Just recently coming off a tour this past October supporting Lorna Shore, deathcore icons Whitechapel hit the road again on March 18. But this time, they are headlining a tour of their own across North America, celebrating the release of their newest album Hymns in Dissonance, which came out on March 7. Following the story of a cultist who leads others to their doom, Hymns in Dissonance is the band’s heaviest work yet, both sonically and lyrically. On March 20, Whitechapel visited their third stop of the tour, the historic Theater of Living Arts in Philadelphia, PA. With a 15 track setlist, they performed a variety of songs, both old and new, for everyone in the audience to enjoy, no matter if they have become a fan as recently as the newest record release or as early as the band’s debut in 2006. With their ferocious style and their captivating stage production, Whitechapel brought mayhem to Theater of Living Arts, giving the near sold-out crowd a night to remember.
Starting the night off at 6:30pm was Alluvial, an upcoming death metal band from Atlanta, GA. The band took no time in riling up the audience, going straight into the brutal headbanger “Exponent” from their 2021 album Sarcoma. With their intensity and ability to create a haunting atmosphere through their music, the crowd was already fully fired up and started a circle pit by the third song; inspiring this much energy into a crowd this early is an extremely impressive feat for an opening band. For the fifth song, they performed a track from their latest release, their 2024 EP Death Is But A Door, and vocalist Kevin Muller told the crowd to give it their all for that song, and that as a native New Yorker, he hopes Philly’s crowd will beat Boston’s. Philly’s crowd certainly delivered as they always do, with nonstop moshing and crowdkilling during the entire song. Alluvial even saw the first crowdsurfer of the night, which is another rarity for a first opener of a lineup. Their killer performance concluded with a bang, creating a wall of death for the final song followed by a massive circle pit. Needless to say, if the crowd was not already familiar with Alluvial before the show, they certainly became fans that night.
ALLUVIAL: Website | Facebook | Instagram | X
At around 7:20pm, the Cleveland-based 200 Stab Wounds took the stage. Priding themselves in making old-school death metal with a gory emphasis, 200 Stab Wounds captivated the audience with their intense instrumentals and brutal lyrics. They were an immediate hit with the crowd; within the first three songs, the band already saw two crowdsurfers. They played a mix of tracks from their 2021 debut full-length album Slave to the Scalpel and their most recent release, their 2024 album Manual Manic Procedures. The most intriguing aspect of 200 Stab Wounds was how their instrumentals took center stage, letting the music capture the brutality they wanted to convey rather than just relying on vocals. The first track of their setlist “Hands of Eternity” had a several minute-long instrumental before any vocals were uttered, delivering ferocious riffs, intense solos, and thunderous rhythms that instantly hooked the audience. Vocalist and guitarist Steve Buhl, bassist Ezra Cook, guitarist Raymond MacDonald, and drummer Owen Pooley would continuously inspire chaos within the crowd from their musical prowess alone, and the energy within the room never wavered for a second.
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The third and final opener was Brand of Sacrifice, a Toronto-based deathcore band. As the lights dimmed, the Pokémon theme song began to play and the crowd laughed and sang along, which was a perfect example of how the death metal community never takes itself too seriously despite its tough exterior. When the song ended, the band walked on stage and opened with “Dawn”, the opening track from their most recent full length album, Lifeblood, which was released in 2021. The band has released several singles since then, such as 2023’s “Purge” and 2022’s “Exodus”, which they also performed. Brand of Sacrifice also played a new unreleased song, of which they did not reveal the name, but with the massive engagement from the crowd, one would think it was an old fan favorite. With brutal vocals from frontman Kyle Anderson, vitriolic riffs, and crushing breakdowns, the audience was full of insurmountable energy and never stood still for a single second. Chaos from the pit commenced throughout their entire set with constant moshing and a few circle pits, and crowdsurfers were making their way through the room during almost every song. For the final song, Kyle told the crowd that they wanted to see the most crowdsurfers of the night, and Philly took that as a challenge; crowdsurfers were coming one after the other, making a memorable conclusion to Brand of Sacrifice’s dynamic set.
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Afterward, the stage became adorned with life-sized mannequins wearing deer skulls for heads, a reference to Whitechapel’s recent record Hymns in Dissonance and a sign that the band would be taking the stage soon. At about 9:30pm, the lights began to dim, and cheers roared throughout the venue and the crowd began rhythmically chanting Whitechapel’s name. The band, except vocalist Phil Bozeman, walked on stage and began playing the eerie opening instrumentals of “Prisoner 666”, the first track of Hymns in Dissonance, creating a grim atmosphere that encapsulates the dark energy of the new album. After the rhythm got heavier, Phil Bozeman jumped on stage delivering the haunting opening lyric “I bear the number 666”, followed by a brutal breakdown that had the crowd bursting with energy. They then played the new album’s title track, “Hymns in Dissonance”, and by that point, there were already multiple crowdsurfers coming through the room. Throughout the night, the chaos captivating the crowd never stopped.
With their show at the Theater of Living Arts, Whitechapel proved why they are known as one of the biggest names in deathcore. Phil Bozeman delivered brutal, versatile vocals the whole night, while guitarists Ben Savage, Zach Householder, and Alex Wade used their talents to provide scathing solos and crushing riffs. Bassist Gabe Crisp and drummer Brandon Zackey provided thunderous, heavy rhythms that tied the whole performance together. The stage production was also a sight to behold, with pillars of fluorescent lights behind the band flashing along with the rhythms along with the venue’s regular lights. After playing a few newer songs, the band played some older tracks such as “A Bloodsoaked Symphony”, “I, Dementia”, and “Forgiveness is Weakness”, which range from 2012 to 2021. They then went back into Hymns in Dissonance with “A Visceral Retch”, and followed that with the interlude “Ex Infernis”. During the interlude, the band briefly walked off stage, which marked the first time during their set that pure mayhem was not erupting from the crowd. As the interlude was about to conclude, the band walked back on stage, and Phil Bozeman held up a deer skull mask, signifying the part of the Hymns in Dissonance storyline where the cult ritual is about to begin. Then they started playing “Hate Cult Ritual”, the track that the interlude transitions into on the album, and the moshing and crowdsurfing quickly began again.
Whitechapel played several of their older hits after that, one even dating back to their debut 2006 album Somatic Defilement, which was “Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation”. No matter the song, there was constant moshing, circle pits, and crowdsurfing, with no signs of the energy ever dying down. For their final two songs, they played the fan favorites “Our Endless War” and “The Saw is Law”, both from their 2014 album Our Endless War. Right when “The Saw is Law” began, the crowd screamed the opening lyrics, “This is our way of life!”, their voices booming throughout the venue. After the song ended, the band left the stage, but the lights were still dark; a sure sign an encore is coming. Fans were clamoring for “one more song”, because nobody wanted the night to end just yet. Soon enough, the band walked back on stage and performed “Doom Woods”, the closing track of their 2019 album The Valley. Philly made sure the night went out with a bang, with the most crowdsurfers during a single song that night coming through, and sometimes there were multiple surfers at a time. After the show officially ended, Whitechapel thanked Philly for an amazing night and for supporting heavy metal, reminding the fans that they would not be standing there if it weren’t for their support. Both Whitechapel and the consistent enthusiasm of the fans made the show an experience to remember, with the Theater of Living Arts barely containing the chaos that ensued.
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