CHELSEA GRIN
MY DAMNATION (Album)
2011, Razor And Tie / Artery Recordings


Barb|Wire|Catheter : 12/20
I've known about Chelsea Grin for a while now, but never actually listened to them. Since I've been getting more into deathcore recently, I decided to check this album out on a blind buy. When I read a very poor review on SoM, I panicked a bit. When I listened to it, I expected the worst, but didn't get the worst. I just got the highest point of mediocrity this genre offers. Now, like I said, I've never listened to Chelsea Grin before, so I don't know if this is how they sounded before. But, is their vocalist really supposed to sound like a feline in the process of being raped? That's all I could think about throughout this entire thing. I've listened to it several time since I bought it a couple of weeks ago and I kind of liked it when I first heard it, but now it gets very tiresome very fast.

The guitars are crunchy and sound decent, but aren't exactly memorable. The bass I can't quite make out and just seems to get lost and the drumming just seems too slow. In fact, that's one of the biggest problems I have with "My Damnation", the whole thing feels like it was slowed down. Like it was released at half speed. I don't know, it just feels like there's something wrong with it in it's entirety. Overall it's just a decent deathcore album ruined by obnoxious cat-like vocals. It seems like they attempted to do something different, but failed. As if they were trying to incorporate black metal into deathcore (blackened deathcore?) ,and it didn't work. There really isn't much else to say about this either. It's not very memorable and just seems to test my patience.

The last song, "All Hail the Fallen King" includes a guest appearance from Phil Bozeman of Whitechapel. I feel like they probably shouldn't have done this because it's kind of an insult to Chelsea Grin's own vocalist. Since he's not good (at all) at doing the highs or the lows, having Phil Bozeman come in and just basically destroy him with his impressive gutturals just really shows how weak Chelsea Grin's vocalist is. It does sound great when he's doing his highs while Bozeman does his lows, it sounds very evil. The whole album would've been five times better if they had done this throughout the whole album.

In summary, Chelsea Grin needs a new vocalist for the future. This weak emo kid who thinks he's doing metal just doesn't cut it. I gave "My Damnation" by Chelsea Grin a 12/20 because I really liked the song "Last Breath." I thought that was worth listening through the rest of the album for.

2012-07-07 04:28:30


CLucker666 : 16/20
Chelsea Grin is a Deathcore band from the US. They are very popular today and have grown an incredible amount with the last few years. Their new release My Damnation sounds a lot different than their older material. The funny thing is, when I saw them live about four months ago, they sounded just like the 2009 release Desolation of Eden.

The main thing that has changed in this album is the vocal style. Alex's high pitched screams are nothing like they use to be, they have a lot more of a raw sound to them now. At first I didn't really know what to think, but I decided to buy the album at a concert, and I got into it really quick. I almost prefer the newer vocals now. His lows have changed a little bit because now everything he does is exhale but that's not the biggest change he has made.

I feel as this whole album is a lot faster than their previous releases. Most of Desolation is filled with breakdowns. My Damnation has more of a sense of structure and maturity to it versus Desolation of Eden. You can tell the band has grown a lot talent wise and their live performance has also improved a whole lot.

My favorite track off the album would have to be either My Damnation or All Hail the Fallen King. All Hail the Fallen King features Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel. I think it is one of the greatest compilations of Deathcore vocalists around, although Phil's lows make Alex's not seem as good, just because Phil has insanely powerful growls. My Damnation starts off with a very dark and catchy riff. After that there is a long low growl, saying My Damnation. That immediately hooked me onto this song. Once you think the song is ending, it actually starts back up with a drum fill into a breakdown, with the most guttural vocals I have ever heard Chelsea Grin pull off. My Damnation is by far one of my favorite Deathcore songs. Another great song is Last Breath. It is by far the most melodic song on the album. It does not start out very melodic but when it gets there, it turns into a great song.

The drummer has improved a massive amount. He wasn't bad before, but he wasn't great. In My Damnation one of the best parts is the drums, which definitely wasn't a huge factor in Desolation of Eden. Now the drums standout A LOT. I fell in love with most of the breakdowns mainly because of the drums.

This release is Chelsea Grin's most mature album yet and I think it deserves at least an 16/20.

2011-12-15 01:57:41


Crinn : 2/20
I’ve known about Chelsea Grin since they released their Self-Titled EP in 2008. Although now it somewhat sickens me to listen to it, it still holds an important place in my collection and (for some people) in deathcore history. When they came out with their debut full-length, I loved most of the songs on the record, although the screams kind of bothered me. When I was listening to his screams, I knew that he was doing them the wrong way and would eventually get fucked over (depending on how often he was screaming and how bad) just like Mitch Lucker, Oliver Sykes, and tons of other screamers out there (the number is surprising).

It turned out that my predictions were right. After a year of constant touring and not taking care of his throat or his voice, the vocalist fucked himself over. And instead of getting a new vocalist or just growling, he went right on ahead and ruined the whole band with his awful “screams”. This album gives the deathcore genre a bad name. Not only do the screams ruin everything altogether, the entire album feels, rushed, unpracticed, rough, and sounds like the band quickly and carelessly slapped together some generic deathcore riffs, some breakdowns, some atmospheric Whitechapel-style lines, did some production work, and called it good.

The only reason this album had any success at all was because they didn’t release any teasers that had screaming. Also, the fact that Phil from Whitechapel is featured on one of the tracks acted as a big attraction for many. But once everyone received their pre-orders or bought it at the local record shop and listened to it, a wave of deep regret and anger seemed to wash over the metalhead population. This is why I don’t pre-order things unless I’m given a good, solid preview of what the album is going to sound like. The last album I pre-ordered was All Shall Perish’s This is Where it Ends…..well, I did pre-order the new Periphery album that’s coming out next month, so I guess that counts. ANYWAY, the pre-release hype was huge, but once people realized what they were listening to, record sales took a vertical drop.

I still cannot get over the screams. It sounds like this guy is getting an amputation in the middle of a battlefield!! I cannot come up with something I’ve heard that sounds as disturbing and sickening as this. Trust me DO NOT BUY THIS ALBUM!! I would give this piece of shit a 2/20, the extra point being for some catchy breakdowns and the parts of the song featuring Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel.

2012-06-15 05:27:20


Satanicarchangel : 3/20
Wow now this is boring, I've sat through plenty of boring albums before but this shit just takes the cake. There is absolutely nothing of any redeeming value on this stale slab of generic shit, the 3 marks go to the fact that the vocalist has a decent enough growl and there's a moderately good melodic section in the track Last Breath. Apart from that this is the same generic pile of crap that seems to be flooding the mainstream deathcore scene as of late and by all means avoid this album, there's plenty of good deathcore albums out there that you'd be better off investing your time in.

So what makes this so bad that it inspires such fervent resentment from me? It's got all the things I hate most about deathcore, boring riffs or rather lack of them? Check. Annoying breakdowns? Check. Irritating vocals? Check. All this adds up to an incredibly dull and lifeless release and even the instrumental song pisses me thoroughly off. This album feels rushed, unprofessional and sloppy, the whole ordeal feels as though it was put together at the last minute without any thought put into it.

The main problem with this release is the vocals, they're absolutely abysmal. His growls are generic as hell but competent enough, competence isn't enough however as the growls are really bland and lack emotion and passion. But seriously though, the screams are what absolutely ruin it for me. It's obvious the singer has wrecked his voice and instead of replacing him they let him carry on and ruin the whole thing with his whining “shrieks”. There's no way to describe how god awful his screaming actually is, just listen to them if you have the courage.

Onto the guitar front which adds absolutely NOTHING to My Damnation. They're generic, they're uninteresting, they lack any stand out melodies and solos and the breakdowns are tiresome and banal. What's even more surprising is that Chelsea Grin have THREE GUITARISTS, you'd think with that amount they'd do something a bit more interesting than the standard bro-core chug fest but guess what? They haven't, also I'd expect to be able to actually hear all three of the guitars but no surprise here, I can't. Seen as though two of the guitars seem to be doing the exact same thing as each other which is just more mind numbing chugging. The bass unsurprisingly is inaudible, wow never heard that before.

What interests me however is that everything feels like it was recorded and then slowed down, like it was released at half it's original speed which serves to try my patience even further. Basically this is just generic deathcore, there's nothing interesting or exciting or even enjoyable going on on here. I can listen to generic music if it sounds good, but this doesn't sound good at all. I'm finding it difficult to find anything to praise about this snore fest other than the melodic section in Last Breath, this track could have been the saving grace if it was actually melodic throughout rather than having some semi decent sections mixed between the chug fest. But on Last Breath something interesting happens, his terrible screams don't actually sound that bad when placed over the melodic section, but that's all the positives I have to say about this. I really can't recommend this to anyone except the most dedicated deathcore fan who's brought it upon themselves to listen to every band in the genre. Sound off.

2013-05-18 20:46:17