The Band
Motionless In White is an American metalcore band, formed in 2004.
After numerous line-up changes, the only original member is their singer, Chris “Motionless” Cerulli.
The band name comes from the song Motionless and White by another American metalcore band, Eighteen Visions.
The band plays a mix of metalcore, gothic, and industrial metal and now they have also added synth-wave elements.
I got to know them recently, by watching endless hours of YouTube reactors talking about music and bands I like, such as Ice Nine Kills, Bad Omens, etc. They kept talking about Motionless In White (MIW), as a similar style band. So, curiosity led me to one of their songs, Another Life. I immediately loved it. It sounded and looked like a gothic band. Then, in other songs, they were a bit like Marilyn Manson, but heavier and better, so that’s how I got to this album, and now I’m completely obsessed with it.
Band Members
- Chris “Motionless” Cerulli – lead vocals
- Ryan Sitkowski – lead guitar
- Ricky “Horror” Olson – rhythm guitar
- Justin Morrow – bass
- Vinny Mauro – drums
The Album
Scoring the End of the World is Motionless In White’s sixth studio album. The album was released on June 10th, 2022 by Roadrunner Records. This review focused on the Deluxe Edition, released on September 8th, 2023 that added 4 bonus tracks at the end.
The Songs
1. Meltdown. The first song of the album starts with a blegh, and electronic sounds that reminisce a video game, and then gets heavier and industrial with a breakdown at the end. Sets the mood and themes for many songs of the album, dealing with the current state of self-destruction caused by us humans, and all the things we are facing now, like corruption, climate change, viruses, and our own extinction.
2. Sign Of Life. One of my favorite songs on the album. It has style changes, synthesizers, and even some rap parts. Very emotional. It’s a cry for help on feeling lost and stuck in life. A feeling most of us can relate to at some or multiple moments of our own journey.
3. Werewolf. The band’s favorite song on this album. A synthwave pop sound. It has an 80s vibe of dark disco.
In the lyrics, Chris talks about trying to hide his own dark side.
The video it’s a tribute to Michael Jackson’s video Thriller, with the werewolves instead of zombies dancing. Chris Motionless uses a red leather jacket similar to Michael. And a pair of the lyrics line also references him, such as Rockwell’s song “I feel like somebody’s watching me”. And “Moonwalking” in another line.
4. Porcelain. Beautiful power ballad about how our self-destructive mind and our own problems can damage a relationship.
5. Slaughterhouse (feat. Bryan Garris). After the soothing Porcelain, comes Bryan Garris, the singer of the American hardcore punk band, Knocked Loose to wake you up with a crazy scream in this enraged anthem against capitalism, the love of money, corporate greed, and the gap between rich and poor. All the inequities and injustices that manifest in our society, where the rich become richer and the poor get poorer, and the abuses that take place in the name of money. It asks us what’s the reason to accumulate so much wealth that it won’t have any use when you go to hell.
An industrial synth song with brutal breakdowns, bleghs, tempo drops, and melodic choruses by Chris Motionless.
This is one of the heaviest songs of Motionless In White, and I love it, not just for its intensity but for its politically charged lyrics.
6. Masterpiece. A beautiful ballad full of regret, anger, and sadness, of someone who recognizes that its mistakes have caused a great deal of pain in others. You can feel Chris’s pain in his voice, and then after the build-up of a great breakdown, it leaves us with the final chorus that hits you even harder with his anguish.
7. Cause Of Death. Heavier song about the desire for vengeance in a toxic relationship.
8. We Become The Night. It’s a wake-up call to fight the people that oppress us. A rocker and catchy song.
9. Burned At Both Ends II. A ballad that gets heavier in some parts. About the end of a bad relationship. He misses his past life, with this person that left. Feeling lost. It’s the sequel of an MIW previous song.
10. BFBTG: Corpse Nation. The acronym means Broadcasting From Beyond The Grave. It starts with a creepy piano and a radio news broadcaster. It gets symphonic and heavier afterward. Gives me the sensation of the beginning of a horror movie. It criticizes the world in which we are living in which people get distracted by things that don’t matter and follows blindly propaganda ideas.
11. Cyberhex. Heavy, industrial, apocalyptic, and cybernetic, with synthwave elements and background noises that sound like a video game. It’s about returning to the real connections, to the real world. A call to resistant the dark times we are experiencing because in the end love always triumphs.
It’s also a love letter from Chris to the fans for supporting him and the band throughout all these years.
Former Cradle of Filth, Lindsay Schoolcraft, provided operatic vocals, which mixed with the synthesizers, gave that epic symphonic vibe to the song.
12. Red White & Boom (feat. Caleb Shomo). An industrial track that criticizes American society, where people are over-stimulated but isolated at the same time, with no care for their mental health.
Caleb Shomo is the singer of the American metalcore band Beartooth.
13. Scoring The End Of The World (feat. Mick Gordon). A song about war and how musicians can save the world with music. Mick Gordon is an Australian composer and musician that has created the music for many iconic video games like Doom Eternal and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.
14. Hollow Points. A song that recriminates the perversion of faith that religion that some preachers have done.
15. Fool’s Gold. A heavier song that addresses the betrayal and manipulation in order to gain profits at the expense of the relationship.
16. Timebomb (STEOTW Mix). Heavier song. Tells about the internal battle to become a better person. Gutturals by Chris and then Ricky Olson, the guitarist, sings in the chorus with softer clean vocals.
17. Porcelain: Ricky Motion Picture Collection. This song explores the struggles of personal demons and how they affect the persons we love. Here sings Ricky, and it’s a delicate acoustic version of the original song. With an emo vibe. Just beautiful.
Final Thoughts
This is the first album that I listened to of MIW. In their music, they incorporate different styles. Rocker songs with others more leaning toward pop. Ballads, breakdowns, and bleghs. They put a lot of emphasis on synthesizers and keyboards. Industrial synthwave metalcore. Gutturals and clean voices. A Halloween and gothic aesthetic. Creating different vibes within the album.
It surprised me the deepness of their lyrics. They’re not just a typical metalcore band, they have more consistency in their message. They talk about climate change, corruption, and inequity, and as Chris has said they wanted to make a statement as a band, to show on which side they were to promote a positive direction for a better world. And this just makes me eager to listen to their previous albums as well as what’s in the future to come. And of course, to see them playing live when I get the chance.
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Tracklist
1. Meltdown
2. Sign Of Life
3. Werewolf
4. Porcelain
5. Slaughterhouse (feat. Bryan Garris)
6. Masterpiece
7. Cause Of Death
8. We Become The Night
9. Burned At Both Ends II
10. BFBTG: Corpse Nation
11. Cyberhex
12. Red, White & Boom (feat. Caleb Shomo)
13. Scoring The End Of The World (feat. Mick Gordon)
14. Hollow Points
15. Fool’s Gold
16. Timebomb (STEOTW Mix)
17. Porcelain: Ricky Motion Picture Collection