Album Review: My Damnation by Chelsea Grin

Smashing together the macabre intensity of death metal with the chugging, technical gymnastics of metalcore, Utah’s Chelsea Grin brutalize listeners with their punishing sophomore effort, My Damnation. A whirlwind of searing riffs and anguished vocals punctuated by pummeling breakdowns, the album attacks the listener with a relentless deathcore barrage. And though the separate parts that make up these songs are powerful on their own, the contrast between the suffocating, rapid-fire guitar blasts and the lurching breakdowns creates a kind of cathartic roller coaster, providing visceral release around every twist and turn of the songs with minimal time to gather yourself up before the next song begins.

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A little deathcore does the eardrums good, though it’s hard to say in strict or definitive terms what constitutes “good” or “bad” deathcore. This screaming, destructive, high-kicking mayhem of a metal sub-genre is steps above baseline hardcore in violence or interpretation of the human species; it strips away self-loathing and sadness found in emo, favoring Cannibal Corpse-ish brutality and chunkier bass. Utah has its hands full living up to the image of SLC Punk (that is, if anyone still recalls that film–or Matthew Lillard, for that matter), while steering far from whatever The Used considers itself to be (I’m banking on something of a cross between Taproot and AFI).

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