Chimaira - Spread The Infection
Before I say anything else about this album I have to say one thing, The Infection includes one of the best Metal instrumental tracks of all time “The Heart Of It All“. Big call I know, but I haven’t heard anything that has impressed me this much since Metallica’s “Orion” it is an absolute Metal masterpiece. It has an awesome clean guitar intro that is a David Gilmour meets Metallica with strings backing and Kirk Hammett style melodies flowing over the top before launching into a fierce Metal riff after a couple of minutes. It has a lot of dynamics and changes which I think prompted the Metallica comparison. The drumming is amazing on this album, it really makes the riffs ultra tight and makes this track in particular sound amazing.

The opening track on the album “The Venom Inside” is also quite an epic sounding track with a minute intro which sounds very theatrical with multiple layered guitars but then kicks into one of the best riffs on the album with its whammy dive and odd harmony before switching to the crazy double-kick chorus. Great way to open the album. Another of my favourite tracks from the album is “Impending Doom” which begins with a throbbing keyboard bass sound and mysterious sounding effects creating an eerie feel. I really like the main riff which uses contrary motion to create extra depth and sounds very cool. All the tracks sound like they would be fun to play live, except for the drummer whose legs must take an absolute beating every gig! Another great track is “Coming Alive” which has some cool solo riffs over the super fast chugging riff in the background.

I still really like the last album Resurrection but when you A/B tracks from Resurrection and The Infection you can hear the difference in production. Resurrection sounds a little flat in comparison, The Infection has so much depth, the guitars are panned hard and everything seems to have more space in the mix which is maybe due to them using Zeuss to mix the album after recording was complete. I’m not sure all of the tracks are necessarily better, Resurrection was a tough album to follow as there were so many great tracks, but it is definitely a strong release.

The guitar playing on this album is as always brilliant, I reviewed Rob Arnold’s instructional DVD recently which gave me great insight into Rob’s playing and technique. He is a very precise player with great picking accuracy, worth checking that video out he also comes across as a very down to earth nice bloke. This album it is a monster release and if you like Metal I highly recommend it.

Chimaira official site
Spread The Infection microsite