Motionless in White have been a steadily rising presence in heavy-music scene for the past two decades, having pulled themselves out from the pits of Scranton, Pennsylvania’s D.I.Y. scene to deliver goth-injected metalcore on some of the world’s biggest stages.
Across six full-lengths, a pair of EPs and more, the band have reincarnated their essence through myriad songs of devastating riffage, blacklight-sparkling melodies and the forever-contorting vocal range of lead singer Chris Motionless. But what is the band’s greatest statement to date — the one song that’ll power Motionless in White’s metal legion through a grueling graveyard shift, or act as the perfect soundtrack for the end of the world?
We asked Revolver readers to weigh in on MIW’s single best track, and the top-five vote-getters came in as follows.
“Another Life”
As much as Motionless in White love a good, brutal breakdown, the group likewise knows when to scale back their savagery.
“Another Life” is a powerful reminder of this, with the Disguise single only just barely peppering a few screams into the otherwise emo-adjacent hard rocker. Chris Motionless’ sinewy croon is the main course, here contemplating romantic fallout and the ways we often end up “broken and bleeding in the name of love.”
“Eternally Yours”
Love is complicated. That’s the understatement of the ages when it comes to MIW’s pounding Graveyard Shift pseudo-ballad “Eternally Yours,” a song where two souls mutually self-destruct in order to stay together in the hereafter.
It’s kinda sweet on the one hand, with Motionless either using a scream or an emo-croon to lay his heart and bones bare for the one he loves. On the other hand, the ghoulish suggestion to “coalesce in darkness” by shacking up beneath a cemeterial “garden of stone” isn’t exactly the sweetest of propositions.
Still, the vocalist is “more than willing to rot in hell” with someone, which has got to count for something, right?
“Immaculate Misconception”
“Immaculate Misconception” is a remarkably intense bait-and-switch, but the gotcha moment is also telegraphed though its sneaky song title. Nevertheless, there’s an uncomfortably blunt ruthlessness to how Chris Motionless growls out the first verse’s violently sexualized curb-stomping fantasies. Frightening, really.
Thankfully, Motionless flips the script through empathetic and melancholic vocal melodies dedicated to folks facing extreme hatred on the regular (“To all the kids who’s letters I receive/The broken-hearted, the damaged just like me”).
While it initially presents itself as a toxic punch-down moment in the MIW catalogue, it ultimately comes across as a heartfelt underdog anthem about the misunderstood uniting in the face of adversity.
“Slaughterhouse”
So this is the consequence of opulence.
“Slaughterhouse” is one of Motionless in White’s most recent triumphs, and while a good deal of that has to do with the general heaviness the band bring to the track, part of the thrill obviously also has to do with how Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris brings one of the most fucked-up screeches in the game to the piece.
The team-up finds both Chris Motionless and Garris positively seething over the greed of the one percent (“Whatcha gonna buy with all your money in Hell?”), while they howl of the people’s revenge above a firestorm finale.
A collab so nice, they did it twice: Knocked Loose returned the favor by bringing Chris onto You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’s imposing “Slaughterhouse 2.”
“Thoughts & Prayers”
Chris Motionless goes into full-attack mode on this heavy-hitting Disguise standout, which acts as a disparaging rebuke to the actionless, empty prayers often offered up online and IRL by politicians and religious figures in the wake of great tragedy. MIW are poking holes in for-profit prayer bases who feel that there’s “more money” to be made in misfortune than in serious societal reform.
Fittingly, outside of a touch of melody in the chorus, this one is pretty much just Motionless going hard above a bludgeoning wrecking ball of metalcore fury. And for many fans, it’s a thorny, crowning achievement in the MIW catalogue. Can we get an amen?