“I work within the dark to bring forth the light.”
Chelsea Grin have never been a band to attract much critical veneration from the press world at large. In fact, they have more often been subjected to the ire of the professionals, with sites like Metal Injection making a point to slam each and every release they’ve put out, almost entirely regardless of quality of stylistic changes. That’s not to say none of this is valid—any and all of these people are more than entitled to dislike the band for a number of reasons. However, I never quite saw what made Chelsea Grin so different to attract this vitriol among the sea of deathcore bands that emerged in the same era.
I’ll admit, perhaps this perspective is born of the fact that I have always quite liked Chelsea Grin. Especially in my teen years—records like Desolation of Eden, their 2008 self-titled EP, and the more technical and djenty Ashes To Ashes defined much of my taste in my mid-late teens. That said, there’s certainly a conversation to be had about whether much of that music holds up. Lyrically in particular, it certainly fell into the trappings of what I class as incel deathcore—that brand of late-2000s deathcore that seemed to have a strange obsession with killing and/or generally hating women. Stuff that, by all accounts, I’m sure the members present in that era greatly regret, or at the very least look back on and cringe to the high heavens.
Fundamentally, however, Chelsea Grin are not the same band in 2022 that they were in 2008, or even later. Not only have the deathcore titans undergone a number of stylistic changes throughout their many eras, their lineup has shifted so often and so drastically that not a single original member remains. This was even true of their last release in 2018’s surprisingly great yet markedly different Eternal Nightmare, yet they still attract this ire from those who probably made up their minds about a decade ago.
I feel this all bears mentioning because, as it stands, I believe Chelsea Grin’s Suffer In Hell – the first half of a hefty double album the band have crafted—is one of the best deathcore releases of the year. Chock full of all the gloomy atmosphere, destructive riffing and pounding chugs one would search for out of the genre – I believe that Suffer In Hell may be the perfect point for re-entry for those who may have previously shrugged off the band’s material.
Standing at the shorter end with nine tracks (with an additional nine coming in the album’s second part, Suffer In Heaven, due to be released in March of next year), Suffer In Hell is a ferocious foray into the world of deathcore.
Opening the record is cinematic rager and lead single “Origin of Sin”, whose chromatic, theatrical horns usher in a track as truly planet-sized as it is crushingly heavy. Vocalist Tom Barber lays down one of his most impressive vocal performances to date here and across Suffer In Hell as a whole, too, utilising a full range from the most piercing, manic and goblin-esque of high screams to only the most stank-face-inducing gutturals. His truly unique vocal tone is of note, too, as it has been for the majority of his career, as he harbours this truly primal and guttural tone within all of his screams that are truly unlike anyone else in the heavy music world.
What follows is a potentially sombre endeavour, in what is likely to be one of the last vocal features from late The Black Dahlia Murder vocalist Trevor Strnad on “Forever Bloom”. Outside of both his and Barber’s predictably stellar vocal performance, the dichotomy between the open gloominess of certain guitar passages here and the utter brutality of the chuggier and speedier sections provides a dynamic deathcore frenzy, proving to be an absolute masterclass in the genre. Further, the track’s tight and driving drum work impress, gliding effortlessly between percussive grooves and frenetic double kick work.
What is certainly of note in that regard, too, is the marked absence of long-standing drummer and co-vocalist Pablo Viveros. While Barber certainly carries this record vocally more than valiantly on his own, the absence of a trade-off between he and Viveros (and formerly Alex Koehler with Viveros) proves to demonstrate a different approach to the vocal writing, and while it certainly provides a fresh angle to the Chelsea Grin sound, it’s a noteworthy switch up to say the least.
Moving through the album, mid-album cuts “Deathbed Companion”, “Crystal Casket” and “The Isnis” stand out as particular highlights across Suffer In Hell. The latter of the three unexpectedly ushers back in some sweeping lead work, more commonly seen on the group’s aforementioned tech metal endeavour Ashes To Ashes, which stands as a more than welcome addition to the album’s already stellar sonic palette. The former of the two tracks, however, lean further into the outright dutty elements of the record’s sound, containing some of the most disgustingly heavy riff and drum work, seemingly hard-wired to get people to batter each other silly in a mosh pit.
Sandwiched between these cuts, too, is truly dynamic rager “Floodlungs”. Not only featuring some of the most truly oppressive instrumental and vocal work across the record, the track further features a stylistic curveball in its inclusion of some haunting clean vocals from Barber. While we had previously seen Barber experimental with clean vocals on Darko material, they had yet to truly usher their way into Chelsea Grin’s sound, and the way they’re implemented here is nothing short of masterful.
Closing track and seeming bridge between the album’s two halves, “Suffer In Hell, Suffer In Heaven”. is certainly a way to send off a record. An outing of sheer violence, this track essentially closes out the album’s first half with a progressively brutalising two-minute breakdown. Seeming to only get slower and heavier each time you think it’s going to end, it certainly leaves a lasting impression as Chelsea Grin seem to gear listeners up for what’s to come on the album’s eventual second half.
All in all, the first half of Chelsea Grin’s Suffer In Hell, Suffer In Heaven shows the deathcore titans may just have their opus on the way. Taking on a much more gloomy approach to their storied deathcore sound, Suffer In Hell is an absolute deathcore masterclass, and one whichproves that, while the Salt Lake City group certainly aren’t the band they once were, that’s far from a condemnation, as Suffer In Hell may just be their finest work to date.
9/10
Suffer In Hell will be available on November 11th, with the album’s second half, Suffer In Heaven, due to be released on March 17th via OneRPM. You can pre-order both records here.