Kingcrimsonprog Chimaira’s self titled third album is a monster, their heaviest and most progressive album to date, with a solid collection of classic material and a great production.

The best songs here are the unbelievably good ‘Save Ourselves,’ the brilliant and interesting ‘Left For Dead,’ and the epic ‘Lazarus.’

With long songs, brutal riffs and more melodic solos, Chimaira have crafted a memorable and interesting album; with no weak tracks, better lyrics than before and improved Vocals.

‘Chimaira,’ brags some of the best choruses of the band’s career as well as some of their most musical guitar solos. The drumming; while not as good as on their fourth or second album, is still amazing.

This is a truly excellent modern Metal album, that you should still be listening to in ten years time.

UMUR "Chimaira" is the self-titled 3rd album by US groove metal/metalcore act Chimaira. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in August 2005.

The music on the album is energetic and hard edged groove metal/metalcore. The band are often cited for not appreciating the link to the term metalcore but IMO that link is impossible to ignore. It´s especially the aggressive and very raw "core" sounding vocals that lead my throught to the metalcore sound but the band also employ some crushingly heavy breakdowns in their music that points in the metalcore direction. Chimaira´s music on this album is groove laden, aggressive, and in addition to the above mentioned elements you´ll also find plenty of thrashy riffing on the album. A song like "Salvation" also display that the band have a melodic sensibility. They never sacrifice power or energy though. There are some truly skull crushing riffs on display here.

The musicianship is excellent. Tight precision playing all around and when you add to that a very well sounding and professional sound production, this is an album which deserves the good quality stamp. The songwriting leaves a bit to be desired though. While the compositions are certainly well written, it´s like they don´t stand out enough. Even after repeated listens very few tracks set themselves apart and leave a lasting impression. Quality wise I´d give this one a 3.5 star (70%) rating but it ends up on a 3 - 3.5 (65%) rating because the tracks simply aren´t memorable enough.