 
Now Chimaira have been a problem child so to speak
for a few years now; many different line-up changes,
disappointing releases and cancelling UK tours
for various reasons. It’s safe to say that
the original interest in the band over on this
side of the pond is rapidly declining with each
lost tour and each album release, so with a new
album and a new tour they really need to pull
something out of the bag to rekindle the hype.
Whilst debut release “Pass Out of Existence”
was extremely promising and follow up “The
Impossibility of Reason” was their best
release to date; there ends the excitement, “Chimaira”
and “Resurrection” had a few great
songs on them but weren’t the best as overall
albums and then “The Infection” was
a complete dud, opting for a more sinister slow
paced edge.
The album was released for free with the latest
edition of Metal Hammeras an obvious marketing
ploy to get people to actually take notice in
the band again alongside a string of UK dates
to try and reignite the bands career which is
a good plan. However none of this will matter
if this album isn’t a return to form so
let’s get to that. Opener “The Age
of Hell”musically is terrific; it’s
aggressive, heavy, quick and chaotic which is
a great start however the vocals let it down because
the lyrics just don’t fit they seem forced
in and aren’t catchy. They do try to retain
the style from “The Infection” infused
with the “Impossibility of Reason”
era and sometimes it does work in the case of
“Year of the Snake”,“Clockwork”
and “Time is Running Out” but it goes
too far with“Beyond the Grave” and
“Powerless”.
Here we are! “Born In Blood” is what
I’ve been waiting to hear this entire album,
its exactly what I expect of Chimaira; extremely
aggressive, high octane, quick God damn metal!
The breakdown towards the end as well is the heaviest
section of music I think the band has ever produced;
this song is the only one of its kind on this
album, I mean “Trigger Finger” and“Scapegoat”
are pretty heavy but just not on par with “Born
In Blood”.
Apart from these songs there’s a 1 minutes
interlude (“Stoma”) and a 6 minute
instrumental called “Samsara” which
is really just a track of guitarists showing off
and some pretty impressive displays of musical
talent. That concludes the album; it hasn’t
been really the album of the decade or the turning
point in Chimaira’s career, it’s not
a triumphant return to form but hey it’s
a start, if the band takes all critique given
and owns the stage over here next March then we
might begin the return.
4/5
Review by James Webb
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