So! A new Chimaira album. Always an exciting time. But also quite an important one for the band who have had a lot to prove since their last disc, 'The Age of Hell' came out in 2011. This is, as you'll have guessed, to do with the lineup changes that came over the last few years.
So, the band now consists of Mark, alongside new (at least in the studio) members Beard, Euphemism, Nuts, Dairy and Poland. The first thing you notice is that the juddering, Fear Factory-esque riff/kick patterns are largely gone. The band have put away the precision drill and replaced it with a sledgehammer - a BIG fucking sledgehammer. The album lurches from song to song, less worried about impressing us with technicality and more concerned with bludgeoning you until all that's left is blood, which ironically is the name of the first single. Planning ahead guys, A+ for that!
I opted to contribute to the campaign for the disc and got the extended Fan Edition, which comes with a hefty wallop of extra tracks, including a re-working of 'The Dehumanizing Process' from 2003's 'The Impossiblity of Reason'. It's a lot slower than the original, and a lot heavier for it. It's hard to pick individual tracks to highlight, although title track is one of my favourites.
My criticisms are few, the main one being that the kick drum feels a little soft for a disc with this much kick drum. It would have been nice to have a punchier, 'metal' kick sound. I wasn't hugely keen on the remix of 'Wrapped in Violence' either, but then electronic remixes aren't really my thing.
To conclude, the album is definitely Chimaira, through and through. And it's a good one, so don't be a dick about the last two years and go buy the damn thing already.
9/10