Back in 2014, the world was a very different place.
Man buns were running wild. Snapchat dog filters were considered peak entertainment. Every teenager owned at least one item of clothing covered in studs, skulls or mysterious straps that served absolutely no practical purpose.
Then Motionless In White arrived with โReincarnateโโa towering industrial-metalcore anthem accompanied by a music video in which Chris Motionless emerged from a bathtub filled with black goo like a demonic phoenix rising from the depths of Hot Topic itself.
Naturally, we all watched it and thought:
Yes. This is art.
And honestly? We were right.
Released as the lead single from Motionless In Whiteโs third studio album, Reincarnate didnโt simply introduce a new chapter for the Pennsylvania band. It announced their transformation from cult metalcore favourites into one of the most distinctive and theatrical forces in modern heavy music.
Twelve years later, the eyeliner may have smudged, the fringe may have retreated and some of us now make strange noises when standing upโbut the song still absolutely slaps. ๐ค
๐ โI Am the Reincarnate!โ
From its opening moments, โReincarnateโ feels enormous.
The track combines stomping industrial rhythms, vicious metalcore riffs, electronic textures and a chorus built to be screamed by thousands of people simultaneously. Itโs dark, dramatic and wonderfully excessiveโthe musical equivalent of kicking open the doors to a haunted mansion while wearing six belts and a leather coat in July.
Chris Motionless delivers the song with the conviction of someone announcing their return from the grave. His vocals shift between snarling aggression and a massive melodic hook, giving the track enough brutality for the pit and enough accessibility to lodge itself permanently inside your skull.
At its core, the song is about transformation.
Itโs about taking every criticism, every failure and every attempt to hold you backโand using it as fuel. That message connected immediately with fans who already saw Motionless In White as champions of outsiders, misfits and anyone who had ever been told they were too strange, too loud or wearing far too much black.
For many listeners, โReincarnateโ wasnโt just a song. It was a declaration.
๐ฆ The Music Video Was Pure Gothic Chaos
Then there was the video.
Oh, mun. What a glorious slice of gothic nonsense it was.
The official video delivered sinister rooms, unnerving characters, black leather, pale faces, dramatic lighting and enough supernatural imagery to make a suburban parent immediately question every decision that had led to their child purchasing eyeliner.
Chris Motionless appears crawling, screaming and grinning his way through the chaos before rising from that now-iconic bathtub of black liquid.
Was it subtle?
Absolutely not.
Did it need to be?
Also absolutely not.
Motionless In White understood that heavy music should occasionally feel like theatre. Their visual identity pulled from gothic horror, industrial rock, metalcore and classic shock-rock spectacle. They werenโt interested in standing beneath a single flickering light and pretending misery was a personality.
They wanted drama.
They wanted monsters.
They wanted a video that looked like Halloween had broken into an abandoned hotel and refused to leave.
Proper job. ๐๐ฅ
๐ The Album That Changed Everything
The song led the charge for the bandโs third studio album, also titled Reincarnate, which arrived in September 2014.
The record represented a major leap forward for Motionless In White. Their earlier releases had already built a dedicated following, but Reincarnate expanded their sound and sharpened the qualities that would eventually make them arena-ready.
The album blended metalcore with industrial metal, gothic atmosphere, nu-metal swagger and enormous choruses. It felt heavier in places, more melodic in others and considerably more confident throughout.
Commercially, the gamble paid off.
Reincarnate debuted inside the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, reaching Number Nine and reportedly selling more than 30,000 copies during its opening week.
For a band that had spent years climbing through sweaty clubs, DIY venues and scene tours, this was a massive moment.
Motionless In White were no longer simply one of the promising names emerging from the metalcore circuit. They were becoming a genuine force capable of reaching audiences far beyond it.
And โReincarnateโ was the anthem leading the charge.
๐ฅ A Metalcore Song Built for Bigger Stages
One reason the song has survived so well is that it never sounded small.
Even in 2014, โReincarnateโ felt designed for arenas and festival fields. Its riffs had weight, its chorus had scale and its central chant was practically engineered to be shouted back at the band by a sea of raised fists.
That became increasingly important as Motionless In Whiteโs career continued to grow.
The band would go on to release albums including Graveyard Shift, Disguise and Scoring the End of the World, each pushing their sound into larger, more ambitious territory.
They developed from a scene band with striking visuals into a modern metal powerhouse capable of headlining major venues, dominating festival stages and sharing bills with some of the biggest names in heavy music.
Their collaborations also became increasingly impressive, including work with artists such as Corey Taylor, whose appearance on โSlaughterhouseโ helped create one of the most explosive tracks of the bandโs later career.
Yet even as the production grew, the stages got bigger and the fanbase expanded, โReincarnateโ remained essential.
It represents the moment when the bandโs identity locked firmly into place.
๐ค The Kids in Eyeliner Grew Up
Thereโs also something beautifully nostalgic about the song now.
The teenagers who discovered โReincarnateโ in 2014 are adults in 2026. Some have families. Some have careers. Some spend their weekdays answering emails and their weekends standing in festival fields drinking something warm from a paper cup.
But as soon as that opening riff begins, the years disappear.
Suddenly, everyone is back in their bedroom surrounded by band posters, desperately trying to achieve Chris Motionless hair while ignoring the fact that school started in twenty minutes.
That is the power of a true scene anthem.
It doesnโt simply remind you of a band. It reminds you of who you were when you first heard it.
For many fans, Motionless In White provided a sense of belonging during a time when feeling different could be incredibly isolating. Their music celebrated individuality, darkness, theatricality and emotional honesty.
They told their audience that being the strange kid wasnโt something to hide.
It was something to weaponise.
Tidy. ๐ค
โก Why โReincarnateโ Still Hits So Hard
Plenty of songs from the 2010s metalcore boom now feel locked firmly inside their era.
The production dates them. The trends have changed. The haircuts have thankfully been retired.
But โReincarnateโ still works because it was built around something bigger than fashion.
Its themes of reinvention, defiance and survival remain universal. The riffs still carry genuine weight, the industrial elements give it a distinctive personality and that chorus remains one of the bandโs most instantly recognisable moments.
It also marked an important shift within the wider heavy scene.
Motionless In White demonstrated that a metalcore band could embrace huge choruses, electronic production and theatrical visuals without losing its bite. They didnโt abandon heaviness to become more accessibleโthey simply made the heaviness feel larger.
That approach helped pave the way for the bandโs continued success and influenced countless acts that followed.
๐ค Still Reborn, Still Unapologetic
Twelve years after its arrival, โReincarnateโ is no dusty relic from the Tumblr era.
It remains a fan favourite, a live-show detonator and one of the defining songs in Motionless In Whiteโs catalogue.
The band have evolved considerably since 2014, becoming heavier, more polished and more ambitious. But the spirit behind โReincarnateโ remains central to everything they do.
Itโs the sound of refusing to remain buried.
Itโs the sound of taking every insult and turning it into armour.
Itโs the sound of a band realising they were capable of becoming something much bigger.
And yes, itโs also the sound of thousands of former mall goths suddenly remembering they once owned fingerless gloves.
No judgement here, butt. Weโve all got photographic evidence weโd rather keep buried. ๐
๐ Enter the Riff Report Confessional
Did โReincarnateโ become your personal anthem back in 2014?
Did you have a Chris Motionless poster watching over your bedroom?
Did you attempt the black-goo bathtub pose for a profile pictureโor spend hours trying to perfect that jet-black fringe?
Drop your memories into the comments and confess your finest scene-era crimes.
Long live the goths. Long live the breakdowns. Long live Motionless In White. ๐ค๐ฅ๐ค
Proudly Welsh. Proudly Loud. Zero Apologies.
