Chelsea Grin
My Damnation

Review by Shayne Bishop

This is not my preferred style of music, I have always been more of a fan of music that you can sing along to, and this definitely does not fall into that category.

Musically “My Damnation” has a lot of potential. It is chock full of groovy riffs and heavy breakdowns, even some very intricate solos, but the vocals are full of growls and screams, and there is virtually not an understandable word among them. I know that there is a lot of people that are right into this “deathcore” genre, and to each his own, but if you take the time to read the lyrics in the liner notes, there is some rather thoughtful and clever lyrics that would benefit from a clean vocal. If they were to take a leaf out of Triviums book and maybe switch between the raspy growls and actual singing, they might be on to something.

“My Damnation” is a vast improvement on the band’s first album, “Desolation of Eden”, with the highlight of the album being ‘All Hail the Fallen King’, which features a guest appearance by Whitechapels vocalist Phil Bozeman. The title track of the album would be another one that I am quite impressed with, I even found myself attempting to sing along at one point!

Elsewhere on the disc is a guest appearance by Nate Johnson of Fit for an Autopsy for additional vocals on ‘Calling in Silence’.

As far as “deathcore” bands go, I would rate Chelsea Grin as one of the better and more talented groups to emerge, and “My Damnation” is a step in the direction of taking the “deathcore” throne from bands like Whitechapel, The Accacia Strain and Job For a Cowboy.