Don’t take our word for it – here’s what Kerrang! had to say about the new Chimaira album… Chimaira The Impossibility Of Reason Roadrunner KKKK REASONS TO BE FEARFUL Ohio’s heaviest join the new metal revolution Two years ago, Chimaira’s ‘Pass Out Of Existence’ album teetered precariously on the fence between full-on metallic aggression and the thematic angst of nu-metal its brutal, futuristic sheen and intense, airtight riffs placing the band firmly at the extreme end of modern metal like an inspired, 21st century re-write of pre-‘Demanufacture’ Fear Factory. Certainly, the better tracks on the album should have alerted us to the arrival of a uniquely potent force, but even the prickly vehemence of ‘Sp lit’, with its seething, hateful lyrics (“You destroy me every time you little c**t*”), failed to make any real impact in the UK. In fact, this was a blessing in disguise, because two years on Chimaira sound 100 per cent reborn a genuine, big-balls-and-bloody-knuckles metal band who display and instinctive grasp of the fact that Metallica, Slayer and Alice In Chains at their respective peaks were ten times harder, heavier and cooler than any nu-metal band. Although less intrinsically traditional than either Killswitch Engage or Shadows Fall, Chimaira are approaching metal in a similar way Andols Herrick’s vicious double-bass drum attack, Mark Hunter’s raw vocals and Rob Arnold’s searing, belligerent solos all betray an appreciation of thrash and death metal that sits perfectly comfortably with the band’s occasionally baggy-trousered, nu-centric tendencies. Even on a song like ‘Pure Hatred’, that ripples with the scowling misanthropy that Slipknot have long since trademarked, Chimaira have the fluid agility and hyper-conscious precision that only sincere students of underground metal are capable of pulling off. Whether it’s the menacing, Layne Stayley-esque harmonies of ‘Pictures In The Gold Room’, the dissonant, snarling assault of ‘Power Trip’ or the pained howl of “I will crawl on broken knees” that gives ‘Crawl’ its intensely satisfying hook, ‘The Impossibility Of Reason’ is utterly convincing, fiercely intelligent and very f**king heavy indeed. DOM LAWSON