Monday 15 August 2011

Chelsea Grin - My Damnation (Review)

The latest album by Chelsea Grin on the 19th of July is "My Damnation" being the album said to ye the band, that this album is actually what they really want to write and not them setting their sort of sound. And if this is how Chelsea Grin will definitely sound, then I am already pleased for their later work.

The album doesn't sound to different to their previous albums, though a difference is noted with the slight change of vocal style and the added use of solos, and not just sweeps. The album still includes the Chelsea Grin sort of breakdown with the use of chords with blemish notes (notes out of scale) to have a sort of, off note chord giving the breakdown a sort of eerie sound. The album even has an acoustic track which was quite surprising, and not as surprising as a later song in their album.

The guitar work still has the same sort of writing style as in the previous album, the use of blemish chords and low notes and obvious low tunings. The writing is a bit more faster which I like, so the album seems a little faster making it a little more interesting for me. As mentioned before the songs usually have a sort of solo included, not incredibly technical, but a few are quite well done and difficult. I actually looked over the lyrics of the album and they seem to have a sort of religious twist to the songs, but not in the praise god sort of way, more like salvation of sin and wrong, the sort lyrics I like, being the sort of dark side religion in a way, so it neither is pro god or anti god, but references sins, salvation, curses and being damned, and in my opinion, great sort of dark lyrics. The drumming in this album is quite great, with real nice double pedal action done, nicely complimenting the breakdowns, but not overpowering the songs. The vocals are less lower than the previous album, so a lot of high screams and fries are used, which I really like as you can understand the words better, and just feel more emotive than low screams in my opinion.

So the song Kharon was quite a surprise being an acoustic song, but not totally out of place. The most interesting song for me is "Last Breath", going on a tangent to the lyrics of the album and some what hard to interpret song. The song seems to be about decaying and wasting away, but then mentions someone seducing the person presented by the lyrics and also being eaten away from this person. To me the song is about someone who is wasting away and loathing themselves as they have fallen in love with another person which in a way is using them. So the lyrics are different to the other songs and quite meaningful. But the real surprise, is the really nice melodic chorus in the song, involving clean guitars with the high screams, which in my opinion sounds so beautiful, and sends that shiver down my back that tells me this is a good song. Last Breath defiantly is my favorite out of all the great songs on the album.

Overall the album is stunning, a certain improvement on their previous albums, staying heavy as Chelsea Grin is with the more technical writing of solos and the sort of melodic feel to the heaviness they write. The songs are well constructed and the addition of Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel was nice. This album is a great example of good deathcore, and I will use this album when someone says it is a bad genre, as this will prove them wrong so well.

Chelsea Grin - My Damnation      8.5/10

Last Breath


My Damnation



16 comments:

higherr said...

never heard of this band, ill check it out =)

Uberbyron said...

Thanks for the review, I'm not too much into screaming rock tho. I do wonder about their obscure name!

Mark said...

It's good that you, one of their fans, likes it, but it isn't my thing. As for the name (although Uberbyron might never read it) a chelsea grin, or a chelsea smile, is the same thing that Joker had in batman, it goes by many names really, and it essentially where you put a knife in someones mouth and cut, giving them a smile all the time. It's a pretty piss-poor description, but just think Joker and you'll get what I mean.

Sub Radar (Mike) said...

Nice review, these guys are so intense.

Thomas Duder, Author of the Things said...

I agree with Uberbyron, that's an awfully...different name for a -core band, y'knowwhatImean?

bodymind said...

Checking some of their previous albums first. Good review, by the way.

Sinclair said...

Never heard of the band. Love the name, though.

Jay said...

good stuff

Michael Westside said...

Thank you for giving us music we've never heard before. I for one appreciate it

Shahan said...

Reminds me a little of chimera =3

Contemplating whether to get this album! Your review has me on the fence

smiley361 said...

interesting :))

Skeng said...

Never heard of this band but I actually enjoyed Last Breath a lot.

thetruthaboutGENETICS said...

I thought it was 9/10. :D I wouldn't but the album, though. I'm cheap like that. :/

Anonymous said...

I got over metal when I came to most unfortunate realisation that it sounded horrible - that's just me of course, i'm sure some people are still convinced that it sounds good to them :]

Kenneth Tso said...

That's some nice album art

menacebysociety said...

Yes, check their first, then this. Vocally, they are different, but still intense. As for the name, also see Glasgow Smile. It should give you a wiki description.

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