Chimaira - The Infection [2009]

I'm getting nothing from this album. It's slow, dim-witted, boring, not catchy, contrived, derivative, and almost all filler. The only song worth a fuck is actually really good and a wonderful piece of music to listen to, "The Heart of it All". The rest of the album is shit.

Rating: 4

http://www.chimaira.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Chimaira - Resurrection [2007]

"Resurrection" definitely has more ferocity and bite in that one song than they had on all of the previous album combined. Fairly catchy, but nothing to write home about. However, "Pleasure in Pain" IS something to write home about. VERY catchy with a wonderfully dark and twisted theme. So far, there's been plenty in the way of force, but virtually nothing in the way of creativity and experimentation, but "Six" tries to change all that. A much softer beginning with Persian influence before jumping into the thrash madness. The problem with it is that it's a bit too long and with too little to offer in the way of diversity. I never used to like the middle of this album, but now I realize that I wasn't ready for the non-thrash songwriting. It's much darker and heavier with more ponderous riffs and a propensity towards breaking away from their more typical sound. Something that bothers me about the album is Mark Hunter's lyrics; they're so stock, predictable, and uninteresting that it can almost ruin a song. Other than that, this is probably their best and most solid album so far. It really feels like Chimaira has been renewed in strength.

Rating: 7.5

http://www.chimaira.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Chimaira - Chimaira [2005]

All things were stock and unmoving until the middle of "Nothing Remains". Hopefully there will be more of that throughout the album, because right now I'm not really impressed at all with the first track. It's too long and the riff never really settles in to a nice catchy niche. "Save Ourselves" starts with a much more catchy groove to it... this is more like it. Too bad the chorus is meandering shit. "Inside the Horror" is a bit more doom and gloom; catchy at times. Things seem to get marginally better as time goes on listening to this album. It must be said that I LOVE the old-school soloing. "Salvation" seems to be the first song on the album that has solid writing through the whole thing. "Comatose" finally feels like the properly savage Chimaira I was expecting from the beginning. This album is mostly lifeless for me. It's not all that catchy, the songwriting isn't that good aside from "Comatose" and "Bloodlust", and it really drags on.

Rating: 5

http://www.chimaira.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Chimaira - Pass Out of Existence [2001]

Korn-like start to "Let Go", but then things move more into Heavy Metal. The use of effects is very impressive. A lot of effort went into the type, execution, and placement of effects. The production is quite dull, though... with the vocals having the sonic quality of someone putting a damp blanket over the mic. It's still quite heavy, though. There's definitely a recessed stench of the Nu Metal troll lingering around the songs, but it works because of the massive amount of electronic influence and the focus on thrashy and heavy riffs. There's even a whiff of Death Metal to it. Small surprises delight my ears, especially when done well like the middle section of the title track. However, the rap-ish vocals of "Split" and "Painting the White to Grey" make me cringe. This album could not be more different from "Impossibility..." The variation is wonderful. The creativity, while not stunning, is more than enough to set this apart from other Heavy Metal bands. That said, this album is a bit too long for its own good. It really feels like shit is dragging by the end and that they've run out of ideas.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.chimaira.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.

Chimaira - The Impossibility of Reason [2003]

Heavy Metal with a large dose of groove, a dash of thrash, and a pinch of death metal. I've never really liked Mark Hunter's Hardcore vox... I think his Death Metal style is much better. The Hardcore screaming is too thin and doesn't have any guts to it. "The Impossibility of Reason" is mostly a heavy metal romp, but contains a very surprising homage to Pantera towards the end... extremely convincing and very well-done. The transitions between sections are so smooth that the listener can hardly tell how they moved through the song. "Down Again" brings the catchiness back up a notch. There is a decent amount of variation in the middle of the album with songs changing up the tempos a bit. The whole album is pretty catchy, if a bit uncreative. The people calling this "nu metal" are clearly clueless retards.

Rating: 7.25

http://www.chimaira.com/

All ratings are out of 10. Rating may not be a whole number.