Chelsea Grin

One year in a dog’s life equals seven for a human. Dog years are a lot like touring musician years: Being on the road and learning from more seasoned bands, playing music every night, traveling together every day, a lot of growth happens at super-human speed. For Salt Lake cities purveyors of deathcore Chelsea Grin this couldn't ring more true.

As bassist David Flinn gushes “We didn’t want to put out the typical death core album“. Though the band’s signature guttural vocals, whiplash-inducing breakdowns, and Middle Eastern-flavored melodies remain on the band’s latest – ‘My Damnation’.

‘My Damnation’ was produced by Zeuss (Hatebreed, The Acacia Strain, Emmure) who focused the band’s double bass and three-guitar dynamic. “His ears are trained to hear what works in terms of drums, three guitars and he helped fix parts.” The disc opens with the one-two jabs of “The Foolish One” and “Everlasting Sleep,” classic bowel-churning grooves with refined subtleties. Vocalist Alex Koehler tastefully branches out and the lead guitars are more lyrical. Alex has been working on his vocals with exercises and warm-ups, strengthening and diversifying his feral roar.

“The songs really mean something, they go somewhere,” Dan Jones (Guitars) says, adding that there is a conceptual bend to the album. “It’s based loosely on being condemned to hell and finding your way out to salvation, dealing with actions and consequences,”

The album’s final track, “All Hail the Fallen King,” is a special track for the band as it features Whitechapel vocalist Phil Bozeman trading verses with Alex. Whitechapel was a foundational band for the guys when they were starting out. “When Phil sent the track back, we couldn’t stop listening to it. It was a dream come true to be the first band Phil ever did guest vocals for,” Dan says. “It’s been a wild ride. A year ago we were on our third tour and playing small halls, now we’re playing all-ages venues with bands we’ve been listening to for three years,”

“When I look back at what’s all happened,” Dan states reflecting, “How far we’ve come from being a local broke-ass band with no idea what we are doing, I’m amazed. We’re so grateful.”

Chelsea Grin’s sophomore album ‘My Damnation’ featuring ‘The Foolish One’ is available in stores and online now through 3Wise Records.