photo by Nataliea Balcerska, courtesy of flickr.com

Of all the extreme metal bands to emerge in the wake of Job For a Cowboy and Suicide Silence, Knoxville, Tennessee's Whitechapel seems the most likely to survive the eventual death of deathcore. Unlike many of their MySpace peers, Whitechapel's knowledge of metal didn't begin with the arrival of Korn and peak with the onset of metalcore. These guys are well-versed in death metal and well studied in the songcraft of Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation and Dying Fetus, as well as the more angular and futuristic metalworks of Meshuggah and Fear Factory.

And unlike most groups, which rely on a rigid two guitar assault, Whitechapel have three axemen to carry out their orders of annihilation, providing more of a layered point-counterpoint dynamic to their songs. We recently hooked up with guitarist Alex Wade during some well-deserved time off the road and asked him about the history of the band, the popularity of deathcore, the influence of Jack the Ripper and other serial killers and how Whitechapel often get mistaken for Christian metal. Wade also told us about the creation of their latest album This Is Exile, plans for its follow-up and what awaits on the road in 2009.

Click more to listen to the podcast and watch the band's videos. Read more...

Deathcore, anyone?

Forget Suicide Silence, Job For a Cowboy and all the other bands that don't want to be associated with the genre, and welcome the hailstorm fury and sepulchral darkness of Whitechapel instead. The group's debut album, This is Exile, is a combination of ripping blast beats, throat-shredding screams and seismic breakdowns that could crack open the floor of most any moshpit. Whitechapel's second video from the album, "Possession," was shot by Dave Brodsky, who also shot the firsts clip, "This is Exile," and is no stranger to making groups look mean.

"We shot it at the Palladium in Worcester, Massachusetts at one of our shows on our headlining tour in September, and we couldn't be happier with it," says guitarist Alex Wade. "The video features a live setting, filmed on location during the show, so it's very intense and fast-paced. We can't wait until the video makes its debut and all of our fans who were at the show can see themselves going off."

Wade's wish is out command. Click "more" to watch the clip, and catch it again on "Headbangers Ball," which runs Saturday from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. on MTV2. Read more...

Deathcore fan Barack Obama learning to make devil horns

Hopefully, by now most of you have signed up to be part of the MTV Community. If you haven't, you might wanna get your ass in gear -- especially if you want to submit comments to HeadbangersBlog.com or take part in this week's "You Vote Counts" and help determine what video from the last "Headbangers Ball" returns for Saturday's show.

Just scroll to the bottom of the screen and sign up. It’s easy, and all submitted information is confidential. In addition to being able to post comments, MTV Community members will receive access to music and video premieres we can’t offer on the Blog. One thing about the sign-up sheet, though. People are getting a little tripped up by the box asking for the users “Profile URL.” So, here’s what to do.

Under "Profile URL" just type something to identify you — preferably some word that includes a couple numbers. That will then be attached to a long URL address that will be your private address for the site.

We now return to our regularly scheduled post -- "Your Vote Counts." On Saturday, we aired some pretty big premieres by Hatebreed, Underoath, The Sword and Carnifex. Choose one of them or someone else from the list below. The act with the most votes will win a return slot to Saturday's episode. As always, past winners are not eligible and neither are videos from old albums. In other words, only pick from our list. Voting runs between now and 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Click “more” to see the complete list.
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It's pretty hard to find a good live video of Whitechapel. And if you can't figure out why, you go try holding a video camera still while a whirlpool of moshers converge all around you. And that's not to mention the challenge of capturing such loud music without having it overdistort so badly it sounds like a hailstorm on an aluminum roof.

Fortunately, the dudes at MetalInjection.net were able to shoot Whitechapel playing "Eternal Refuge" at the Summer Slaughter tour without having the footage look like a camcorder of an earthquake registering 6.5 on the Richter Scale. And the sound is excellent. Since it's a one-camera shoot there's no zooming or anything, but the shoot was wisely done on a tripod and you can the entire stage without obstruction. Click "more" to watch the live vid. Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

A short message before we get into this week's competition: Last week the astute judges of "Your Vote Counts" noticed that many of the votes being cast were coming from the same IP addresses. These voters were disqualified. Only one vote can come from a single IP address. If your roommate already cast his ballot, go find another computer.

Now on to this this week's challenge. Last week, Whitechapel won our contest, so you can't vote for them again. Other than that, submissions from the list below must be received by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 23. Feel free to include a comment, which may be published when we announce the winner. Oh, and you may not be listening to hair metal when you vote. Click "more" to see this week’s choices: Read more...

For a minute, Municipal Waste fans put up a bit of a struggle, but in the end, Whitechapel's "This is Exile" video smoked the competition's dust off the floor to win the band a return trip to next week's "Headbangers Ball."

the deathcore band's "Your Vote Counts" victory coincides with its strong Billboard chart debuts. In its first week out, This is Exile sold 6,000 copies to rank at number 117 on the Hot 200 album chart. In addition, the record hit number 2 on the Heatseeker's Chart, number 13 on the Hard Music Chart, number 14 on the Independent Albums Chart, number 43 on the Rock Chart and number 51 on the Tastemaker's Chart. Read more...

photo by Jon Wiederhorn

Whether you're into medieval warfare, cannibalism, blood-spattered chicks or storming metal Lair of the Minotaur is a hard act to follow. Last Wednesday, the barbarian tribe took "Your Vote Counts" hands down and earned a trip back to last weekend's "Headbangers Ball." This week we've got six other videos from the show for you to choose from, including clips by Whitechapel, Soulfly and The Devil Wears Prada.

As always, you can't vote for Lair again or other past winners, Kataklym and The Black Dahlia Murder. Submissions from the list below must be received by 2 p.m. on Wednesday, July 16. Feel free to include a comment, which may be published when we announce the winner. Viewers who vote more than once will be disqualified. Click “more” to see this week’s choices: Read more...