For those of you yet unfamiliar with subtle vagaries of Chimaira, they burst on the metal scene in 2003 with their second album “The Impossibility of Reason”, and impressive it was too. Moshy and thrashy (sounds like a kids TV proggy?) yet tuneful, assisted by sheepdog vomiting/cookie monster vocals from Mark “Mad Eyes” Hunter. The six piece defined their sound with big d-tuned riffage aplenty and myriad of time changes per song. A breathless & busy rhythm section kept the songs on the tracks in a live show and they quickly gained a great following on these shores.   

So what of this effort?

Well it's safe to say that they won’t upset their loyal fanatics with it, and there is a fair degree of slower more thoughtful and dare I say melodic (did I really write that!) moments present. Every track contains some mighty fine fretwork with scorching chugs and malevolent lyrics. The production is superb for the band but lets the vocalist down leaving him just a little too far back in the mix. 

Opener Resurrection typifies the Chimaira approach, speed metal with doom overtones. Even the solo, if you can call it that, pays homage to the Slayer school of up the fetboard, down the fretboard pronto plank spanking.  But wait there are signs of musicianship and tunesmithery creeping in. Six, for example, is an epic, over 9 minutes of slicing right hands too begin with then quiet almost west coast chill out melody building to an apocryphal climax, great stuff. Killing the Beast surprises with yet more almost proggy noodlings but it works. The Flame though returns us to more familiar territory, with almost Korn-a-like intro but then settling down to mid tempo dirt-riffed chaos. More Johnathon Davies (no not the welsh rugby geek!!) soundalikey stuff with End It All, but this bounds along at a pace and contains yet more masterful chugging time changes. 

Resurrection is more diverse that any of Chimaira's previous efforts, showing signs of experimentation with different styles and sounds and maturing lyrically, yet remaining firmly at the fore front of the genre helping to create a great album. Resurrection will certainly please older fans and could help break Chimaira to a new audience. Good stuff

Let us know your views on 'Resurrection'

Track Listing

Resurrection
Pleasure In Pain
Worthless
Six
No Reason To Live
Killing The Beast
The Flame
End It All
Black Heart
Needle
Empire

 Line Up

Rob Arnold - Guitars
Matt DeVries - Guitars
Andols Herrick - Drums
Mark Hunter - Vocals
Jim LaMarca - Bass
Chris Spicuzza - Wizard