Alex Wade - Whitechapel 'Harnessing The Unhinged'

 A return to an older sound in the music biz can often lead to disaster - or, worse, material that fails to live up to the past. Defining the deathcore sound in the late 00’s, Whitechapel’s opening trio of albums set the bar across multiple of the genre’s aspects; the vocals, the production, the sheer heaviness.

After years of musical exploration and growth - from the progressive and melodically-tinged The Valley and Kin, to the more dialled back and groove focused Mark of the Blade and Our Endless War - 2025’s Hymns in Dissonance’s surprise first single ‘A Visceral Wretch’ signaled a monstrous return to brutality.

And what a return it is; front to back the group’s newest LP is punishing heavy, yet with the grabbing moments, riffs, refrains and breakdowns that highlights the years of songwriting between the long running extreme metal crew.

Ahead of the LP’s March 7th release, Wall of Sound had the great pleasure to chat with founding member, riff-machine and all-around affable bloke Alex Wade. For a band making extreme, non-commercial music, the weight of being on the cusp of dropping their ninth full length is not lost on the Tennesseean,"It's definitely a surreal feeling."

"When we started this band, we started just like any other band; we were just a bunch of friends playing in local bands together, and we got together and decided to make some music for fun. So to be here almost 20 years later and nine albums in, it's crazy to think about, but we're really thankful to be here and we're just continuously focused on where we can take the band and how far we can grow it."

‍Though the band achieved great success on their last two full lengths, frontman Phil Bozeman was a big driving force with the stylistic change from The Valley and Kin, to the straight-forward intensity of Hymns in Dissonance. 

"So that all kind of started with and was inspired by Phil really. He just kind of expressed to us that he wasn't really interested in (clean) singing on this record. Not to say that he'll not ever do it again, but just on this album, he just wasn't feeling it, and I think he got all that out through The Valley and through Kin, and he was just ready to take a step back for nostalgia's sake and just kind of have fun and just try to make the most brutal thing we could again."

"The Valley and Kin were both really personal to him and I think he said what he needed to say with those albums and he was ready to just write an album that didn't really have a lot of emotional and baggage tied to it, just something fun and brutal."

Though being known as one of the heavy music world’s most powerful vocalists, new cuts such as the thunderous title track, show frontman Phil Bozeman can also lay down a mean riff.

"He's always had a couple riffs on every album. Even The Valley, the main riff of ‘Black Bear’, he wrote that. And even on Kin, he had a couple riffs on that album, so definitely he wrote more on guitar for this one than he has in a long time. He started out as a guitar player before he was really focused on vocals, and so it's in his blood to kind of noodle around on riffs." 

For the first time Whitechapel have fully stepped out on their own on the production front, with guitarist Zach Householder manning the boards for this release, giving the band plenty of time to flesh out ideas - even if meant occasionally getting bogged down in the details… 

"It did give us freedom in a sense that we could spend as much time as we wanted to on it because we weren't confined to, most of the time when you pay a producer, it's for a set amount of weeks, five, six weeks, whatever it takes to get the album done, and they get paid X amount of money for those weeks, and if you go over that then you have to pay 'em more.

But with Zach, him being a member of the band, he obviously got paid to produce the album, but it was just a flat rate thing, and him being a member of the band, we can spend as much time on it as we want, which is kind of a bad thing as well because we can kind of almost start nit picking things and taking too much time, which I'm glad we took the amount of time that we did to make the album happen because there were a lot of parts that changed for the better, and it's what made the album as great as it is to me.

But there were definitely times where I felt like we were taking too long to get certain things done, but sometimes you just have to do that to make it sound the way that you want it to sound, and we're all really happy with the end product and I think it's something that we can be proud of to say that we took the reins in our own hands for the first time and actually succeeded with it." 

A long demoing process was behind Hymns in Dissonance, with everything going under the microscope - so much so that the initial writing process starting well over a year and a half ago;

"It was definitely still pretty much a lengthy demoing process, like June of 2023 after we did The Valley front to back tour in America that spring. So we came home from that and we started writing and it was definitely long days. We would go and we would go to Zach's studio, and sometimes it would be all of us. Sometimes it would only be one or two of us, but we'd get together and just kind of compile all the riff ideas that we had and see what would stick together or see, sometimes we take three different riffs from three different guys and mash 'em together and it makes the beginning of a song or sometimes somebody will have a good chunk of a song, almost two minutes worth or something, and we just kind of have to figure out how to finish it up. So I feel like everyone contributes equally though, as far as writing goes, everybody's got riffs on there. 

I feel like we work better at home, we're just more comfortable there and we can spend a couple of hours at Zach's studio then go home and spend time with our families and loved ones and rest, then come back with a fresh head. But we have little demoing rigs that we take on tour, little laptops with an interface to record with, so we definitely can get some ideas down and then get some ideas down on the road and then come home and kind of expand on those a little bit better. You can even use your DI's and stuff that you've made and reamp things to make it sound better, and so it's definitely, technology has helped bands recording their own stuff greatly, for sure." 

The modern age has brought a plethora of tonal options for musicians, with Wade and his bandmates wanting to focus on a filthy guitar sound to match the equally nasty new material.

"I feel like we've always had great tone, but it's always just like one sound and we never really explore with much else outside of that.

We just wanted to really go for a real grimy kind of tone on this, almost a mixture of the griminess of Cannibal Corpse, but still with the definition that we're kind of known for because all of our guitar tones, they're heavy, but they're really clean sounding.

We drop tune to drop G for the most part, there’s some drop A songs too, so we have to tighten up our tone with front end boosts going into the amp and stuff. But we felt for this album, just because of how grimy and dirty the music is as a whole, that a really clean kind of high gain tone wasn't that suitable. So the front end chain that we had on this album was pretty wild; the main tone for the record was a two-channel (Mesa Boogie) Dual Rectifier; the rack mounted Rectifier. Then we cleaned the front end up with a Pepers’ Pedal Dirty Tree - it's kind of like a TC Electronics clean boost with an adjustable EQ; not really like a noverdrive. It doesn't really give the mid hump of the overdrive, it just allows you to suck out some low end before it hits the front end of the amp. And then we also stacked that clean boost with a Kelley-moded (Boss) Metal Zone; that is a trick that Cannibal Corpse does - they boost their Rectifiers with the Metal Zone, taking the distortion all the way out, kind of like how you don't use the distortion on a Tube Screamer when you're boosting an amp. And so we're really just using the EQ and the volume from the Metal Zone, and that gave it that kind of chainsaw-y kind of sound, that extra nastiness and that extra edge we were looking for in the tone.

And all of that was Zach's idea. He came up with all that and using the pedals in that manner. So it was really cool for him to be able to produce a unique tone for us that we've never really used before, but it still works.

Debuting at this year’s NAMM show, the new Alex Wade signature LTD guitar - the AW-XJ7 - was one of the many axes on the new LP.

"Usually we like to do whatever guitar sounds the best, so everyone brings all their guitars over and we just kind of shoot 'em all out and whichever one sounds the best is kind of what we go with. I wouldn't say the majority of the album was done with my signature, but there were definitely a couple of key parts that needed it because of the Evertune bridge, and that really helped a lot as far as those nasty octaves that just you can never get in tune to save your life. The Evertune really helped; I just picked it up and played it and it was in tune. So stuff like my signature guitar really helped on as far as that goes. But we used Zach's Aristides for a lot of the rhythm tracks, and (Ben) Savage had his PRSs on there for the leads and stuff, so it was definitely a good mix of guitars over the album." 

With three guitarists in the band - not to mention a vocalist who is handy on the seven string - the task of laying down the tracks is evenly split amongst the band. 

"It's mostly just whoever wrote the riff really, except for Phil; if Phil wrote the riff, usually I record it. Zach wrote pretty much all of ‘Visceral Retch’, so he tracked all of that one. It doesn't really make sense for me or Ben to have to sit down and learn all those parts just to record it when he's the one that wrote it. But then there are some parts where it's like, well, all the guys, they call me ‘the hoof’ because they think my right hand sounds better than everybody. So if there's apart that needs ‘the hoof’, then they call me in and I'll play that part. But for the most part, every bodycan kind of record their own sections." 

Though five of Whitechapel’s members have been with the band since their second LP - including four from day one -the group have had a hard time locking down a permanent drummer. Newest member Brandon Zackey, will hopefully break that long line of seemingly temporary players behind the kit.

"So Brandon, he's an amazing dude, great personality, even better drummer; we were really stoked to find him and that he was down to play with us. Originally, he was playing drums in Enterprise Earth.

We had (recently) parted ways with Alex Rudinger, and it was kind of like a mutual amicable thing - I think maybe we made the call on calling him official a little too soon, I think we probably should have just left it as a session guy for a little bit longer, but sometimes you think something's going to be a good choice and it ends up not being, and it's okay.

He's doing great - we all still talk and everything like that. So after that happened, we were looking for another drummer, obviously, and Ben Savage (guitar) was talking to Mark Heylmun from Suicide Silence, and Mark had told Ben, 'I got a friend in California named Brandon Zackey, and I think he would murder ya’lls music. I think he would be a really good asset for you guys.'

I had never heard of him, but Ben was like, 'Hey, I was just talking to Mark. He said, we need to hit up this guy, Brandon Zackey.' I was like, alright, so I just sent him a DM on Instagram and I was like, 'Hey, we talked to Mark from Suicide Silence, and he said, you're a great dude and even better drummer, so we're looking for somebody to fill in for [us].' It was for the Cannibal Corpse headliner that we did in ’22, and I was like, 'would you be interested in filling?'. At first, we weren't trying to steal anybody's drummer or anything like that, I just made him the offer; 'if you have downtime from Enterprise Earth and you want to come out and play these gigs with us, we'll obviously pay you as a session guy and we'll take it from there'. And he was like, 'hell yeah, I'd be down.'

So he came out and did that tour, and we were just blown away by how easily he picked up our material and he just fit right in. I think it just speaks even more to how diversified he is as a drummer, because he's covered four different drummers over our albums, all their different styles, and he can take it with no problem.

So we just kept offering him gigs from there, and anytime he had downtime with Enterprise Earth, he was down the tour with us. It eventually came to a point where he had just gotten married and he could only balance between the two bands for so long and also maintain a relationship at home. So he kind of brought it to us, 'Hey, we kind of need to decide something here. If there's any chance of me having a permanent position, I could figure it out with Enterprise Earth, and basically I would be with you all.' So we had the discussion as a band, and it was right around time when we were supposed to start writing for Hymns In Dissonance.

So I was thinking this is the perfect moment to include him in the fold because we're starting a new album, and it’s not like we're going to have somebody else writing these drums and then he's just going to play 'em live or something. I think it's going to make him feel better to be able to write what he wants to write and to be able to play that stuff live as well. So from there, we decided he was permanent addition - though we don't have the best track record with keeping drummers around for whatever reason. It's almost like people think we beat 'em with whips and chains, but I don't know, it's just something that's always been some kind of catalyst that has made the drummer move on, which it just is what it is. We've been here this whole time and we'll always be here no matter who's playing drums behind us, but I'm really happy with where we are right now with Brandon, and as far as I'm concerned, we're going to do everything to maintain, to not have to get another fricking drummer after all this.

An underrated aspect of album-writing is ending on a strong note, and Whitechapel are one of the few deathcore acts to put a real effort into achieving with this. 

"I think that's something that we started doing really unintentionally, even as far back as I would say This Is Exile, which closes with ‘Messiahbolical’. It definitely wasn't one of our most popular singles or anything, but it was a really epic closing song. So I feel like every album we've had since then has always just kind of had this epic closer, and that's basically, we sort through all the songs and it's like by the time we get to the end of the song or by the time we get to the end of the album with writing, there's always one song that's like, that's the closer. It just sounds like the closer, it's just bigger, more epic than all the other tracks. And it's a song that doesn't sound like it could go within the first four songs.

And then on self-titled, there was ‘Possibilities of an Impossible Existence’. And Endless War ‘Diggs Road’, that's an amazing closing song, always epic. And then ‘Decennium’ off of Mark of the Blade. I feel like that's a really underrated song. I love how that song turned out, and it's definitely a really epic closing track. So yeah, I mean at this point, I think it is something that we intentionally try to do is to always make the last song something special. 

Case and point: the new record’s massive ending piece 'Nothing Is Coming For Any Of Us', which sees lead guitarist Ben Savage cut loose with some ripping solos.

"We wanted a lot of harmonies, melodies, and most of the end was Ben as far as arranging most of that. And yeah, we just wanted it to be, I keep using the term but epic when people listen to it. We just wanted this heavy, aggressive, just final note onto to seal the end of the album. And then after that really big slam part, it just kind of goes into that epic segue and definitely ends the album on a good note." 

With Whitechapel undoubtedly pillars of the deathcore scene, Alex is more than aware of the next generation of acts tapping into the classic ‘Myspace’-era sound - he’s also quick to point out what led the band to slowly move away from that style;

"I think it's cool that that sound is coming back. I've seen some newer bands pop up; one that caught my attention was called Girl of Glass, which I think is a Suicide Silence song.

So it's just cool to see that these kids have grown up listening to those older albums, and now they're starting bands that are influenced by stuff that we were doing almost 20 years ago.

And yeah, I mean it's definitely, it's cool to see that it's not dead because I thought for awhile that it was, I mean, that's a large part of why we kind of changed our sound too and tried to stray away from, we never wanted to be “F deathcore”, but there were definitely times where we wanted to be taken more seriously just as a real true metal band. We want to be able to tour with bands like Meshuggah, Hatebreed and Trivium and just more standard kind of metal bands and not just be pigeonholed into only deathcore. So that's why Our Endless War sounds the way that it does, and Mark of the Blade and the Valley, and that was us attempting to.

Whitechapel is always going to sound like Whitechapel and have that kind of deathcore spin on it. But we wanted to make albums that weren't just solely deathcore."

Rather than a backyards step, Hymns In Dissonance’s ultra-heavy assault is not only the sound of Whitechapel tipping their hats to the past, but showing growth as musicians and writers.

"That's definitely something that we wanted to make a stamp with, make our mark with this album, is to show people that it's not like we went back and tried to write more simplistically on The Somatic Defilement or This Is Exile or whatever we wanted to really, it's really just kind of harnessing the unhinged ness of the older albums, but also putting the new spin on it with our born modern sound, all of the songwriting techniques that we've learned through all those other albums like Our Endless War, Mark of The Blade, The Valley, Kin.

To me, it might not be as heavy as the first albums to some people, but to me it's better songwriting. So for me, that's what I wanted to incorporate is kind of like that unhinged brutality of the first records, but with the more modern songwriting of the later records."

A nice little throwback back for the old-school fans, the crushing new record’s title track features a sneaky easter egg thanks to pen of Bozeman.

"That was definitely a Phil thing. I didn't have any idea that he was going to do that, but then when I heard, I mean with most of his vocals, he never really demos his vocals. We just demoed the instruments and then he writes the vocals and then he just shows up and does 'em because he's Phil and he's good at anything he does. So that's one good thing. We don't really have to worry about policing him on lyrics or anything too much. He's never done anything, and I've been like, 'ah, that sucks'. Sometimes there might need to be a little bit of like, 'well, what if you did this instead of that' kind of thing. But just he does the same thing with guitars. If he doesn't like a guitar, if he's like, 'well, what if you did this instead', kind of thing. But yeah, when he did that chorus for Hymns in Dissonance and I heard him do all the throwbacks and stuff, I was like, “oh man, kids are going to love that when you hear it”, it's just like that's going to be something special. Kind of like when I heard Saw is the Law for the first time, I was like, 'okay, yeah, you did it. That's good.'

As a hard working death metal troupe, Alex and Whitechapel unsurprisingly a packed schedule ahead of them after the release of Hymns in Dissonance - hopefully which entails returning to Australia for a long overdue headline run.

"[We have a] US tour in the Spring, and then we have some European festivals in June, and then we'll be coming back for another US headliner in Fall, and then we'll have some more Euro tours in 2026. I am really, really crossing our fingers, hoping that we get back to Australia, because we came over and we did that run with Thy Art Is Murder (in 2023) and it was so amazing. We haven't really put in as much work in Australia as we should have, but it is a long ass flight, so give us some slack! But we definitely really need to come over and do a headlining run, especially after the response that we saw on that Thy Art tour. It was just insane. So we need to come back over and knock it out for sure."

Hymns in Dissonance is out Friday, March 7th via Metal Blade Records. Pre-order here

Interview by Andrew Kapper @andrew_kapper

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