Whitechapel brought east meets west to Detroit with a mix of various subgenres of death metal bands from California, British Columbia, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.
While the number of female metal vocalists has slowly increased over time, few can do it quite like Chaney Crabb from Entheos. Her deep growls are something that people who are new to the band would never expect to come from her. Chaney was joined on stage by Evan Brewer on bass guitar, Brian James on lead guitar, Robert Brown on rhythm guitar, and Navene Koperweis on drums.
They opened their set with “Remember You Are Dust,” which was released without a label or album in March 2020. Their next two songs, “Absolute Zero” and “In Purgatory,” are from their 2023 release Time Will Take Us All from Metal Blade Records. To say that the crowd was into this band would be an understatement. The crowd was rowdy by the end of the seven-song set as there was a quick break before the next band started. This was not the first time Entheos opened for either of the last two bands, so it was easy for them to prepare the crowd for what was up next.
The second band of the night was Signs of the Swarm, a deathcore band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They started their set with their 2022 single “Unbridled.” The set started with an intensely amazing heavy song with more than one heavy breakdown. This was a great continuation of the raw and bass-heavy night. The fans were really enjoying the set right from the get-go. Lead singer, David Simonich, really got the crowd going with his deep growls. David was joined on stage by Carl Schulz on guitar, Michael Cassese on bass, and Bobby Crow on drums. The crowd’s energy did not let up throughout the whole set and they continued by playing several songs from their 2021 album Absolvere and other singles.
Up next was the technical death metal band, Archspire, from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. To explain their sound, it is easiest to think of the combination of the band Dethklok meets rapper Tech N9ne. Intrigue and amazement are the words that were overheard in the crowd when they transitioned from their first song, “Remote Tumour Seeker,” to their even heavier second song, “Bleed the Future,” with a soft guitar solo in the middle of the song.
The five-person band consisted of Oli Peters on vocals, Jared Smith on bass guitar, Spencer Prewett on drums, Dean Lamb, and Tobi Morelli, both on guitar. They continued with the heavy guitars, wildly fast drums, and fast and very aggressive vocals throughout the rest of the set. During the set, they paused and told the crowd that it was “Twister time!” and threw a Twister mat into the moshpit and directed them to a few positions including “left foot on blue.” The set continued and consisted of various songs from their last two albums, Bleed the Future and Relentless Mutation. Overall, the crowd was in awe of the technical abilities and the unlikely combinations of sounds that somehow worked perfectly.
Closing out the night, was the deathcore band, Whitechapel, from Knoxville, Tennessee. They started the chaos for the night by playing all songs from their 2019 album, The Valley in its entirety. The crowd was very into this as the album is a favorite of many fans. The album was a deeply personal dive into vocalist Phil Bozeman’s childhood and adolescence.
While most bands lose members, gain members, and evolve over time, the five guys who are the core of the band have learned to do this without changing the lineup except for the drummer since 2007. This is not very common in the metal or music world today, with four of the five members being with the band since the beginning. Phil was joined on stage by long-time bandmates Gabe Crisp on bass guitar, Ben Savage, Alex Wade, and Zach Householder all on guitar, and touring member Brandon Zackey on drums. While Brandon is the newest member, it is not obvious by the way they interact on stage that they have not all always played together.
After the end of the last song from the album The Valley, ”Doom Woods,” was over, they did not call it a night. They kept the set going by playing “I Will Find You” from their 221 album, Kin, “Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation” from their first album The Somatic Defilement, and “Possession” and “This Is Exile” from the 2008 album This Is Exile. To say that the crowd went wild and hard for the night would be putting it mildly.
WHITECHAPEL
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ARCHSPIRE
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SIGNS OF THE SWARM
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