Review Summary: Chelsea Grin is going nowhere fast and Evolve proves it.
Chelsea Grin is going nowhere fast and Evolve proves it. Having never actually listened to Chelsea Grin, I came into this album with a semi-open mind. I listen to a small bit of “core” music so I was not going to hate it for its genre, but Evolve is quite simply poop on display. It takes a lot for a band to go from simply being run-of-the-mill to actually becoming a bad band. Chelsea Grin is a bad band.
“The Second Coming” starts out with a generic string section with electronics in the pursuit of an “epic” opening. It ends up sounding like a very poor Born of Osiris rip-off, which is quite funny since their former guitarist, Jason Richardson, is now in Chelsea Grin. The album is full of chugs and breakdowns with minimal soloing, which is sad because Jason is quite good at it. Most of this EP sounds like the same song except for the last track, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” This track is probably the best on the album, but that still does not say much. The same problems which ruin the rest of the album also plague this one. It also ends up sounding like a Born of Osiris rip-off with its electronics and small solo section.
Jason adds nothing interesting to the mix which is disappointing. He never really deviates from chugging except for the occasional sweep. The bass is mostly inaudible except for two small two second fills, and the drums do nothing interesting except for a military drum beat in the last song. Their vocalist is absolutely horrid, and he is the primary reason why this band is not good. His screams are absolutely atrocious. His tone and infliction on them are some of the worst I’ve heard. He is very hard to understand, but perhaps that is not a bad thing since his lyrics are so bad. His cleans are nothing to write home about either because they are clearly the work of the studio.
Overall, this EP is abysmal. It’s worse than generic, and it’s just an unpleasing listen. Chelsea Grin is going nowhere and I don’t see them going anywhere as long as they continue with this.
