Chimaira

Chimaira and epic? Do these two words honestly fit together? Not as well as we all hoped they would have fit together. Nonetheless it is nice to hear an ever evolving sound from a band that hasn’t quite lived up to their potential. Chimaira have had a lot of talent tucked up those proverbial sleeves – and this self-titled 3rd album is showing some of that leech out of our speakers.

The band has been under heavy fire being called everything from nu metal to mallcore to metalcore – when I think a lot of people are sloughing them off before they have their chance to really strut their stuff. Chimaira have a good influx of thrash and death metal influences that are now taking a step forward on this album. The internet rumors that this album is the “next black album” are NOT true…despite the choice for the cover being all black.

Chimaira really pull out their guitar work on this album. Chimaira is full of thrash riffing overlaid with killer leads and shredding solos. Definitely the most impressive aspect of this album is the new and more complex guitar writing and playing. Both the guitarists show their quick fret work and heavy rhythms. The melodies presented on songs like “Lazarus” and “Salvation” really give the album some good variation that and a new level that Chimaira have always hinted at but never really achieved.

The bass work is also become somewhat monumental this time around. The bass breaks away only a few times but it does properly keep the guitars on the same path. The bass work was a little most diverse prior to this release but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been deterred any. I think that the increased guitar work just has outshined the bass work.

The drumming is a big problem for me. For all the thrash influence that has been shown on this album – the drums have a definite death metal feel to them. Most likely this is due to the loss of Andols Herrick and his replacement Kevin Talley. Kevin’s bread and butter is death metal drumming and even though the drumming is well done – it doesn’t quite fit with the music’s direction. A little too much focus has been put into the bass drums rather than the complexity to match the rest of the instruments.

Vocally, Mark Hunter has really tried to expand his vocal capabilities. He tired to keep some diversity on the album and does a pretty good job. So now along with his post thrash barking vocal style we begin to hear some death metal guttural and some baritone singing (very little of the latter). The greater use Chris Spicuzza’s backing vocals (most impressively his singing voice which is remarkable good) is a good counter point to Mark’s usually harsh style of singing. When the two of them overlap it’s quite impressively epic sounding.

The epic nature of this album is it’s blessing and it’s curse. Although by having a goal to create a massively epic album the band has really pushed its own boundaries and found some new levels of creativity with an outlet for their once stifled talent. Unfortunately, by doing this the epic nature of album feels very forced and unnatural for the band. Parts of the album are positively amazing but a lot of the transitions and time changes feel a bit awkward and cliché. With some amazing lyrical writing about suicide, death, and hate there are some very awesome sing along moments with the choruses.

Chimaira are just a few steps away from being one of the best newer bands in the scene and with the direction of thrash and death that they are going they are going to be garnering a lot of new fans. This is an amazing step for the band even if the album has some serious flaws.

Songs to check out: Nothing Remains, Save Ourselves, Lazarus.