Shawn Whitaker Appreciation

Finally, we're getting to posting about the busiest fucking guy in Texas, Shawn Whitaker. Whitaker is, in case you somehow didn't know, the man behind bands including Viral Load, Grotesque Formation, and Insidious Decrepancy. A lot of the time, though, Shawn doesn't stick with pure TXDM slam and stomp stuff, but instead incorporates some really tight-knit influences here and there. Let's check it out.

Well, we should definitely start with his most famous project, Insidious Decrepancy. He's done two albums under this name so far, hopefully a third one will come soon (but that is unlikely as he is very obviously a busy guy, probably even outside of music, and it had been three years between his currently released albums). The music is highly Immolation influenced; hell, he even covers "Dawn Of Possession" on the first album and...it fucking rules. The rest of the album is technical, blasting, and gory, but it definitely doesn't forget to throw out the rulebook and write some nigh-catchy riffs now and then. On his newest album, The Inerrancy Of Profanation, Shawn begins the CD with a great song featuring some Deeds Of Flesh-isms as well as a lead section that just screams Death (mid-era)! I was hooked right there, and the rest of the CD lived up to my expectations; no more leads really, but straightforward, chunky, well-played, and well-rounded technical brutality. At first, I recall comparing it to a solo-less/lacking Necrophagist circa the first demo and subsequent album (Onset...). In any case, both albums are fucking brilliant; Shawn even came out with a live DVD recently (a month or so ago, if I remember right) called Texas Tormenting Tokyo 2005. I can tell that'll be ridiculous if the Youtube videos of ID are any indication!

Viral Load's up next, Shawn's more humorous project that he currently shares with Forrest of Cephalotripsy on drums (but he used a drum machine on the first two albums). The early material was rather different; raw, blasting sickness with Shawn's hilarious/evil screaming vocals piercing through the wall of great riffs (and astoundingly melodic ones here and there, such as in "Galloping Upon The Entrails Of The Dead." I don't care too much for the new material...I'm not a big fan of and cannot get much into "humorous" slam/brutal death, but whatever...that aside, I'm sure it's a similar style as both Brutalized Beyond Belief and Practitioners Of Perversion.

Grotesque Formation is a pure slam band which Shawn did vocals on for the Basement Decompositions album. I hated this at first, when I wasn't too into slam/brutal death...but now that I am I can tell you that this is excellent, chaotic, blasting, fast-paced stuff! This is great slam for fans of Condemned, Goretrade, and Guttural Secrete (though it's noticeably sloppier than the last two bands, and there's less melody, as it is).

I haven't heard anything from a few of his projects...but once I do, I'll end up editing this to let everyone know that they fucking rule...until then...