:: Chimaira - The Infection

Chimaira

You could never accuse Cleveland act Chimaira of making the same album twice, with every new studio release emerging from the band revealing new influences and a further willingness to get heavier and darker sounding. After the band’s last couple of albums universally hailed as both their strongest and most consist releases to date, there was a heightened expectation that it’s only a matter of time before Chimaira ultimately deliver their masterpiece with their fifth full-length release ‘The Infection’. But while ‘The Infection’ is a good release, the six-piece act haven’t quite delivered the classic many will no doubt be expecting. ‘The Venom Inside’ is a great opening track, with its haunting atmospheric intro effortlessly flowing through to a crushing post-thrash groove. Chimaira have obviously upped the ante in terms of heaviness, with the guitars sounding positively smothering in the mix. Hunter’s growled vocals help amplify the opener’s slow dooming groove, while the speedier chorus sections quite literally explode with pure venom. Interestingly enough, ‘Frozen In Time’ follows on with virtually the same riff structures of the opener with only the faster choruses, the breakdowns and the eerie sounds of guitar echoes separating the two tracks from one another. ‘Coming Alive’ does manage to stand out a little more with Hunter doubling up on the chorus with both clean and growled vocals, but if there’s one common dominating factor with the opening trio of tracks, it’s the excessively slower tempos. Chimaira have opted for a much slower and heavier sound this time around, and while it does tend work in a lot of ways, it does take a while to really dissect one song’s individual character from the rest. It isn’t until the single ‘Secrets Of The Dead’ that the album starts to pick up a little more, with the song, along with ‘Impending Doom’ and ‘On Broken Glass’, boasting choruses that a little more distinctive and varying the overall slower plod of the album with an injection of urgency in places. The hint of progressive elements within ‘The Disappearing Sun’ are quite interesting, and help make the song stand out as something a little different from the rest of the album, while the closing instrumental ‘The Heart Of It All’ is another strong effort overall, and every bit as impressive as the band’s past efforts. ‘The Infection’ is not an instantaneous album, with the band’s new direction only starting to make sense after numerous listens. But even after giving the album time, I can’t help but feel that Chimaira only delivered a solid album, rather than something truly groundbreaking in their follow up to ‘Resurrection’.