Band's List Deathcore Chelsea Grin Chelsea Grin

In 2008, the legend of Chelsea Grin was born with their debut, self titled ep being released. Almost every deathcore fan out there who bothered to look past the Suicide Silence and Bring Me the Horizon would have heard of these guys by now. Even through Chelsea Grin was a young band (and still are) when they released this ep, they took the deathcore scene by storm and as a result, they are now one of the biggest deathcore juggernauts.

For anyone who has come across Chelsea Grin and compared them to other bands in the same vein, Chelsea Grin is much more atmospheric then the others. At the time, this must have been one of the darkest, mainstream deathcore releases out there. They have the attitude of a slamming brutal death or goregrind band and threw in some heavy ass breakdowns just for fun. That being said, there are some instances where they do get technical at times and complex, but I’d have to say that it’s more about the attitude of the music (judging by the lyrical themes about killing sluts) which I think fits Chelsea Grin’s profile quite well.

Some people have complained and ranted on about how “shitty” the recording of this ep is. First of all, I’d like to point out that this is a debut release and underground bands (like Chelsea Grin was where they released this ep) are typically poor and cannot afford higher quality recording. But that’s for most cases I agree, yeah it ruins the music most of the time (especially when they sound like they have been recorded in a tin can) but in Chelsea Grin’s case, I thought it increased the quality of their music. The rawness of the recording just added that sense of darkness to their music as well, which is something the band seems to hold so dear to them because they have utilized it in releases beyond their debut. I don’t think this ep would have been half as good as what it is if they have used higher quality of recording and ditched the rawness which would have also removed the darkness as well.

It is very evident that this ep is not simply pure deathcore, in fact it is very far from it. I think that 40% if not more of Chelsea Grins sound comes from grindcore. First of all, the atmosphere sounds a lot darker than your typical deathcore band. Take Whitechapel for example, they do have some really dark sections throughout their music but they are usually combined with more upbeat sections which follow. Pretty much everything in Chelsea Grins ep is grim and evil. Secondly, vocal style doesn’t really follow suit with the many deathcore bands. For anyone who hasn’t heard, I think that half of the vocals are either pig squeals or those “burping” vocals. There are very little real death growls in this release which is something that is weird. Oh, and for those who don’t like the “breeing”, you shouldn’t touch this ep ever because it is jam packed full of them.

Yes, Chelsea Grin is still considered a deathcore band and not only that, and yes they are one of the bands who have influenced the next generation of deathcore bands. There is a lot evidence of their deathcore in their music, not only grindcore. First of all, the breakdowns have that primitive deathcore character to them. They aren’t overly heavy or brutal, but instead they have a more catchy hardcore style to them. Secondly, obviously the guitar riffs played here are absolutely key in primitive style deathcore. If anyone doesn’t know what I’m talking about when I mean “primitive deathcore riffs” and need a good example of what they sound like, you cannot go past tracks Cheyne-Strokes and Disgrace. I’m not sure if that’s official terminology for what I’m talking about, but I think it’s a good description of what they sound like.

Chelsea Grin shocked the world with this ep and as a result, they became one of the most successful bands to hit the deathcore scene. This ep, contains arguably 2 of their most famous tracks which are Crewcabanger and Lifeless, these two tracks have been heard by almost every deathcore fan in the world (or anyone who can say “I know what deathcore is!”). Although Chelsea Grin might have been overtaken with some of the young bloods in the deathcore scene when it comes to music quality, Chelsea Grin’s debut will be landmarked in deathcore history. I give Chelsea Grin’s debut ep a 14/20

Well, I listen to a lot of worse bands but this recording is one of the worsest I have ever heard.

Well I had luck that these EP have only 5 Tracks. If it had more I would have killed myself. The first phrase of the first song (I will call it song) Crewcabanger handels about prostitution but I mean that these song is human-despising because the listener only can think how the protagonist will end prostitution.

The second song "Anathema Of The Sick" could be a good song but now I have to say what is not good at it. First the sound of the vocals. I can't understand it why the vocalist scream, grunts or growled while the hole song. The theme is love, the protagonist want let the scenario go by but he can't. The second thing I've to criticize the choice of words. While thousands of other bands writes similar songs perform it well, but here I can't understand those mistakes.

Cheyne-Strokes is a religion criticising song but here we see again that the writer want have brutality but to what a prize? The band could be much better. They were of course a good Death metal band but here they have failed the genre.
It is too bad.

The fourth song "Disgrace" handels about killing a whore. I remember to the song called 1000 tote Nutten from german Dark metal band Eisregen but when I compare it with it I found nothing what is really simular. Whores don't have values but other persons like criminals, murder, robber and rapists. Both uses violence but here we see that the members are woman-hating.

The last track called Lifeless I don't want comment because the theme is the same like in song no. four.

There is no real story behind the songs, only violence. Sometime I want know where the inner glow goes by when I listen to those "music". Well I'm happy that I don't bought this CD and I have only listen it at a friends home so I don't will listen to it again.

But now something good. The cover design is not bad. It would be a good Death metal album cover. I like it but I am really disappointed about the songs. How persons can write those songs when they don't have make experiences with those situations they describe.

Only 5 points from 20.

If for some reason you manage to look past the ridiculous cover art and the atrocious song titles (Crewcabanger, seriously?!) you’ll find a lifeless and generic deathcore release written by kids with hardly any lick of musical talent between them.

Releases such as this genuinely piss me off. I really can’t fathom how anyone could look at this and think “this is good shit.” The fact that Chelsea Grin are one of the more popular deathcore band continues to baffle me, overshadowing such good bands as Eternal Void, Substructure and Eternal Void. I really struggle to find anything remotely of value within this release. It seems the band strung together a couple of lifeless riffs, filled the rest of the albums with breakdowns and called it a day. Interesting it is not.

The instrumentation isn't even the worst aspect of this album as hard as that is to believe. The vocals are atrocious, simply put. The highs are grating, like the singer supped a litre of helium before recording. The lows are mostly all inhaled pig squeals, taking the lazy route for gutturals instead of using the correct technique. Lazy is actually a really good adjective for this album, mostly slow paced deathcore with no imagination. It’s far too comfortable within its chosen niche to do much good.

The sex samples are the final nail in the coffin for me. It’s so obvious that the band have the collective mental age of a twelve year old that it hurts. Maybe their inclusion was supposed to be funny, I don’t know. Safe to say they add absolutely nothing to the music and make this even more of a chore to get through than it originally should have been.

Instrumentally, the band mixes lifeless open note breakdowns with some half assed attempts at riffing. There’s an attempt at throwing in some Gothenburg styled melodeath in Anathema of the Sick which could have worked if everything wasn't wrong with it. Really half assed and banal just like the rest of this album.

Some of the positive comments this band receives are pretty damn hilarious. I've seen this described as atmospheric? You have to be kidding yourself right? If you want atmospheric deathcore check out Exoplanet or the newest album by Aversion’s Crown. Sure, I guess you can say this album is a bit more gritty than other deathcore releases but that’s about it as far as positive goes. Heck I'm not even sure you can call it a positive.

Chelsea Grin is a fundamentally one dimensional and ugly release that adheres to all of the current tropes of the deathcore scene and then gets praised lavished on them by the community. Praise for this is hatred for the deathcore genre as a whole. You’d be best to stay well away from this and check out other deathcore albums that are far more worthy of your time.