27 Sep 2011

Phil Bozeman explains Whitechapel’s lyrics

I’ll be writing this entry in english, since I know the fanbase of the band Whitechapel is mostly english speaking.

A couple of weeks ago, on the day of September 6th, lead singer Phil Bozeman posted song meanings to all of their songs on his Facebook page. This includes all songs on all three albums (except for one instrumental piece), and I will post them here in the right order. All quotes below this point are from Phil Bozeman.

The Somatic Defilement (2007)

The Somatic Defilement is a concept album "based" on Jack The Ripper. Which a lot is fairy tale songs.

Necrotizing (instrumental)
The Somatic Defilement

This song is a fabrication of the mind of Jack The Ripper. This song puts the work of him with the work of many serial killers. They crave power through the dead.
Devirgination Studies

This song is along the same lines but goes off the theme of female driven killers, much like Jack The Ripper. Again, this is me putting myself in their head.
Prostatic Fluid Asphyxiation

Again, this song is driven by female serial killers. The power they feel and long for is explained through sexual pleasures that they have at their disposal.
Fairy Fay

In this song, the story of Fairy Fay, a woman murdered but never proven to be one of his victims. Some say she never existed and this is a fabrication of the murder. Hence the line ”This confidential lick of my tongue will be taken to the grave and never be seen again.”
Ear to Ear

Again, the song speaks for itself. Pretty much every victim had their throats cut and severed violently by Jack The Ripper.
Alone in the Morgue

This song has nothing to do with Jack The Ripper, this song is a simple song about a coroner who is a demented necrophiliac. The song speaks for itself.
Festering Fiesta

This song focuses on more of a Jeffery Dahmer approach. His collection of rotting bodies were his keepsake for his work. Beyond the point of disgusting.
Vicer Exciser

This song is about a killer who thrives of watching his victim suffer and bring them to the point of being on the brink of death but can keep them alive and aware of what is going on while they are slowly killed. The title means ”a bad habit to cut”.
Articulo Mortis

The term means ”in the moment of death.” This song is a fabrication of Jack The Ripper experiencing that moment of death with his victim and conversing with them and feelings of remorse for what he has done.

This Is Exile (2008)

This Is Exile is a concept album of the fall of evil. This album is not about Satan or anything of the sort! Many of you question my religion, I don't follow religion but I am a believer of God! I am not here to judge, I am here to let you know about me and my work and how I feel. I'm not saying you must believe what I do, that is your decision.

Father Of Lies

This is the beginning, where it all started. This is the failure of a certain being and how his lust for power corrupts him to corrupt what he once believed. This is the tragedy of his betrayal. Again, these are fictional characters.
This Is Exile

This song is a sad outlook for the fallen one. Exiled to darkness and eternal torment, much like how we treat ourselves. A place where we destroy ourselves. A place where happiness is obsolete.
Possession

This song portrays the deviant mind of the harvester of evil and how it is used by us to create a dark future. We let our minds be controlled because we refuse to control it.
To All That Are Dead

This song is about how the restless dead and the tortured souls are used as pawns by people who choose to be evil. This song portrays the people who chose to be tortured and the hurt it causes to those who were loved by them.
Exalt

This song is about cults. Cults are usually evil groups of people who follow a certain belief. This song portrays the madness and corruption they have on a person/people. Believe in yourself and what’s true in your heart, not what someone brainwashes you and tells you to believe.
Somatically Incorrect

The title is a play on words of the term ”grammatically incorrect.” Referring back to the first album title. This song is about the anatomy of us as a species and how we adapt to what we surround ourselves with. The mind is a powerful tool that is easily misused.
Death Becomes Him (instrumental)

The title refers to ”Daemon” being destroyed. The weakness of his mind and inability to control it has led to his demise. The music is depressing and dark, just like he left this world.
Daemon (The Procreated)

Again, this song is not about Satan or anything religious. This song is about letting yourself be created as a demon to cause pain and suffering on others. This is where the third character comes into play. A pawn for evil.
Eternal Refuge

This song is about the hypocrites of this world who choose to live a life of pain but portray that they’re existence is innocent. People who are constantly seeking refuge for their actions and judgmental actions towards innocent people. Evil will consume you and make you think you’re invincible.
Of Legions (instrumental)

The title refers to an army of individuals, not that of the Roman army but of us as a species. This song has the feel of an epic march to free ourselves from darkness and eternal suffering.
Messiahbolical

This song is about false prophets and how they will do anything and everything to corrupt their followers. In the end, if you live a life of deceit, you will never be happy. If you fail yourself, you fail everything and everyone.

A New Era of Corruption (2010)

A New Era of Corruption. This album is more about my life and personal experiences. It also portrays my views on reality. In a nutshell, this album is about my life and who I have come to be.

Devolver

This song is about how I felt when my father and mother died. I felt as if I was devolving and losing my mind. I lost my faith and my beliefs. I hated everyone. I felt like I was beginning a new era of corruption in my life. My step father fed me lies and hippocratic oaths. I let evil take me over.
Breeding Violence

Again, this song is me. Once a man, now a beast. My mind corrupted by hypocrisy. This is me during the time of my loss of my parents and what I let myself become. My step father was breeding violence into me and I let him. I felt helpless. I was a threat to the future of my mortality.
The Darkest Day of Man

This song is about how easily people are fooled and how gullible they are. People will believe almost everything they’re told. Trust yourself and believe what is true in your heart. These are our darkest days and we are letting it happen. This also portrays a tyrant taking advantage of that.
Reprogrammed to Hate

This song goes back to my personal life during my dark days as a teenager. I let my step father essentially reprogram my mind to be something I wasn’t. This is me speaking to him and him speaking to me.
End of Flesh

This song is my journey into darkness and how I was alive and well but what I was born into was dead to me. I was pretty much becoming Anakin Skywalker, hahaha.
Unnerving

This song is about my mother and her schizophrenic period. My mom had a notebook that she would write disturbing things. My mom had multiple personalities and this song is about her personalities tearing her down. The term ”God” in this song is referring to her personalities making her believe that they are ”God”.
A Future Corrupt

This is me letting evil corrupt my future. Destroying my youth, my faith and making me think that evil is my resort for happiness. This was me pretending to be a tyrant when I was a kid.
Prayer of Mockery

This song is portrays my disbelief in God after everything that happened to me. I was angry and consuming myself with evil and darkness. This is what I let myself become and what I was, and I am not proud of it. All that has changed now but I still remember and will never forget what I was letting myself slip into.
Murder Sermon

This is the song I wrote about killing my step-father after his lies, deceit and promises he made. He brought religion into it and was completely hypocritical about it. He got my mom addicted to crack which eventually led to her death. This was a dream I had of killing him and shoving his religion down his throat that he preached. Another thing I am not proud of.
Necromechanical

This song is about us as drones to life and how we let ourselves become what we could easily control. This is another dream of mine awaking as a machine and controlled by someone else. It was beyond frightening.
Single File to Dehumanization

Yet another dream I had. All I remember was being in a line of people that didn’t end and I was unaware of where I was going but I couldn’t get out of the line. To this day, I have no explanation for the dream. This is also to do with how it seems in real life.

(end quote)

A million thanks goes out to Phil Bozeman for writing these explanations to his fans. If you haven’t heard of Whitechapel before, you should definitely catch them on The Diseased.com, MySpace or Facebook.