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Mark Hunter of Chimaira
Crown of Phantoms
By J.Simpson
This is the first review on the site, it is of Chimaira's recent release entitled Crown of Phantoms. Hopefully you enjoy it!
So to start this off, I've been a fan of Chimaira since I got to see them open for Unearth, I got to listen to their last album and it blew my mind! Tracks like Clockwork, Beyond The Grave, and Year of the Snake just made me think "Wow this band is amazing!" I figured why not check out their follow up to the 2011 successor? Let me tell you I was not disappointed.
Kicking the album off is the song The Machine which is a song that lets you know "Hey after an almost 2 year absence Chimaira is back and still kicking ass!" The album itself actually carries that feel pretty far. Mark Hunter does a great job with his screaming, never backing down, just delivering lyric after lyric!
My favorite track on the album is the title track, Crown of Phantoms. With great lyrics, great solos, and banging drum riffs I might just walk with them through misery! I mean, who wouldn't. But on a serious note I feel as though this song was the climax of the album The Machine, No Mercy, and The Transmigration all lead up to this turning point of a song. Then from that point its downhill, yet at the bottom of the hill is a field of awesomeness!
The delievery in Wrapped in Violence just makes me feel like I want to get up and mosh! It contains that feel that really makes you want to just jump up and run into the dude next to you. With lyrics like "Welcome to the separation/
Say goodbye to your generation/ New era of domination /Life is chaos wrapped in violence." its hard to contain yourself from letting loose.
The album definitely has the Chimaira feel, but compared to the last album The Age of Hell it sounds different. Despite that though, this album still kicks some major ass and sounds amazing. Plus, I would love to see Chimaira play some of these songs in Connecticut next time they visit.
The closing track, Love Soaked Death, is a great way to close the album. You've got an amazing song with a great question, "Is this Death?" But then get corrected that it is indeed "Love Soaked Death." It also has an amazing fade out, so you could never go wrong with it.
Final Verdict: 7/10
Reasoning: It's a great album, but in comparison to the last one which contained catchier songs it just might be crushed in the battle to be the best. It's a great album to listen to when you're trying to get pumped up and some of the songs are fantastic and deliver beautifully but a lack of clean vocals as well as a 2-year wait I was expecting more. Regardless, I am still a fan of Chimaira.