Album Review // 2022-01-11

Whitechapel

Kin

Released: 2021-10-29

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Once the pandemic took over and this band wasn't able to tour, they honed in on making a new album. Very dedicated to the task, they were said to have put in full weeks together working it out. I like the attitude Phil has, to make music based on how they feel and not on what others expect. I am not sure what the expectation from fans was going into this, considering their previous album was quite different from their past releases. 

The name Whitechapel is speaking of the area in England where the infamous Jack the Ripper committed atrocities. I remember my first time hearing about him. I was just a kid and had started reading books. I saw a book on the shelf at the library about him. All I remember is pictures of his victims in the front and back of the book. I very ignorantly saw the pictures and wondered out loud who they were. My mom told me he had killed them very violently. I put the book down and chose not to read it. Not something that draws me in. I have seen and played board games and other forms of media linked to this place. I suppose it fits in with the death and violent aspects. 

The album name Kin immediately makes you think of your family or relatives. And apparently this album is seen by the band as the next part of the story attached to The Valley, where we saw a picture of a family broken and injured. It makes me think about the impact our families have, by the ways they are a part of our life and how they aren't a part of our life. They leave an impression.

Artwork

These figures remind me of the ones from a video they did for Lost Boy. To m,e they seem alien-like. The title of the album stands out much more than their band name, with the way they laid it out. Nothing too exciting to me, but staying on theme of looking at a family member or yourself. Very introspective... That, or they are two aliens.

Mood

The mood is very sincere and self-reflective. It seems to be willing to take some responsibility. It is accepting the situation and realizing the need to help yourself. Almost like an epiphany moment and a recognition of things that were once muddy. This is interesting, and not what I was expecting, considering the way their previous album ended with suicide in the storyline.

Vocals

I have heard the thought that Phil is good at enunciation, and he is, but I think that his highly enunciated style of growling actually feels choppy for me, and I prefer more flow, though I recognize not everyone can do this. I think the faster he does this, the less I like it (such as in Lost Boy). It always makes me think of G.I. Joe commercials, for some reason, when people do this (I know, I am weird). I remember hearing that this shift to having some cleans only started with their last album, so this is a very different direction for them. The singing is good, particularly in some songs such as History Is Silent, but overall the mixture of these vocal styles isn't my favourite. It must be really freeing for Phil to use his voice in different ways, though. It probably feels really good. He has most definitely been singing on his own time, and now he is sharing with the world, which is awesome.  I feel like this combination is very different for this band, but not for music in general.

Music

Some of this music is quite catchy and has memorable moments; some seems really repetitive, such as A Bloodsoaked Symphony. Nothing felt innovative. There seems to be lots of lead guitar moments, but for me, I don't need a tonne of this kind of stuff - sometimes I find it distracts from the song. There are some pretty emotional-sounding parts, such as at around 2:56 into Without Us, where you can really sense the feeling of having to do things on your own and for yourself. The keyboard adds to the emotion in many songs. Sometimes there is a melody in the background that adds a layer of tremolo picking, such as in Bloodsoaked Symphony and The Ones That Made Us. Some songs sound almost influenced by grassroots or country music, such as the album opener, and the instrumental Without You.

I Will Find You

This seems to be speaking to the fact that making a change can be hard. The cowardice parts of you have to be consciously suppressed to take a big step. In a sense, it is like there is a part of you that keeps finding the weakness.

A beast will always smell the blood of a coward
And a narrow-minded fool will always follow down the narrow path
To the blade that can make a God bleed

Still, you are weak
You're just a boy with his mother's eyes
That carries the weight of his father's heart
I always feel like there's something that I've left behind

Lost Boy

I am not sure, but this seems like looking at yourself and recognizing the ways you are falling apart, or doing what you don't want to do.

Take a look at yourself, it’s inconsequential to stare into the eyes of a lost boy
Don’t let the truth silence our voice
We have the choice to push the boundaries of our own consciousness
Can you not feel the vibrations
Can you not feel the cold blood pumping into your blackened heart

A Bloodsoaked Symphony

I think this is talking about resentment (or even hate) towards what has happened, people, family, yourself. It is trying to move past it. Almost like a painful symphony you hear, playing in the back of your mind.

In blood and bone I carve an oath
To save this boy from this shattered home
Tonight we bathe in blood and drink
From the skull of the beast that left his heart so cold
In a perfect world we could take his whole family’s soul
And fuel our hearts with the hate I have
For the beast in us all

Anticure

I think this is a recognition of the sacrifice that has to take place to move past trauma and not to let an abuser or someone who is harming you continue. Maybe even just a painful memory.

This house is poisoned beyond repair
And the souls of our past life are trapped on the inside
I know you're unwell, but I'm turning my back on you (back on you)

But our eyes are closed, no matter what you've created
I refuse control from a delusional sadist
I refuse this relation

The Ones That Made Us

I am not sure who the ones are that made us, but possibly for Phil it could be his parents? I know his father died when he was young, and then his mother, later on. I know that this is referring to the previous album. Maybe he means the pain and period of his time is something he has to let go of. It won't help him to hold onto it.

A war won't save us
We can unite with the ones that made us
There isn't a reason to stay locked down in a wretched realm
When we can kill ourselves and return to the ones that made us

They're waiting for the boy that turned his home to ash
The boy who left his shield on the hill that he had swore to die on
They're waiting for their boy to turn into a man
Walk away from a hopeless world and back into the valley's mouth

History Is Silent

This may be talking about feeling depressed and like you're stuck in your past. It keeps coming back.

The noise of a memory will fade, and the silence of history will stay
Another day wishing to find myself with both feet in my grave
My darker thoughts are born again
It's not okay to have a knife in your chest and still be able to breathe

When will the air not feel so cold?

To the Wolves

This is the feeling that you don't belong. Some things are hard to do because they have to be done alone.

So long, throw me to the wolves
I'm a lost cause drowning in the weight I pull
I'm way too deep in the thought of making my life miserable
Don't dwell on a worthless life, we exist in a different light
The ancient blood calls out my name

Orphan

This speaks to the loneliness that it is to stand up against something or do the right thing. Your own thoughts stay with you, no matter what.

Is that your voice that I hear
Is that the touch that I had once feared
Is that the way that you look now
Is this what we are

Forget my voice
Forget my eyes
My heart is content now to betray my insides

Without Us

The severing of the relationship, maybe with yourself in some way, your family, or something else. It is necessary, but it doesn't make it easy.

Come to the surface my son, you're not breathing so well
I couldn't stand to lose you another time
But this is not real, we're not here
Don't you understand that we've already lost one another?
Please accept reality so I can finally be free

Where will we be in the years to come?
I know somewhere inside you is me crying out for help
But I'm right here with you, begging you to see the hell we've created
I know it's hard to accept the truth, but it's time to let this all go

Kin

Seems to be speaking of the kin, whether that is actual family, or a part of you. This is the final goodbye.

And I know you want us to be together
And I know it's hard to accept forever
Our delusion is the easy way out
But it's time for both of us to let this go

Playlist Picks

History Is Silent will make it to my playlist because it transitions nicely from the intro, and feels very emotional.