Motionless in White review – gothically glam US metalcore will put a grin on your face
Motionless in White have the commendable quality of a stadium-headlining band playing a 2,000-capacity theatre. Formed almost 20 years ago in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the metalcore five-piece lay it on thick from the off, with dancing girls, pyrotechnics and a wall of Blade Runner visuals to match the colossal riffs of recent single Meltdown. Lead vocalist Chris “Motionless” Cerulli is darkly handsome in a sleek black coat, incongruously low-key compared to his corpse paint-wearing bandmates. But his goth smarts against the cartoonish metal surroundings are a neat analogue for the band’s sound: classic metalcore with a glam, gothic edge.
He may be relatively unshowy, but Cerulli’s impressively malleable voice carries the show’s emotional and musical surges. Another Life allows him to embrace post-hardcore melodrama, and ballad Masterpiece is arguably his best showcase, as he switches from a soaring emo chorus to a snarling breakdown. Hardcore ripper Slaughterhouse ignites pure carnage in the pit, even if the guest vocals from Fit for a King’s Ryan Kirby aren’t as gnarly as those on the recording, by Bryan Garris of hardcore heroes Knocked Loose.
The band have a charming Misfits-meets-Creeper tendency towards Halloween theatrics. The synth-pop jam Werewolf is appropriately introduced with Vincent Price’s Thriller monologue, and the dancers are dressed in a series of classic costumes (skeletons, cheerleaders, chainsaw-wielders), at one point stopping to throw sweets from buckets into the audience. When they don Mean Girls-esque outfits of rodent ears and rubber miniskirts during Rats, it’s knowing and silly, especially when Cerulli briefly joins in their routine. The song is a riotous glam stomper, cliched but none worse for it (sample lyric: “Roses are red / and my heart is black”).
Motionless in White have long been likened to Marilyn Manson, an unfortunate comparison in 2025. Their music leans heavier than Manson, but their embrace of glam rock swagger and gothic drama is certainly comparable, albeit presented with an attitude that is more earnest than menacing. After seeing this aesthetic used for nefarious purposes, it’s fun to spend time with a band who appreciate its inherent playfulness.
