“Dude, I went to this mosh-pit and a Chimaira gig broke out!”
There are some excellent loud bands out there – bands who make one hell of a lot of noise. Look at the efforts of Marduk, Lord Belial and Strapping Young Lad, who between them could make an aircraft carrier sound like a sleeping baby, and as much as music is meant to be about expressing yourself in your own unique way, there are certain rules you have to stick to, no matter how groundbreaking you are. Well, actually there’s only one – there has to be some sort of redeeming quality to the sound you make. A total lapse of that would result in some of the worst music in the world, right? Well…
Chimaira have enjoyed a string of hits with Roadrunner and as a result enjoyed a somewhat unexpectedly large amount of sales of their most recent album – The Impossibility Of Reason. For a while Chimaira were the only Nu-Metal band to really rival Slipknot’s commercial success, and it seems that their fans know it. The shots of the crowd showed people flying all over the place, although it didn’t seem as though they were in time to the music. But with weak drumming and simplistic, boring guitar work, who can blame them?
Chimaira’s music is where it all falls down – you can offer a free DVD (This Present Darkness) and all the backstage interviews you want – if the music is this bad you’re on a limited road, and thankfully that’s exactly where Chimaira are heading. The gigs are a mix of the newer album along with some tracks from their debut “Pass Out Of Existence”, which are just as weak and unoriginal as the fresher material. The only, and I mean only redeeming quality of this CD is the way it’s shot – whoever was behind the camera knew what he was doing.
Unfortunately for Chimaira, their days are numbered. Weak music and uninspiring interviews do not lead to success. Fortunately for us, Chimaira are about to pass out of existence…