In following up their 2018 album, Eternal Nightmare, Salt Lake City deathcore dealers Chelsea Grin recorded a double album. But instead of dropping 16 tracks of unrelenting extremity in one go, they decided to split the album into two parts. The first is Suffer in Hell; the second part, Suffer in Heaven, arrives in March 2023. “In this day and age, we feel like it’s better to spread things out,” guitarist Stephen Rutishauser tells Apple Music. “If we put it all out at once, it narrows down the attention that each individual song is able to get on its own. It’s also just a lot of deathcore to throw at people. It might be kind of exhausting to hear nearly an hour of this music all at once.” The way Chelsea Grin divided the material between the two records was based purely on sequencing. “It’s not like this album is ugly and the other one is pretty,” the guitarist clarifies. “It was more about, ‘How can we take all of these songs and make two impactful records?’ We wanted to make sure eight songs that went great together stood on the first half, and then another eight songs that went great together stood on the second half. We tried all these different combinations, but in the end, it was feel-based. We decided these eight songs flow beautifully together.” Below, he details each track. “Origin of Sin”<>/b> “When we look back at the past, we’re taught certain things about how everything’s unfolded and how cultures and societies have developed to where they are today. But a lot of what we’re hearing is told from one perspective. History is always told by the victor, but this song is saying that if you investigate things a little further, you’ll see that maybe things didn’t happen exactly as we’re trained to believe they did. There’re bits of truth in what we’ve learned, but some of it is worth a deeper investigation.” “Forever Bloom” (feat. Trevor Strnad) “We’re so happy and grateful to have Trevor on this song. It’s been said so many times, but he was a special human for sure. Musically, this has a lot of [The] Black Dahlia [Murder] influence and seems to fit Trevor stylistically and personally. It’s about people who are constantly trying to steer us in a direction and take control. This isn’t just a government thing—it’s in so many aspects of daily life. There’re people trying to guide us towards certain things with certain intentions. The song is talking about rising above that and thinking for yourself.” “Deathbed Companion” “You’ve heard the term ‘dark passenger’—you know, the devil on your shoulder that kind of rides with you throughout life. The small voice in your head that pulls you into negativity, that’s so easy to give into and let consume you. This song is from the perspective of that little voice, but it’s also, again, sort of an empowerment song. It’s about recognizing that voice in your head and laying it to rest or overcoming it—defeating it, if you will.” “Crystal Casket” “This is about the powers that be trying to stifle our creativity and our potential. A lot of the songs on this record are about realizing the resistance against you, pushing past it, and unlocking the potential within yourself. The power we all have as individuals to create our own lives and rise above whatever brings us down. So, this one is a little bit more of an aggressive, vitriol-filled message to and about the powers that try to control us or dictate our lives or, again, steer us in a certain direction. It’s sort of like an f-you to that.” “Flood Lungs” “This one is a little more off the wall. It’s sad and moody—a pretty emotion-filled song. It’s about feeling as though you’re not amounting to anything. It’s about failing the people you love—your family, your friends—and people around you. It’s apologetic. It’s saying, ‘I’m so sorry for failing you. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry I wasn’t better or bigger when you needed me be in this situation.’” “The Isnis” “‘The Isnis’ is the esoteric concept of an energy that flows between us all and connects us. It’s something we can tap into to empower ourselves to be whoever we want. We control our destiny—nothing is decided for us. We have the power to steer ourselves and guide ourselves through life. It’s about this untapped potential that a lot of people maybe don’t realize they have. They’re not empowered to realize just how powerful they are in their own lives.” “Mourning Hymn” “This is about losing someone in life. They pass away, and you’re wondering what you could have done to change the course of their life for the better. It’s about wondering if you were responsible in any way, wondering how your actions may have led them to where they are. It’s another apologetic song. It’s saying, ‘If I let you down, if anything I did led you to losing your life’… It’s a self-blame song about mourning a lost loved one.” “Suffer in Hell, Suffer in Heaven” “The lyrics in this song just repeat, ‘Suffer in hell’ and ‘Suffer in Heaven.’ The idea behind this song—and this album—is that we all go through life and face some measure of suffering. No one is beyond the reach of suffering and pain. We face it in different ways, to a different degree, and from different perspectives, but it’s about pushing through the suffering, rising up, and defeating the negativity.”