Apr 21, 20232 min read

Whitechapel Rips Through the Queen City

Whitechapel’s North American tour made it’s stop in Charlotte last Tuesday, April 18th. Joining the deathcore legends on the road are Entheos, Signs of the Swarm, and Archspire.

Unfortunately, due to Charlotte traffic, I was unable to make the show in time to get shots of Entheos. I did catch the tail end of their set and I can’t recommend seeing them live highly enough. The instrumentation was tight, Chaney Crabb’s vocals were powerful, and her stage presence was phenomenal. Their set pulled mostly from their newest album “Time Will Take Us All”, including a personal favorite ‘I Am the Void’.

Next to the stage were Pittsburgh deathcore heavyweights Signs of the Swarm.

Right from the start their set was a kick to the chest. Between the crushing riffs and growls that I’m still not totally convinced were human in origin, these guys really got the crowd started. They played two new tracks, ‘Amongst the Low and Empty’ and another that is currently unnamed. Deathcore fans should be sure to keep an eye out for their upcoming 5th studio album.

Archspire decided from the jump that the energy level needed a boost, and they made it happen.

The number of crowd surfers making their way forward was great to see, even if it did make getting out of the photo pit difficult! Vocalist Oli Peters’s stage presence was probably the best of the night; he joked and bantered with the crowd throughout the set, gave out a shirt hand designed by one of the band members (it was beautiful), and even brought out a Twister mat to direct a quick game in the pit. I sometimes have a hard time getting into shows when I’m not super familiar with the band, but this group made it easy. They’re definitely an act worth seeing live.

Whitechapel hit the stage like a force of nature.

The deathcore veterans have had plenty of time to perfect their act and it shows. The performance was incredibly tight, Phil Bozman’s vocals sounded virtually identical to their recordings, and I have to give a massive shout-out to Brandon Zackey’s drumming. The band played their 2019 record ‘The Valley’ in full, making up for the original album cycle having been cut short. Personally, hearing “When A Demon Defiles A Witch”, one of my favorite Whitechapel songs, open the show was an amazing moment. They closed the show with an encore of “Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation”, “Possession”, and “This is Exile”. I had never had a chance to see Whitechapel before, and they did not disappoint.