Chelsea Grin

Formed in 2007, Chelsea Grin channel the brutality of their namesake into their punishing brand of breakdown-heavy deathcore. Starting as a five-piece, the Salt Lake City, Utah band, consisting of singer Alex Koehler, guitarists Michael Stafford and Chris Kilbourn, bassist Austin Marticorena, and drummer Andrew Carlston, wasted no time getting itself out there, releasing a self-titled EP on Statik Factory in 2008 and hitting the road. The band dealt with some lineup changes the following year, with Marticorena leaving the band for personal reasons and Kilbourn parting ways to start his own label, Matchless Records. Chelsea Grin not only replaced the pair with bassist David Flinn and guitarist Jaek Harmond, but also decided to beef up their sound with the addition of third guitarist Dan Jones, who joined the band just before they signed a deal with Artery Recordings and headed into the studio to record their full-length debut, Desolation of Eden, which was released in 2010. The band toured intensely throughout the year, stopping only after Koehler broke his jaw, resulting in the group canceling its fall tour. Early in 2011, Chelsea Grin went into the studio with Hatebreed and the Red Chord producer Chris “Zeuss” Harris to work on their follow-up album, My Damnation, which was released later that year.