Recorrupted - EP

Fans of Whitechapel’s punishing death metal will bask in the darkened glory of the opening song from its 2011 Recorrupted EP. Brooding and gloomy ambience seeps into the start of “Section 8” before Phil Bozeman’s guttural growls and Hessian howls spew from your speakers. Underneath that larynx shredding, Ben Harclerode’s bludgeoning beats and an onslaught of six-string mayhem provide a brutal eardrum assault. A sludgy cover of Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength” follows, sounding like it was recorded from the depths of the La Brea Tar Pits. But in putting a Whitechapel spin on a Pantera classic, the band pays homage without one-upping the original (Dimebag Darrell would most likely be flattered). Before hardcore proponents of death metal dismiss the EP’s remixes of “Breeding Violence” and “This Is Exile,” keep in mind that KISS still rocked even after dabbling in disco (with 1979’s “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”). That said, Big Chocolate gives the former some stroboscopic fluttering, while Ben Weinman injects the latter with '90s-flavored industrial mechanics. An acoustic version of “End of Flesh” closes.