Band:	Chelsea Grin
Album:	Desolation Of Eden
Style:	Deathcore
Release date:	February 16, 2010
Guest review by:	Boxcar Willy

01. Judgement
02. Desolation Of Eden
03. False Sense Of Sanity
04. Sonnet Of The Wretched
05. Cheyne Strokes
06. The Human Condition
07. Elysium
08. Recreant
09. Cast From Perfection
10. Revenant
11. Wasteland

"A Chelsea grin in soccer hooligan terminology is the act of cutting a rival's mouth with either a credit card or blade and then kicking them in the crotch so their mouth muscles split into a bloody grimace."
- official Chelsea Grin Facebook page

Ah, my first review. Of course it has to be for a deathcore album. Now, I know most of you readers have an utter hatred of deathcore, and of Chelsea Grin, but this album should change all of that. This album is heavy, fast, and in your face. The vocal work is amazing, featuring high screams and low grunts. The guitars are low and chugging, and at the same time, fast with gut-wrenching solos. The drums are pounding out endless beats that will melt your eyes out. Overall this album is very well put together.

I believe the highlight of this album is Alex Koehler's vocal work. The vocals on this album are stunning; his voice reaches a new level of anger, and it sounds like he is speaking the thoughts of a possessed serial killer. The highlight of his voice shows on tracks like "Recreant" or "Cheyne Strokes". They reach intense levels of high and low.

The guitars in this album could be better, especially because there are three of them. They do fit quite well in the album, but I find that the riffs in most of the tracks are very lackluster - they repeat too much, and many of the riffs are "recycled" throughout the album. They do have their moments though, in places like the intro solo to "The Human Condition", which are both melodic and brutal. The bass work is much like the guitars: very simplistic and repetitive. There is not much change throughout the whole album at all. There are not even any highlights to the bass. It is quite a disappointment.

The drums are very well done. Andrew Carlston plays extraordinarily well. The bass drum is played with very erratic beats, and is quite noticeable, which is not a bad thing. They sound technical and raw, without overwhelming you with blastbeats and crazy cymbal smashing.
The breakdowns... yes, they are apparent in this album, but they work. They fit quite nicely into the songs without overshadowing the rest of the songs, apart from the extreme time change involved in "Recreant". They should not be feared in this album.

Overall, this is a good album. It's not perfect by any means, but it makes for a very good "intro to deathcore" album. I would not recommend this to any kvlt fans out there, because this may be a little too mainstream.

Highlights: "Recreant", "Cheyne Strokes"