Review Summary: A collection of boring breakdowns and extremely childish lyrics even for deathcore standards.
I've always liked Chelsea Grin. Even though they never actually stood out from the mass of similar deathcore orchestras, they were still, well, somewhat competent. Unfortunetly with this album, they sink even deeper into mediocrity.
Now, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of talent shown within the group on their previous releases, especially on the Evolve EP. Only problem is that that talent is not shown on THIS album. The songwriting is terribly uninspired and basically all over the place with random breakdowns with guitars tuned to drop-Z and below. This would be somewhat acceptable if they were even memorable breakdowns but alas, they are not. The soundscape and mixing is not the best, but ok nonetheless. On some occasions, the guitars are a bit mudded out and hard to follow but you don't really need to follow them because they're nothing that special anyway. If I had to pick out one song where they stand out even a tiny bit would be 'Love Song', or 'Skin Deep'. At least on those tracks there's a bit of variety put into them. To summarize, the instrumental department on the album is loaded with potential but for some reason that potential is not utilized at all.
Now we get to the part of the album that actually made me laugh and cry at the same time.
The lyrics.
Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph are they not only childish but also repetitive. Just count how many times the vocalist(s) scream the words "I don't give a ***", or something similar to that. I thought that when bands and their members age, they'd get more mature but well, this ain't the first time I've been proven wrong. The vocals themselves are actually pretty good and well-balanced, but still, quite forgettable and mediocre in the end.
All in all, with little to no variety or any kind of structure, this album is an absolute chore to listen through. This will definetly be approved by their loyal fanbase, which keeps getting bigger and bigger, but for a random listener or even a fan of deathcore in general is this not only a huge disappointment but also a step down from their previous albums. I'd recommend the new Whitechapel album over 'Self Inflicted' if you'd like to hear good, well done deathcore in 2016.
Recommended tracks:
Love Song
Skin Deep
and not much else
