With all due respect to Mark Hunter — a talented vocalist, extraordinary Tweeter, and Chimaira’s lone original member — this footage of three new[ish] members of Chimaira rehearsing together is about as exciting as this story’s headline makes it sound. While some would say this is “rehearsal” footage, it’d probably be a lot more accurate to call it “learning” footage. It looks like Daath’s Emil Werstler — Chimaira’s senior-most member with a 10-month silver coin – is running the show here and teaching the two new guys how to play Chimaira songs. These guys are all talented musicians and I’m sure the finished product will sound great, but at what point in the mass exodus of members does a band stop being that band? Watching a bunch of men in different bands learn songs so they can go up on stage and pretend to be some other band is just weird! On the other hand, if some kid who knows nothing of all the member swaps goes to a show and loves it, does it even matter? Does life even matter?? Aren’t we all gonna die eventually anyway?!?!?

Maybe Hunter is trying to go the Chris Barnes route; shit, Barnes has been doing it for years and Six Feet Under are still going strong… so I guess fans really don’t care. Speaking of Six Feet Under, former members of Chimaira just wrapped up their Six Feet Under cover band recording sessions and are currently in the mixing process! Now the former members of Six Feet Under just need to join up with Eyal Levi in a reconsituted version of Daath and this three-band circle jerk will be complete.

-VN

If I’m not mistaken, Chimaira vocalist Mark Hunter has now been interviewed for MetalSucks more times than any other musician — which is fine by me. Not only is he one of my favorite front men all of modern metal, but I always come away from these interviews feeling like I actually learned something about a band I love. In a world where it increasingly feels like too many folks are giving what I’d call “paint by numbers” answers to interview questions, Hunter’s willingness to be so sincere is always refreshing.

And, besides, Chimaira’s new album, The Age of Hell (out today on eOne — stream it here, buy physical copies here, or download it from iTunes here), is not only totally awesome, but it arrives admist a flurry of drama and controversy, as the band changed fifty percent of the line-up in the intervening years since 2009′s The Infection. So there was certainly plenty to discuss this go-’round!

After the jump, read the full transcript of my most recent chat with Hunter, in which he discusses those line-up changes, Hell‘s creation, the band’s upcoming tour plans, and much, much more.

Click to read more…

A couple of weeks ago, Chimaira debuted a new song, “Trigger Finger,” live. The audio quality of the inevitable fan-filmed bootleg was even crappier than the audio of most fan-filmed bootlegs, and it was hard to hear anything other than new drummer Austin D’Amond (also of Bleed the Sky fame).

So it’s kinda funny this new video of D’Amond running through the song at soundcheck actually offers a clearer (if still not nearly 100% perfect, or even 90%, 80%, or 70%) listen to “Trigger Finger.” And what I hear is a potent reminder of why I get so excited about new Chimaira albums — they just write the best fucking songs. The track already sounds like it has a strong hook and just oh so much groove… I keep thinking of the word “delicious.” I know that sounds ridiculous, but Chimaira music is delicious.

Chimaira’s new album, The Age of Hell, should be out later this summer on eOne.

-AR

[via Metal Underground]

We still don’t know when the new Chimaira album is coming out, or what it’s gonna be called, or, uh, very much else about it, to be honest. We do know that that band has a really, really excellent new line-up, though, and that said new line-up will be making their live debut next month, when they do a too-brief six date mini-tour. While new bassist Emil Werstler has played live with the band before, these shows will be the first for his Daath bandmate, Sean Z., and for new drummer Austin D’Amond (Bleed the Sky). So these shows should be pretty exciting.

Presumably, Chimaira will also use these concerts to show out some of their new material. And hopefully we get some official word on album release date soon.

In the meantime, here are the six tour dates, in case you somehow can’t read the poster above:

Click to read more…

The Elite, the new project featuring Chimaira guitarist Rob Arnold and Bleed the Sky drummer Austin D’Amond, has uploaded the second part of the mini-movie chronicling the making of their EP, WW3. Check it out below. I promise, it doesn’t all take place through the point of view of a bottle, just the first little bit. And if you haven’t seen it yet and need to catch up, check out part one here.

WW3 is out now, and if you like Chimaira, or Bleed the Sky, or any of what you heard in the above video, you should definitely check it out. In fact, here’s a link to where you can download it on iTunes for a whopping price of $4.95. You can afford that, you cheap fuckers.

-AR

Thanks: Kristoffer Infante

Remember last year, when I told you about The Elite, a new band featuring Chimaira guitarist Rob Arnold and Bleed the Sky drummer Austin D’Amond? Well, Mr. Arnold has now uploaded the first in what is apparently going to be a five-part mini-movie chronicling the creation of the band’s debut EP, WW3. Check it out below.

I can’t imagine that anyone who digs Chimaira wouldn’t also enjoy The Elite; I mean, the riffs are unmistakably Arnold. Check out The Elite here.

-AR

Thanks: Kristoffer Infante

I can’t keep all these fucking bands straight. Destroy the Runner and Haste the Day and Escape the Fate and Salt the Wound and blessthefall and Bleed the Sky and Scatter the Ashes and Clone the Fragile and Pierce the Veil and Remove the Veil and Kiss the Ass and every other “verb the noun” band – holy shit, guys, you gotta start coming up with names that will allow potheads like me to more easily distinguish you from one another. ‘Cause your music certainly ain’t doing the trick.

Although I do like Protest the Hero. And Poison the Well. And Swallow the Sun. So I guess there are exceptions to every rule. But still.

Wait… how did I get on this rant again?

Oh, yeah, Destroy the Runner.

So anyway, they broke up.

-AR

If you read this site regularly, you’re already aware that I’m a huge Chimaira fan. In fact, I pride myself on knowing way too much about them.

I guess I haven’t officially reached stalker status yet, though, because until I read this interview with Chimaira lead guitarist Rob Arnold, I had no idea that the dude had another band – The Elite.

Click to read more…

Headbanger’s Blog just debuted Bleed the Sky’s new video for the song “Sullivan.” They also have lead singer Noah Robinson’s thoughts of the making of the video, which was directed by MetalSucks approved headbanger auteur David Brodsky. Here’s an excerpt from Robinson:

“It was great filming the video with David Brodsky. He kept it very relaxed, not to mention that because we’re seasoned drinkers, he kept us stocked with the three cases of beer and a handle of Captain Morgan. That probably helped a bit!

“A funny thing we noticed was that guitarist Justin Warrick kept ritualistically brushing his hair. All the behind-the-scenes videos we shot for ourselves always had Justin brushing his golden locks somewhere in the background. HE NEVER STOPPED. He even tried to brush his hair between takes, but Brodsky told him no, but that didn’t mean Justin didn’t keep reaching for his brush.”

Head over to Headbanger’s Blog to check out the rest.

Now here’s the video… I’ve mentioned in the past how much I dig the rhythmic editing of Allison Woest, Brodsky’s producer/partner/sometimes editor, and while I’m not 100% certain that Woest edited this clip, it certainly has her fingerprints all over it – note how many of the cuts happen right on the beat every time (the first ten or fifteen seconds of the video are the most obvious example of this technique, but it does repeat throughout).

-AR

It’s been more than two years since Bleed the Sky – a second generation American New Wave band notable mostly for how much they sound like old Chimaira – released an album, so I’d kind of assumed they’d broken up. Apparently not. Well, good for them for trudging on. Here’s the video for their best song, “Minion.”

[kml_flashembed movie="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" width="430" height="346" fvars="m=3355101;type=video" wmode="transparent" /]

Now that I think of it, this band sounds an awful lot like Bloodjinn, too.

-AR