Well well, self titled, and no less the all so important third album, did Chimaira pull it through?, or did they fall into the pits off hell, don’t miss this cliffhanger of review!!!, Hehe, well Chimaira, are a clear case of a band that tried to gain on the nu-metal bandwagon, and saw that being nu metal doesn’t mean good sales, so something had to change, they decided to ditch the electro sampled nu-metal to a more heavy old school thrash metal sound, with some illusive melodic parts and a couple of other tidbits, did it worked? Hell Yeah, if it rocks it sells, so what about now, with their self titled?

The opening track “Nothing Remains” shows their now heavy drumming and …. ohhh the guitar work is quite good, seems the duo guitarists have learned something new in this couple of year, then comes “Save Ourselves” another great track with a great solo, by the end of the track i can tell this much, the new drummer is good…”fear factory like drumming“, but the guitar work, is by far the highlight here, “Inside The Horror” plays like a b movie horror soundtrack, very nice.

Jumping through to “Salvation”, slow paced with a long melodic pace, there is a part there that sound just like…. uhhh strange, well we then get the thrash like “Comatose”, a Fear Factory meets melodic whatever in “Left for Dead”, then we get the heavy drumming heavy hitting chorus of “Everything You Love”, another track that resembles Fear Factory (old school) on “Bloodlust”, we get more “by the numbers” thrash with “Pray For All” and now we are at a end with the somewhat epic “Lazarus” very enjoyable and catchy…it sums up well what this album was about, heavy, hard and catchy.

Although very enjoyable, there seems to me, that ever since “The Impossibility Of Reason” Chimaira just try to “rip off” in a good way old school stuff and they try to mesh it with their semi characteristic sound, is it good? For sure, Is it fresh and original?, Not so much, i think with this release they drooped some of the aggression for some added melodic parts and some consistence, but for me that’s not really a good thing, since now, there doesn’t seem to be any real killer tracks, just good clean fun, ohh well you can’t have the cake and eat it too.

Chimaira - Nothing Remains

Chimaira - Save Ourselves

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A Life Once Lost is the kind of band that it’s hard to pinpoint, they clearly ride the roads between death/thrash/hardcore, but with their first release they seemed to go straight for a more point by point math metal approach, with a bit of hardcore in the mix but basically a stop go, polyrithmic ride, that is to say, i liked it, now with a new album, they seem to try and grow their sound, and so a new beast is born.

The Album starter is “Rehashed” and by starter i mean started, you get the instant feeling of A Life Once Lost bouncy calc metal they used to play, but in a thrashier more hardcore way, strange thing is they didn’t invent anything new nor went on a different direction, the sound just seems fuller and more tight, with a lot more aggression, that feeling just gets a extra boost on the next track “Needleman” even with the more approachable chorus, then they drop us on “Vulture” now we’re talking, my favorite track for sure, straight from the get go, with that bouncy sound they do so well, it only gets better with the quick guitar solo, the album goes on and on, with tracks like “Grotesque”, the very instrumental delight of “Salai” or bringing the goods home with “Ghosting”.

Is it all good? I’m afraid not, like with “A Great Artist” their previous effort, it stales, it stales fast, their sound while refreshing at first it tends to blend with the background with time and multiple runs, the difference is that with “Hunter” you get a great ride while your in it.

So did i like or not, well i can say for certain that’s a better album then their previous and it’s a fun ride, with loads of twists and turns, ohhh and the best thing is…. my favorite track is also their single, so go and check out “Vulture”.

A Life Once Lost - Vulture

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