Mark of the Blade

Mark of the Blade is the sixth studio album by American deathcore band Whitechapel. It was released through Metal Blade Records on June 24, 2016 to mostly positive critical reception.[3] It is the first Whitechapel album to feature lead vocalist Phil Bozeman performing clean vocals on an album, on the songs "Bring Me Home" and "Decennium", and it is the last album to feature drummer Ben Harclerode.[4] A music video for the track "Elitist Ones" was released on June 24, 2016.[5]

Mark of the Blade
Studio album by
Whitechapel
ReleasedJune 24, 2016
StudioAudiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida.
Genre
Length48:04
LabelMetal Blade
ProducerWhitechapel, Mark Lewis
Whitechapel chronology
Our Endless War
(2014)		 Mark of the Blade
(2016)		 The Valley
(2019)

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Alternative PressPositive[2]
Exclaim!6/10[8]
Metal Hammer[1]
MetalSucks[9]
Rock Sound7/10[10]

Mark of the Blade was met with generally favorable reviews from critics. At Metacritic (a review aggregator site which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from music critics), based on 6 critics, the album has received a score of 74/100, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews".

At AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote in a mostly positive that "In making a record that indulges so many of their songwriting obsessions, Whitechapel's The Mark of the Blade [sic] might have been a mess. It's not. Sequence and flow, moods and styles, all form a coherent whole -- albeit one that might have used a tad more judicious editing. But it's hard to fault a band for trying new things, especially when what they deliver is an album with far more hits than misses." He also praised Mark Lewis' production on the album, and compared the closing track to Tool and Slipknot.[3] In a slightly less positive review for Exclaim!, Denise Falzon described the album as "a bit hit-and-miss. Musically, the new touches work well and flow with the rest of the album, but the clean vocals in particular feel forced and sorely out of place."[8]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."The Void"4:08
2."Mark of the Blade"2:54
3."Elitist Ones"4:37
4."Bring Me Home"4:49
5."Tremors"4:20
6."A Killing Industry"4:05
7."Tormented"4:14
8."Brotherhood" (instrumental)4:20
9."Dwell in the Shadows"4:02
10."Venomous"4:24
11."Decennium"6:11
Total length:48:04

Personnel
Whitechapel
  • Phil Bozeman – vocals
  • Ben Savage – lead guitar
  • Alex Wade – rhythm guitar
  • Zach Householder – third guitar
  • Gabe Crisp – bass
  • Ben Harclerode – drums
Additional musicians
  • Ben Eller – guitar solo on "The Void", "Bring Me Home", "Tormented", "Dwell in the Shadows", "Venomous"
Production
  • Mark Lewis – engineering, production, mixing
  • Whitechapel – production
  • Matt Brown – drum tech
  • James Thatcher – drum tech
  • Jason Suecof – additional engineering (guitars)
  • John Douglass – digital editing
Artwork and design
  • Colin Marks – artwork
  • Sean Cummings – art direction
  • Whitechapel – art direction

Charts
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 96
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 36
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 124
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] 165
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 16
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] 64
US Billboard 200[17] 72

References
  1. Hicks, Jason (June 21, 2016). "Whitechapel – Mark Of The Blade album review". Metal Hammer. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  2. Markarian, Taylor (June 23, 2016). "Whitechapel grooves with most dynamic release to date". Alternative Press. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  3. "Mark of the Blade - Whitechapel - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  4. "Hear Whitechapel's first songs with clean vocals - News - Alternative Press". Alternative Press. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  5. "WHITECHAPEL: 'Elitist Ones' Video Premiere". 2016-06-24. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  6. "Reviews for Mark of the Blade by Whitechapel - Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  7. Jurek, Thom. "Mark of the Blade - Whitechapel - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  8. Falzon, Denise (June 22, 2016). "Whitechapel Mark of the Blade". Exclaim!. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  9. Boozeman, Phil (June 23, 2016). "Album Review: Whitechapel's Mark of the Blade Will Shred You into Pieces". MetalSucks. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  10. Sayce, Rob (June 23, 2016). "Whitechapel – 'Mark Of The Blade'". Rock Sound. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  11. "CHART WATCH #375". auspOp. July 2, 2016. Retrieved July 2, 2016.
  12. "Austriancharts.at – Whitechapel – Mark of the Blade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  13. "Ultratop.be – Whitechapel – Mark of the Blade" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  14. "Ultratop.be – Whitechapel – Mark of the Blade" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved July 16, 2016.
  15. "Offiziellecharts.de – Whitechapel – Mark of the Blade" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 1, 2016.
  16. "Swisscharts.com – Whitechapel – Mark of the Blade". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  17. "Whitechapel Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 6, 2016.



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