LIVE: CHELSEA GRIN – November 23, 2019

Venue: The Masquerade

City: Atlanta, GA

Date: November 23, 2019

Review and Photographs by: Rachel Craig (http://www.rachelcraigphotos.net/)

Chelsea Grin is one of the most genre-defining deathcore bands around today, still going strong after the entrance of vocalist Tom Barber. They brought their Eternal Nightmare II tour to Atlanta, where metal fans came from all over the southeast to see the show. The show kicked off with Traitors, who gave a lot of shout outs to the deep south and delivered a set full of bass drops, impressive drums, and angry riffs. I’m quite surprised they opened the show, since Traitors is quickly becoming one of the most recognizable slam metal bands. Next was Left Behind, who recently released a new album that’s garnered a lot of praise. They are currently touring with two members of The Acacia Strain – guitarist Tom Smith and drummer Kevin Boutot. The angry music continued with Spite, who probably got the crowd the rowdiest. They inspired all the crowdsurfers to finally have their moment, while vocalist Darius Tehrani darted around stage and delivered a brutal performance. The Acacia Strain also continued the show. Vocalist Vincent Bennett dowsed the crowd in water several times, jumped across the stage, slipped and fell, and overall delivered his best effort to make the crowd rowdier and inspire a few circle pits. Bennett also stopped a few times to help inspire everyone to keep an eye on their mental health and mentioned that Atlanta is one of his favorite cities. The crowd burst into a chorus of shouting during their biggest hit, “Beast” and the conclusion of their set, “The Hills Have Eyes.”

The venue burst into “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen as Chelsea Grin debuted on stage. This band is easily one of my favorites to see live, since their stage setup is usually simple (other than some fancy lights) and the biggest draw is their talents. Vocalist Tom Barber always delivers a great performance, and is entertaining to photograph since his dancing on stage is infectious. Drummer Pablo Viveros is also a fantastic performer, delivering fills, vocals, and blast beats with ease. Their setlist kicked off with one of their biggest hits, “Recreant,” moving into newer material like “9:30am” and “Dead Rose.” Some of the biggest crowd reactions came from “Outliers,” “Nobody Listened” and the last song, “Hostage.” It was definitely the perfect show for metal fans and musicians alike, since every band included some of the most talented guitarists, bassists, and drummers in modern deathcore. Chelsea Grin continues to have a strong touring cycle from Eternal Nightmare, and I’m very curious to see what they have planned next since no more tour dates are listed until summer 2020.

[Show as slideshow]

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Category: Live Reviews, Photo Galleries