Chimaira – Resurrection

artist website

publisher

impulse buy

Nuclear Blast
Produced by Jason Suecof/Andy Sneap

Cleveland’s finest modern metallers, led by sole remaining founder Mark Hunter (vocals) have taken both a step back, and a step forward in terms of the evolution of their sound. Resurrection is much more melodic and complex than their self-titled third offering, but a huge step up in musicianship and class from the critically acclaimed The Impossibility of Reason.

“We have become so god-damned powerful” screams Hunter on the title track over squeals that belong on a Black Label Society song, some of the best guitar solos you will hear this year and razor-sharp, aggressive rhythms and riffs. The opener is quite a statement from the band, incorporating some wonderful melodic vocal breaks and a crushing slow refrain to close; the song has absolutely everything.

The beauty of this Chimaira release is it has the kind of extreme vocals that can be understood and appreciated, rather than an aural mess that ends up acting as a generally tuneless additional instrument and fails to serve the purpose of vocals. Hunter appears to be able to produce three distinct voices, the effect of which is to add an extra layer of variety to the album. An amazing melodic instrumental section in the middle of Six follows one such change of voice, featuring superbly layered lead guitars, drum fills and bass melodies, and is a definite album highlight.

Elsewhere No Reason To Live starts with a slow, clean and frankly evil intro ahead of a quick-fire riff and drums leading into an even faster riff over sporadic double-bass drumming. Much of the rest of the song is a touch derivative of the style, but it is still a solid effort and amongst the more interesting songs here serves as a perfectly acceptable, more typical, album track.

The tail end of the record is no less involved than the start. Killing The Beast is incredibly ominous. The chorus riff has a doom metal feel, while the verses are almost spoken in a low, clean whisper, Black Heart is more straight-forward aggressive metalcore fair with hints of Slayer. In terms of similarities a couple of early tracks like Worthless and the title track are reminiscent of Jesse Leach era Killswitch Engage (back when KsE were good), but mostly Chimaira sound like Chimaira.

It’s the element of traditional heavy metal that make Chimaira such an increasingly interesting prospect compared to most other ‘metalcore’ bands, and while perhaps the non-stop bludgeoning effect of a Chimaira album can sometimes wear a little thin, the fact remains that no other band in the same area of metal produces songs of such complexity and aggression without sounding like they’re singing from the bottom of the sea (which would often be preferable, actually).

“ complexity and aggression ”

Tracklist: Resurrection / Pleasure In Pain / Worthless / Six / No Reason To Live / Killing The Beast / The Flame / End It All / Black Heart / Needle / Empire
Bonus tracks*: Kingdom of Heartache / Paralyzed
Bonus DVD: The Making of Resurrection album / Resurrection music video / Photography

* bonus tracks may only be available in certain territories.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Heavy Metal (Extreme Vocals), Chimaira