Chimaira is a band that doesn’t need an introduction anymore. Their first three incredibly diverse and grooving albums have conquered the hearts of their fans time and again, and now it’s time for a new label to release their Resurrection. Unfortunately we didn’t receive a promo copy from Nuclear Blast so the review is a bit late, but that doesn’t matter too much with a band this size.

Chimaira was once called the new Slayer by Kerry King himself, and it seems to me that with every release they come closer to actually realizing this. This one definitely proves that they’re on that path, because it’s more thrashier than ever. Also it’s more brutal than ever. Now I have to say that with their previous self-titled release I at first agreed with Buzzin Hornet’s review about it, until I saw the band play those songs live. Every thing became clear about the tracks then. So I waited extra long to review this to give it as much spins as it needed to really get through to me, you know, to get to the point where you’re headbanging in your room. That point has been reached. And I fear that if I witness these songs live I’ll dig them even more.

 

About the music then; besides being more brutal and thrash than before, there’s an even heavier production behind it so it really smacks you in the face. From the first track to the last that is. Drummer Anders doesn’t seem to have lost any of his power at all during his break with the band, in fact, I think he’s faster than ever. Especially that rumbling double bass gets me pissed as hell. That part of his kit is also brought forward tremendously, but luckily not in such a horrible way like for instance Decapitated does. Vocally there are some changes as well. We all know Mark Hunter isn’t that original with his vocals, but at least he tries, and with every album slight changes can be found. This time his low voice has received more training and thus it is used more. Sounds nice with that heavy production behind it.

 

So all in all it’s another great effort that can’t really be compared with the rest of their stuff, in my opinion. They slightly changed again, but stayed true to their heavy-as-fuck groove. Now I just can’t wait to see this material played live! MOSH!