''My Damnation'' is the second studio album by American

deathcore Deathcore is an extreme metal subgenre that combines death metal with metalcore. The genre consists of death metal guitar riffs, blast beats, and metalcore Breakdown (music)#Heavy metal and punk rock, breakdowns. While there are some precursors ...

band

Chelsea Grin Chelsea Grin is an American deathcore band from Salt Lake City, Utah. Formed in 2007, the group have released two EPs and seven full-length albums. Since 2018, no founding members remain in the band. Despite not being in the original line-up, ...

. The band entered the studio early 2011 and finished near the middle of the year. The title track was released as a single on April 17, 2011. ''My Damnation'' was released on July 19, 2011 through

Artery Recordings Artery Recordings was an American record label based in Sacramento, California founded in 2010 as an imprint of Razor & Tie by Eric Rushing, owner of The Artery Foundation. On August 31, 2017, it was announced that Artery was acquired by Warn ...

Theme and musical style

The album's lyrics reference

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

and eternal damnation, which are portrayed after death. Musically, the album features many more

guitar solo A guitar solo is a melody, melodic passage, instrumental section (music), section, or entire piece of music, pre-written (or improvised) to be played on a classical guitar, classical, electric guitar, electric, or acoustic guitar. In 20th and ...

s than that of previous releases. Referencing the album, ''

Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to: Individual publications * ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine Alternative journalism * Alternative media ** Alternative media (U.S. political left) ** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...

'' wrote that the band's "

Suicide Silence Suicide Silence is an American deathcore band from Riverside, California, Riverside, California. The band was established in 2002, and has released seven studio albums, three EPs, and nineteen music videos. They were awarded the ''Revolver (ma ...

-esque bludgeon" possessed "shades of

blackened death metal Blackened death metal (also known as black death metal) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal. The genre emerged in early 1990s when black metal bands began incorporating elements of death me ...

". Vocalist, Alex Koehler, stated that the record holds a specific concept in contrast to their previous albums; "I wanted to make the lyrics based more on a story of a man's journey from being a selfish tyrant, to being condemned to hell, seeking forgiveness, and salvation. I wasn't trying to write a religious or spiritual album. I just find the concept of

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

and hell completely fascinating, so it makes it easy to write about."

Reception

''My Damnation'' was met with mixed reviews. The review aggregator site

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the album 50/100, based on reviews of 4 critics. Heany Gregory of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

stated "Smashing together the macabre intensity of

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

with the chugging, technical gymnastics of

metalcore Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, originating in the 1990s United States and becoming popular in the 2000s. Metalcore typically has aggressive verses and melodic choruses, combined ...

, Utah’s Chelsea Grin brutalize listeners with their punishing sophomore effort ...

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

attacks the listener with a relentless

barrage". Alex Young of

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

gave album C−, stating that "My Damnation serves as minor evidence that Chelsea Grin might not become a throwaway copycat. Fans can only hope polish doesn't push these Utah rockers away from their current path and towards the poppier territory of their more famous neighbors."

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

;Chelsea Grin *Alex Koehler – vocals *Michael Stafford – lead guitar *Jake Harmond – rhythm guitar *Dan Jones – third guitar *David Flinn – bass *Andrew Carlston – drums ;Production * Produced, mixed and engineered by

Chris "Zeuss" Harris Christopher Harris (born April 1, 1972), known professionally as Chris "Zeuss" Harris or simply Zeuss, is an American record producer. Biography Zeuss is best known in the worlds of hard rock, heavy metal music, hardcore punk, and metalcore. H ...

*Artwork by Ryan Johnson *Layout by Mike Milford *Photo by Jeremy Saffer

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 albums Chelsea Grin albums Artery Recordings albums Albums produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris