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Chimaira – “The Infection”

May 24, 2009 at 7:59 pm (Major Label, Music Reviews) (blog, Chimaira, Chimaira (2005), Ferret Music, Frozen in Time, Groove Metal, Growling vocal style, high energy, http://chimaira.com/, http://twitter.com/Chimairaband, http://www.myspace.com/chimaira, http://www.youtube.com/user/chimairatube, indie, lyrics are dark poetry, Major, Mark Hunter, Metal Core, Myspace, Nu Metal, Nuclear Blast, Pass out of Existence (2001), Resurrection (2007), The Disappearing Sun, The Impossibility of Reason (2003), The Infection (2009), This Present Darkness (1998), Twitter, Youtube)

http://chimaira.com/

http://www.myspace.com/chimaira

http://www.youtube.com/user/chimairatube
http://twitter.com/Chimairaband

Name: Chimaira

Genre: Groove Metal/Metal Core/Nu Metal

Major/Indie/Unsigned: Major: Nuclear Blast (2006 – present) + Indie label: Ferret Music (2006 – present)

Albums: This Present Darkness (1998), Pass out of Existence (2001), The Impossibility of Reason (2003), Chimaira (2005), Resurrection (2007)

Album: The Infection

Released: April 2009

Overall Rating (out of 4): 3.5

Musicality – For the metal genre, they play amazingly tight musically as a band. The music can be described as visceral sonic madness….but under control.

Singing – “Growling” vocal style of Mark Hunter is fit, aggressive, and you can still surprisingly hear & understand the lyrics (I find that unusual in most heavy bands).

Lyrics – I have to admit I looked at a website to take a full look at “The Infection” album’s lyrics on each song, and I came away impressed! The lyrics that were written are poetry, dark poetry, but poetry nonetheless (Talking about darkness, pain, suffering, and life’s trials). It is very good, and the lyrics themselves stand on their own. I would google Chimaira lyrics if you don’t believe me.

Flow/Rhythm – Insane metal rhythms, with the drums frenetic energy (Kick drum crazy!), they truly create something creative and powerfully high energy! The rhythm guitars are heavy and crunchy where they need to be, and subtle/quieter where that’s needed. As well, the melodic lead parts on guitar add complexity to each song. This is a band at the top of their game, they have matured, progressed, and taken their music to the next level!

Technicality/Recording – Amazing audio recording, able to mix all the different types of sound elements together into a cohesive whole.

Visuals – Myspace page is excellent with music, tour dates, you name it. Their Youtube channel takes a slightly different angle, as it is a more of a talk to the fans site. The band talks about what’s going on with the band, products and promotions (a nice way to see the band beyond the music). Their personal website is more of a blog style with pictures, tour dates, and everything else. Finally, they do a Twitter account to follow, which can link at the top of this review. So, in my books they got things pretty well held down on the technologic side!

Top 2 Songs:

1. Frozen in Time (Crazy heavy rhythm guitars, insane pounding drums, relentless, powerful! Killer Chimaira breakdown rhythms)

2. The Disappearing Sun (Insane drum rhythms with crazy lead guitar riffs, nice into lead into the song, I like how the song doesn’t rush into the mega heavy parts – patience in a metal song?!)