Chimaira - Year of the Snake

 Groove Metals finest, Chimaira are back again with another single from their soon to be released from their sixth album, The Age of Hell. This time the Cleveland sextet deliver a pounding to eardrums in the form of Year of the Snake.
 Now, plenty of times I have heard a track from this band and fallen in love. Hell, I first bought "The Impossibility of Reason after watching a That Guy with the Glasses review of the dreadful Uwe Boll video game adaptation Alone in the Dark. On hearing this wonderful metalcore breakdown in the background amongst the sounds of gunfire, screaming monsters and Doug Walker complaining, I immediately looked at the film's soundtrack and went through every song listed until I found the one matching that beautiful sound, revealing itself to be Down Again. Thus, I immediately bought The Impossibility of Reason, along with 2007's Resurrection. Yes, with every song, I immediatley went crazy and developed a wonderful fixation for them,
 With Year of the Snake, however, this kind of thing didn't happen. And I really don't know why. It has all the ingredients of a perfect Chimaira single. Powerful guitar breakdowns, a tense buildup which transcends into a killer fast riff. Even the guitar solo is made to feel incredibly trippy as a bonus, a feeling which may have also been assisted by the effects added to the video at that point. It should be amazing.
 And yet, I feel somewhat underwhelmed with it. And I don't know why. There just seems to be something missing. Maybe the feeling is caused due because the band feels a little incomplete since three members of the band left prior tho this albums release but this has never been a real problem I've had before plus I loved Trigger Finger and Born in Blood. This song just seems to not carry the same amount of passion I've seen from these guys before. There are some other small troubles I have with the song as well. Mainly the vocals Mark Hunter adopts in each pre-chorus and the whisper used at the very end. To me, this felt a little uncomfortable, but then, knowing Chimaira, this was probably the desired effect.
 Overall, Year of the Snake is a good Chimaira song. It clearly shows the band doing what they do best, yet it doesn't show them at their best. I really think this song needs a lot more than one listen for you to fall in love with it.