Honestly, nobody saw this coming. Nobody expected this- a true contender for the category of the best albums of the year. Better believe it. You have three strong personalities leaving the band and three others coming on board, you have a slow and sometimes tedious album to be followed up and at least but not at last you have some serious internal tension in the band. And yet Chimaira managed to produce one amazing album. Rarely does a record demand so much attention from start to finish as this. Here filthy, grunge –tinged riffs morph into tenacious blasts of controlled aggression of Fear Factory worthy of inclusion in the list of best releases this year. Matching this aggression with a creative songwriting, there’s completely different approach to management of some of the songs in this album (‘Time Is Running Out’, ‘Beyond The Grave’, ‘Born In Blood’). Alice In Chains anyone? No I’m not kidding. Listen to it carefully. As ‘The Age of Hell’s eponymous instrumental closing ‘Samsara’ subtly migrates from sparse, winding intricacies to crushing, dark and gloomy vibes decorated with raw and cutting guitar riffs, the result is undeniably huge left-hook to metal’s head. Not only this is a magnificent record, it’s also a reminder that one should never write bands like Chimaira off. Otherwise one might get stabbed in the back by surprise.