CHIMAIRA — Chimaira (review)

CHIMAIRA — Chimaira album cover Album · 2005 · Groove Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Chimaira" is the eponymously titled third full-length studio album by US, Ohio based metal act Chimaira. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in August 2005. It´s the successor to "The Impossibility Of Reason" from May 2003 and there´s been one lineup change since the predecessor as drummer Andols Herrick has left (tired of touring, he went back to college to finish his degree in music) and has been replaced by Kevin Talley (Dying Fetus, Dååth, Misery Index, Six Feet Under...etc.). Talley´s tenure with Chimaira would however only last until 2006 when Herrick returned.

The music on the album is energetic, heavy, and hard edged groove metal with elements of hardcore, death metal and thrash metal. The band are often cited for not appreciating the link to the term metalcore but there are moments on the album where the link is valid enough. It´s especially the aggressive and very raw "core" sounding vocals that lead my throught to the metalcore sound but the band also employ some crushingly heavy breakdowns in their music that also points in the metalcore direction (or heavy metal oriented hardcore...you decide). Although not quite as harcore oriented, the focus on heaviness and groove aren´t that different from a band like Hatebreed. Chimaira´s music on this album is groove laden, aggressive, and in addition to the above mentioned metalcore/hardcore elements you´ll also find plenty of thrashy riffing on the album (Slayer often comes to mind) and loads of blistering lead guitar work. A song like "Salvation" also displays that the band have a melodic sensibility with brief use of clean vocals. Chimaira never sacrifice power or energy though. There are some truly skull crushing riffs and rhytyms on display here.

The musicianship is high level on all posts. Tight precision playing all around and when you add to that a very well sounding and professional sound production, this is an album which deserves the high quality stamp. The songwriting can be a bit one-dimensional (using the same elements on most songs), but on the other hand Chimaira succesfully spice their music up with the above mentioned lead guitar parts and samples and keyboard effects, which help the compositions remain interesting. I could pick any track from the album, but I have to mention the opening duo of "Nothing Remains" and "Save Ourselves" as some of the most powerful, crushingly heavy, and quite intricate groove metal tracks I´ve yet encountered. A great album this one and a 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.
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