Holy shit, this is a lot heavier than their last record, opting more for a modern thrash sort of style rather than the stop/start grooves that were making up their almost nu-metally full-length debut. Some of those elements are still present here, by no means is this a technical record, and the vocals still range from screaming to singing (though the emphasis is on screaming), but the writing is more fluid and diverse. And I'm all about the almost Slayer-esque lead playing (just not quite as chaotic or over the top). And just check out the brief attack of "Power Trip"... that's the last thing I would peg as being part of a Chimaira record - it's flat out modern thrash, short and to the point, with a little bit of catchiness. The title track drops some sludgy southern fried riffing that reminds me a little bit of Pantera, but even more rocked out in some odd way, with a nice melodic solo run. "Pictures in the Gold Room" uses a few doses of singing vocals and really crushing slow dirges layered with clean guitars - all of which brings Alice in Chains to mind (only heavier). And the intro to "Down Again" starts out with piano and some incredible guitar harmonies (I'm talking like five or six part harmonies, and not your standard octave harmonies or anything), very impressive. Portions of the rest of the song (the chorus) bring back more of an Alice in Chains-ish sort of singing style, but it's still a good song (not as good as Alice in Chains or anything, but this is really a separate beast that just happens to possess some resemblances). The last track, "Implements of Destruction", is a very unexpected closer: A 13+ minute instrumental starting out with some synth textures and incredibly awesome acoustic guitar melodies that lock up in a loop before switching over to distortion and unloading some thick rhythms with melodic lead lines. This approach continues for pretty much the duration of the track, though there are ample changes and a few shifts to keep things interesting - lots of solos, lots of solos. As for the production, the drums are sort of unnatural, but pack some density in there and don't bug me all that much. And other than that everything sounds good. I love the fucking guitar tone (tight, crunchy, and clear), the bass is there adding density but doesn't really make itself known so much, and the vocals sound fine. I also like the way the electronics are pretty scarcely used, and when they are present they're mixed deep within the music and don't sound at all cheesy or out of place. The CD-Rom portion of the disc includes a "making of" video clip, but only the first part, which runs less than four minutes and then instructs you to go to the label's website for the other three clips. I know there's not room for 30 minutes of video on this thing, but the whole "teaser" aspect is lame. Plus the footage is really dark, though otherwise fairly well shot and with good sound. It's boring and unnecessary though, despite the fact that it was interesting to see that they recorded this record in a big garage in their home town. After that is the video for "Down Again", which repeatedly switches back and forth from pitch black with red lighting to bright lights in a pale setting with white rubber stretched across the walls. It's nothing special, mostly the band performing on the set and looking as "intense" as they can (most of 'em, anyway). I'm not into the layout at all. It's just too plain and to a large degree cheesy. The entire booklet is based around smeared bloody fingerprints and central individual black and white band photos where each member is trying far too hard to pose in a menacing or pensive fashion, and the front cover just brandishes the band logo in lightly spattered "blood". Everything is clean and I like the use of white space, and the quality of the photography is great, it's just the content of it all that's not working for me. The same goes for the lyrics, which are bitter, and that's fine, but they're also immature: "Motherfuck it all, I can't stand this, Remember when I said everyone makes me sick? Well nothing has changed, I hate everyone..." Regardless, for the most part I liked their last record, but this is definitely better. I hope they continue in this direction, because it's a lot more promising. I think the record's too long, as an hour is more than enough, so shaving off three of the weaker tracks would've lent more impact to the effort... but a good album nonetheless.
[Roadrunner]
Running time - 58:57, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Power Trip, Down Again, Crawl]
Roadrunner Records - http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com
