Christmas is the grand festival celebrated all over the world and what makes the day more special and crazy is when an amazing band like CHIMAIRA plays in front of thousands of fans in their hometown to celebrate their completion of one decade as a strong outfit. Everyone remembers their masterpiece THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF REASON which received fantastic critical and commercial success. But one incident cracked the entire crazy atmosphere in the band. Half of the band members quit/retired within few weeks which we fans thought it will result in destruction of the great band, the band which has given us intense albums, kickass live performances, gained critical success throughout and musically immensely skill full, they have got nothing to prove to the world. That’s where we fans went wrong. Mark Hunter, Rob Arnold, and Matt Devries decided to enter the studio with only half a band to record Chimaira’s sixth full length. After delivering murderous albums continuously from last decade, CHIMAIRA is back with a bang with their New Album THE AGE OF HELL which stands out among the rest and proves the point that band is at its best from the long time and got the ability of give a run for the money as always. The results are surprisingly not as grim as they would seem.

Tracklist:

1. The Age of Hell

2. Clockwork

3. Losing My Mind

4. Time is Running Out

5. Year of the Snake

6. Beyond the Grave

7. Born in Blood

8. Stoma

9. Powerless

10. Trigger Finger

11. Scapegoat

12. Samsara

The album is produced by Mark Hunter, Rob Arnold and long time friend Ben Schigel who actually recorded the drum tracks for the entire album too. With 3 new guys on board, i feel Chimaira didn’t wanted to take risk by including them during the songwriting process. So Mark, Rob and Ben went ahead with the entire record. Chimaira sound has been very intense and they always push forward. While Kevin Talley for me was the most intense and aggressive drummer than Andols Herrick, i still felt that they could pull out some really bone crushing drum work without Andols. Both the Ex- drummers have been a vital part of the bands sound and one of the main resource for the assault. Still i was bit reluctant about how aggressive and intense the drums are gonna sound. Plus all the guitar parts including the solo’s are composed by Rob. With high expectations like never before, i started my 50 minutes of Chimaira journey.

It opens with the title track The Age of Hell, a typical insane, annihilating side of Chimaira track to begin the pulverizing journey. Its bone crushing with groovy riff’s and eclectic drumming all over the place. Its pure thrashy assault and will surely remind you of their crazy Powertrip. It clearly signifies the band is no doubt at their best with just 3 guys on board delivering brilliant stuff.

Clockwork slows down the tempo slightly and gives us the melodic Chimaira missing since The Impossibility of Reason. Hunter’s clean vocals are so haunting with well crafted melodic verses by Rob sounds mesmerizing. The ambiance post rockish feel makes this song more interesting along with the sampling, keyboard work by Hunter. Spiccuza is been with band from last 10 years and i personally never found anything interesting work done by him. His absence from the band has not affected or rather will never effect them. Hunter has actually used lot of synth, sampling lines which was totally missing in their sound from ages.

Losing My Mind is another melodic composition. A straightforward approach which sounds heavy but has nothing new to offer. Although Hunter clean vocals have improved immensely, this heavy melodic track is one of the weakest in the album which is totally overshadowed by other insane compositions.

Then comes the two insane tracks from the album Time is Running Out and Year of the Snake. Both the songs are heavy as fuck and have got crazy fretwork by Rob, ferocious drumming and picture perfect vocals. Not to forget the sweet breakdown in Year of the Snake which is old schoolish with Hunter versatility clearly signifying why he is one of the best frontman’s around. His crazy growls sounding perfect and elegant drumming makes this song one the best, heaviest and master-fuckn-peice stuff. One of the highlights of Time is Running Out is the melody which drives the song to its entirety. Hunter pours out his words as follows:

“How much more can I take

Sick of making the same mistakes

These memories have torn my heart

Now time is running out”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trSCOOQ9EXM&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Beyond the Grave which shows Chimaira ability to fuse in genres like Stoner/Doom metal. Slow song and tempo rises in the middle with traditional Black Sabbathish feel to it. This song is different and makes it own identity in the album. Chimaira is always known for experimenting stuff and presence of this song in the album is freaking brilliant.

With almost halfway through the album and we already have many asskicking tracks i was anxious to find out how much more can a person take when Chimaira is at its best. Now comes Born In Blood, the pure headbanging feast, a track which is surely gonna create a huge crazy moshpit. With crazy growling by Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel and its old school vibe with crazy 6 string grooves, mindblowing drumming and throat ripping harsh vocals by Hunter, this song proves again the importance of Chimaira in Metal.

Stoma is the first instrumental of the album with a doom metal vibe. As the album was highly intense and tempo is fast as fuck, the change was required to slow it down and this track has got that punch. This leads to Powerless, another violent track with groovy riffs. Another melody driven song where Rob displays some amazing melodic lines and Hunter’s vocals add depth. This song has diverse songwriting attitude, something like a middle finger to the world. Guitars sound crunchy and its angry, violent, venomous attack.

Trigger Finger is another epic track from the album. It was released as a single and received fairly good response from critics. There are many things which makes this song ‘EPIC’, the main source are the lyrics which are fantastically written, powerful grooves and absolutely fret burning work by Rob and not to forget the vocals which add more flavor and makes it an Epic track of the album. Some great lines are:

“There is a price to pay for freedom

There is a price to pay for bliss

What is it worth to you my friend?

What’s more important in the end?”

Scapegoat on the other side is a headbanging assault with neat chorus. Surely this song is gonna be the part of their setlist. Total destruction mode with violent atmosphere. Another track which showcases how Chimaira songwriting skills are at its peak. 808 drops is the highlight of the song. The second half of the album totally reminds us of their self titled album and Resurrection. This intense amalgamation really stands out and wipes out all the doubts about their songwriting.

Finally we reach the concluding track Samsara, Chimaira is fond of writing Epic endings always. Whether its The Impossibility of Reason ending track Implements of Destruction or the other track The Heart of it All, these instrumentals are written very cleverly. Its a classic Chimaira song which shines totally because of Rob perfectly written guitar lines, the melodies makes this song one of the best written stuff by Chimaira. The solo here mindblowing and probably the best solo written by Rob towards the end of any Chimaira album. Shining with its own identity , this is the perfect closer.

Conclusion:

After listening to album many times one can easily say that its one of the best album they have written throughout their career. Top notch production and drumming by Ben is the main reason for this epic piece. Its a clear answer to all fans and critics who thought Chimaira will never be the same. They don’t need 6 guys top record a masterpiece, just 3 were enough to create it. ‘The Age of Hell’ is the best focused album in their career and band is ready to destroy anything which comes their way. Its their career saving attempt and they are back with more intensity, confidence, craziness and with motto to kill everyone. It deserves 2011 Most Intense Emotional Metal record tag.

WELCOME TO THE AGE OF HELL \m/

RATING: 9.5/10