CHELSEA GRIN // ENGINE ROOMS, SOUTHAMPTON

CHELSEA GRIN DETONATE ENGINE ROOMS IN A NIGHT OF BLAST BEATS AND BREAKDOWNS

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4/5)

CHELSEA GRIN AT ENGINE ROOMS, SOUTHAMPTON
PHOTOCREDIT: CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI

There is something almost poetic about walking into the Engine Rooms on a night like this - especially knowing that this will be my last visit to the venue for 2025. Engine Rooms for those who have not been there is an industrial box converted into a venue with sticky floors, low ceilings and questionable ventilation - in other words, the perfect habitat for a deathcore show. Closing off the 2025 season, an intimate, gritty and sweat-lacquered room is the perfect ending to go out with a bang; and yet, it almost feels like home. Especially when the lineup is engineered to obliterate every vertebra in your neck.

Colorado’s Crown Magnetar was the first entree to the demolition crew. They opened the night with a set so tight and precise that it felt like they’d trained for it in a military bunker. bringing tech-death fecority and high-BPM brutality, they had the crowd gathering early on to mosh and kick Saturday night’s worries away. They played a short but highly efficient set - with tracks from Everything Goes Black to Alone in Death hit with machine-like accuracy, relentless kick drums and vocals that swayed between the high squeals and the low brutals. By the second song, the pit in the middle of the room was awake, and the temperature of chaos rose up pretty quickly. 

Coming all the way from California, Mugshot followed and shifted the mood into harder and angrier territory. Their sound sits somewhere between metalcore, hardcore and deathcore, but with a nasty streak that makes you clench your jaw and fists. Their energy on stage was relentless, and the same went for their headbangs. And this did not go unnoticed, because the crowd responded with immediate violence. Their energy was raw and unfiltered, with songs such as Egodystonic and Hate Speech hitting with teeth-baring swagger, grit and a refreshingly pissed off energy - pretty much exactly the type of thing you expect from the second band on the bill. 

Signs of the Swarm are the equivalent of being hit by a bus and they know how to turn the entire venue into a deathcore gravity well. The circle pits and the moshing, as well as the relentless crowdsurfing were only expected when the band brought their signature sound of volcanic heavy slam and guttural vocal acrobatics, sounding like the earth beneath them was splitting in half. The vocals were definitely the cherry on the cake, moving from sub-basement low growls all the way to high screams, as tracks such as Pray For Death, Chariot and IWONTLETYOUDIE came on. Their set was headliner worthy, with the pit going from enthusiastic to ‘insurance won’t cover this’ within seconds. The fact that their set was longer than the previous acts also did not stop anyone from going full on into the walls of death through multiple songs, or jumping over the barrier to fist-bump the singer and scream into the microphone. By the end, everyone looked primed like a weapon for Chelsea Grin, who were now ready to raise the stakes even higher.

Chelsea Grin have spent over a decade refining the art of making extremely heavy music that somehow still feels cinematic. From their early MySpace-era chaos to the polished darkness of their album Self Inflicted, the atmospheric music of Ashes To Ashes and the modernity of Suffer In Hell / Suffer In Heaven, the band has evolved a long way since Desolation of Eden came out to become one of deathcore’s most distinctive voices. Despite line-up changes, their identity has always remained a balance of melody, menace and emotional weight beneath distorted guitars and high-pitched vox, all of which contribute to the universe of a band that has not just set a cornerstone in the whole genre, but continues to reinvent it time and time again. And whilst I was expecting people to go absolutely feral when Chelsea Grin hit the stage, it was with almost ecclesiastical awe that the crowd watched the natural disaster that evolved in front of it.

There were no pleasantries when Chelsea Grin started off their set. Recreant was followed by Cheyne Stokes and The Foolish One, having the crowd in a trance, screaming back. As the set progressed, we had an immediate pit detonation and the first crowdsurfers making their appearance. The rest of the setlist was a treat to old fans - Dead Rose, Playing With Fire, Bleeding Sun, My Damnation - cue the phone flashlights, a sight that I never expected to see during a deathcore anthem - Sonnet of the Wretched and Sing to the Grave, all songs which created a dark and atmospheric melody to veil the cinematic performance. They played like a band that had something to prove - and they proved it repeatedly.

Chelsea Grin thrive in smaller venues because their sounds envelopes a room in a way that feels both enchanting and claustrophobic, with a performance that was brutal yet weirdly elegant. They had thunderous drums, razor-sharp guitar riffs and eerie melodies, rattling bass lines and vocals that could slice the room in half… and the crowd loved it. Despite being possessed by the sight of the band at the start, the room quickly warmed up with pits and walls of death, and a record breaking crowdsurfing moment that had security catching bodies in the air like their lives depended on it. The set closed off with Hostage featuring Dave Simonich from Signs of the Swarm helping with the vocal heavy-lifting. By the final guitar breakdown, everyone looked physically and spiritually undone. 

Chelsea Grin at Engine Rooms was an absolute masterclass in modern deathcore - visceral, polished and unforgettable. The support lineup was a beautifully crafted descent into chaos, and Chelsea Grin arrived to finish the job. It was a gig that reminded everyone that venues like that are where the fans feel the most alive - in small rooms with big sound and full of destruction. Who’s up for round 2? 

REVIEW + PHOTOS BY: CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI