Everything about Chimaira screams "brutal." The simple, yet graphic, blood-soaked CD cover; the bios that repeatedly claim "NEW WAVE OF AMERICAN HEAVY METAL"; the doom-and-gloom band photos; and, oh yeah, the hardcore metal screaming through the speakers. Produced by Sw1tched frontman Ben Schigel, Chimaira have made an effort to bring forth the elemental foundations of heavy metal: machine gun drumming and blistering guitars. The entire album is down-tuned and less aggressively electronic than their previous, Pass Out Of Existence. This definitely leans more towards hardcore than nu-metal.

The digital media paranoia beast has reared its ugly head, however. I'll preface this by saying: I understand WHY they did this. 'This' being that every track on this promo copy is "stamped" with a voiceover during some innocuous part of a song (usually a guitar solo) that states the album name and release date. It's meant to deter copies from being made of the CD. That's great, I'll try to ignore it for the sake of writing the review, but that's a daunting task when you listen to music as loudly as I do.

The first album claimed to be "studies in the misery of human condition; each one a tale of the pain we cause ourselves and each other." Apparently this album carries that torch further, with the opening track being a cathartic, post-break-up song that growls "I feel better now, now that you're gone." Piano and a melodic chorus during "Down Again" prove that you don't always have to scream to make a point. Melodic moments on songs such as "Overlooked," "Eyes of a Criminal," "Down Again," and "Crawl" showcase Chimaira's ability to mix up their songs away from straight screamed anguish. As with most hardcore/screaming-type bands, there's a monotony to the vocals that requires intstrumentation and strong song structure to overcome.

Then again, there's "Pure Hatred." When the chorus is simply, "I hate everyone," there's not really room to question their intentions. "Pictures In The Gold Room" is growling insanity with an almost Alice In Chains-esque moment, the whispered-sung-screamed "Crawl" is the most low-key track, while "Stigmurder" and "Eyes of a Criminal" have them giving into their primal urges- and guitar solos. Most intriguing is the track that closes out the album, "Implements of Destruction." You get a minute of soothing keys and acoustic guitar, and then it kicks in with an epic power metal instrumental. The last minute or two seemed pointless, but overall, a good way to end the CD.

You can catch Chimaira in action on the second half of this year's Ozzfest. See their website for more tour dates.

www.chimaira.com