UNFAIR SNAP JUDGEMENTS ABOUT THE NEW CHIMAIRA ALBUM BASED ON FIFTEEN SECOND SAMPLES I HEARD ON AMAZON

I still haven’t heard Chimaira’s The Infection. But because I’m a Chimaira dork, it was with great excitement that I listened to the fifteen second samples of each of the album’s ten songs on Amazon this morning. After the jump, my completely unfair snap judgement on thsi 150 seconds of new Chimaira music.

1. “THE VENOM INSIDE” – Holy crap, is this how the album opens? It sounds like the intro to a power metal song. Now, I know this overrall won’t be a power metal song because I’ve heard another thirty second sample on the band’s Spread the Infection website, but that somehow just makes this sound even more awesome: at some point, it is going to morph into what sounds like a totally heavy Chimaira song. I am really excited to see how this all fits together.
2. “FROZEN IN TIME” – Double bass elephant marching drums. Rob Arnold tearing shit up. What sounds like a Lacuna Coil chorus gone totally, totally awry. More please.
3. “COMING ALIVE” – My only complaint about the two songs I’ve already heard from this album is that there wasn’t enough Rob Arnold spotlight time. This fifteen second sample tells me to shut the fuck up and wait until I’ve heard the rest of the album.
4. “SECRETS  OF THE DEAD” – We’ve already heard this one, no snap judgements to be made.
5. “THE DISAPPEARING SUN” – One word for that riff: chunky.
6. “IMPENDING DOOM” – I wonder how long it stays that quiet. I tend to dig songs where Mark Hunter starts out whispering, because it usually means that someone is almost certainly going to end up dead. Good stuff.
7. “ON BROKEN GLASS” – Listen to Hunter’s vocals at the start of this clip – that is some straight up Chris Barnes shit. In fact, the whole thing sounds like classic death metal. Excellent.
8. “DESTROY AND DOMINATE” – We’ve already heard this one, too!
9. “TRY TO SURVIVE” – As soon as this started playing, my head started bobbing. It was totally involuntary. Weird.
10. “THE HEART OF IT ALL” – I think I read somewhere that this song is instrumental. This sample certainly sounds different from anything the band has already done. If it’s half as awesome as “Implements of Destruction,” we’re in for a treat.

In conclusion: me want to hear record now.

The Infection comes out April 21 on Ferret in North America and April 20 on Nuclear Blast everywhere else.

-AR

Photo by Tricia Ringholz