Chimaira

Resurrection

Written by: AP on 23/03/2007 15:17:39

Gone are the days when metal was entertainment for the few. Record labels are seeing this, too, and are re-thinking what their protegees need to deliver. The message is clear: hooks and melody. Unfortunately, more often than not this approach ends in disaster when bands choose not to follow the road less traveled. Then there's bands like Chimaira, whose message is also very clear.

A recent divorce from Roadrunner Records seems to have been just what Chimaira needed to break free from a downward spiral. The band realized that the only way to please an ever more scrupulous fan base was to do everything in the band's power to displease them. Then, having survived inner-band conflicts, Chimaira reinstated their legendary former drummer Andols Herrick and sought refuge under Ferret Records. The result is a paradox titled "Resurrection".

Like many bands today, Chimaira has drawn influence from a diversity of genres to make "Resurrection" what it is, and what it is is modern old school metal. But unlike a good majority of hybrids, Chimaira saw to it that these influences were modest nuances that would not distort the album from its post-thrash core. Yet these nuances are themselves a small masterpiece, like a subtle applause to legendary bands from their respective genres; a bit of grunge here, hints of grind and thrash there and even symphonic and ambient elements from black metal. But at its core, "Resurrection" is post-thrash slash crunk.

When every song on an album is worth recommending, it promises to be a masterpiece. "Resurrection" is one of these albums, but let's applaud the two best songs Chimaira has produced to date: title-track "Resurrection" and "Empire". Though hooks are foreign to Chimaira, somehow the band has succeeded in making every song on the album memorable and catchy, these two in particular. Determination, perseverence, resolution, resurrection is a phrase now imprinted in my record of the best choruses ever written, not to mention the song's sheer speed, and "Empire" is more diabolical than any black metal song I ever heard.

With "Resurrection" Chimaira compromises nothing. That is to say, it does nothing to draw in new ears although it's experimental in character. At the same time, it is sure to be looked back on as the heaviest release of the year. In many ways the album is also a statement as implied by its lyrical content and title; it's vindication for a troublesome past. And what a statement it is!

10

Download: Resurrection, Empire, Six
For the fans of: Hatesphere, Pantera, Lamb Of God
Listen: Myspace

Release date 06.03.2007
Ferret

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