A “Chelsea Grin” in soccer hooligan terminology is the act of cutting a rivals mouth with either a credit card or blade and then kicking them in the crotch so their mouth muscles split into a bloody grimace. Chelsea Grin, the band from Utah armed with THREE guitarists, use a foundation of hardcore grit combined with death metal technicality and grind speed to produce as much aural harm as the back alley jaw split. The band is the premiere artist on Artery Recordings, a new imprint of Razor & Tie Entertainment, and are releasing their debut full-length Desolation Of Eden this February. The album will hit in the midst of the band’s two month run with The Red Chord and MyChildren MyBride (dates on following page). Artery Recordings is the recording arm of The Artery Foundation who are the management team responsible for jumpstarting the careers of Whitechapel, The Devil Wears Prada, A Day To Remember, Attack Attack! and Impending Doom. Speaking on why Chelsea Grin get the Artery seal of approval, Eric Rushing, President of the company says “The first time I saw this band I was completely blown away and the crowd interaction was just as intense, it reminded me of the first time I saw Whitechapel. This band is very young and the kids are already loving them coast to coast. Very excited about their debut!” Desolation Of Eden was tracked at Lambesis Studios, owned by Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying and bares the hallmarks of Chelsea Grin’s devastating live show. Songs like the title track and “Sonnet Of The Wretched” utilize the double bass drumming, three guitar attack, ultra low bass frequencies and wraith-like vocals into a wall of sound to devastating effect. Brutality aside, what separates the band from many of their contemporaries according to Jaek (guitar) is “obviously our age, we are a very young band being mostly 18 and 19. I know a lot of people have an impression on metal bands is that they are big, burly dudes with beards and not very approachable. We pretty much are the opposite of that, we are always hanging out with the fans at shows because we are them! Teenagers that like heavy music and hanging out.” Age aside, Chelsea Grin is made up of Alex (vocals), Michael (guitar), Andrew (drums), Dan (guitar), David (bass) and Jaek, and have completed feats that bands existing twice as long have not. Forming from the ashes of Ahaziah, Chelsea Grin got active in March 2008. “Right after we formed we recorded our first EP made up of five songs and started playing local shows. Then we signed to a small indie called Statik Factory, released a single called “Recreant” and did a small west coast tour in June of that year. The following month Statik Factory released our EP, and almost immediately our MySpace page was getting hits from around the country and we found ourselves not only being established in Utah but kids all over were writing us and listening to us.” Speaking on the obvious development between the earlier songs and the audio crushing output of Desolation Of Eden, Jaek comments “Lyrically we have matured quite a bit, when we wrote the EP a lot of our early lyrics dealt with betrayal by females that we didn’t think very fondly of. A lot of younger males could relate those lyrics to ex-girlfriends, friends whatever. However after our experiences of freedom within this band, I find a lot of our songs are about breaking away from voices of authority and ultimately living life the way you want to live it. We also re-recorded our older songs ‘Recreant’ and ‘Cheyne Stokes’ so the brutal songs will still be there (laughs).” Chelsea Grin has completed tours with Arsonists Get All The Girls, A Plea For Purging, American Me, Dr.Acula, Attila and Within The Ruins and shared stages with Suicide Silence, Parkway Drive, My Children My Bride.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12683
