bellows rather than being overly produced and functionally toothless. Whitechapel describe this era as a return to more ignorantly heavy material and while the latter is certainly true, they remain far from ignorant even in their increased focus on heft. I’ve learned to be more patient and understanding of deathcore, but Whitechapel continue to show me that its very best still transcends those lines and is able to connect with even someone like me. Honorable Mentions Besotten – “Mists of Decay” In the spirit of ignorantly heavy music that retains a commensurate spirit of artfulness is “Mist of Decay,” the opening track from death/doom band Besotten’s new record Eye of the Monolithicrpt out today. Death/doom at its best is not far from metalcore or deathcore of a certain bent, especially groups like Harms Way who blend hardcore, death metal and doom into a single sensuous and unrelentingly brutal whole. The artfulness here is in the command of atmosphere and the development of the mood of the piece without distracting from the unbelievable heft of the riffs in question. People outside the world of metal of this kind might balk at the term “ignorant,” view it as a backhanded compliment, but its closer to the other half of the human experience. To be heady but also ignorant is a craft that requires deftness, to make something that stands up to critical appraisal but in the moment reduces you to a thrashing, moshing beast. The sense of rebirth is euphoric. Floating – “Wet Grass” Floating’s debut was an experimental thrust toward a more attuned version of the fusion of prog, post-punk and death metal explored by Tombs, achieving a murky atmosphere but struggling to bring it all home. That record did, however, indicate a strong future for the group, one that their newest single “Wet Grass” achieves handily. This cut reminds me of those magical first singles from groups like Bedsore and Morbus Chron, riveted with psychedelic might and feeling downright ghastly without having to resort to black metal tape hiss to do so. Floating clearly took the mixed but ultimately warm response to their debut as the rightful challenge it was and came out even stronger. Their upcoming record Firewatching is one to look for in early 2027 based on the strength of this single. Penny Coffin – “Murder Music” Certain titles in a death metal context tell you everything you need to know. We have, for instance, Cannibal Corpse’s brilliant two-fer of “Hammer Smashed Face” and “Devoured by Vermin.” From Morbid Angel, we have the ludicrously perfect “Evil Spells.” And now, from Scotland’s Penny Coffin, we have the opening track of their debut album Transitory Fragmentation “Murder Music.” Their approach to old-school death metal will be instantly familiar to the faithful, full of squealing Floyd Rose whammy work and noxious tunneling riffs a la Morbid Angel delivered with ferocious blast beats. This is death metal from the time before black metal well and full split off into its own space, with the spooky theatrics of the later informing the sepulchral grave dirt fumes of the former. Rest assured: through the death mysticism of this wing of heavy music, it is still experienced by we faithful the same way Van Halen and AC/DC is, with headbanging in the garage and dreams of beer and evil. It’s brilliant.