F*CK 3 PM: THERE’S A NEW CHIMAIRA SINGLE AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW

A big big BIG thanks to MetalSucks Maniacs Cincitucky and Shep, who just brought to my attention that Chimaira have jumped the gun and released a new single, “Secrets of the Dead,” hours before its scheduled release of 3 pm EST today (unless there’s something ELSE cool coming at 3 pm… but I assume this was the big surprise vocalist Mark Hunter promised us).

And hey, guess what? Chimaira didn’t disappoint. Mark Hunter told me when I interviewed him that this album is a little slower than we’re used to from the Cleveland sextet, and he wasn’t lying; this is some pure elephants marching to war shit.

And, as is always the case, the song doesn’t sound quite like anything we’ve heard Chimaira do before. Until a kind of metalcore-ish (but not in a bad way) breakdown at the end, it pretty much takes Chimaira’s death metal influence and pushes it to the forefront; I think it might be the Chimaira song most likely to win over the kinds of close-minded “purists” who usually shun this awesome, awesome band.

I’ll try to post more thoughts when I’ve had a chance to really digest the song. In the meantime, you can buy it for a dollar on iTunes, or just stream it on the band’s MySpace page.

The Infection will be released on April 21.

-AR