Wow! One year after the band’s demo debut Nothing But Illusions was released master Vishtasb has pupate himself and is now crawling out of his cocoon. And I say: this metamorphosis was worth it!
The one-man-project turned into a duo, added by Andrea D., responsible for synths, keys, arrangements and clean voices, this gent has already left a distinct mark on CHIMERA’s material.
Musical matrix is still black metal, pointed out by the singing of Vishtasb. But what was built upon this frame burst bonds. Four unbelievably wild and raving tracks, furious and intensive, exploding in high-energetic eruptions. That’s bloody crazy! Strange breaks and freaky keyboard lines and samples get twisted with groovy death metal-like guitars and even oriental splashes as in What Lies Behind. A wild blend of stylistic elements and influences run throughout this record. Downright crushing highlight has to be Dell’io e la percezione dio. Killer riffs and Andrea’s full clean voice activities add an infernal drive to the song Arcturus could not have done better. Me gobsmacked!
Closing instrumental When Mankind Abandoned Earth For Cosmos is a new interpretation of the debut’s instrumental The Last Illusion Dies.
Of course, LIefe (by the way a word-play of “lie” and “life”) is still lacking of a high-quality realization of this infernal nightmare. Some samples are just unsuitable, out of tunes and arrangements are at times … inhomogeneous. LIefe appears quite gruffy sometimes. But the production is much better than on the predecessor.
Anyways, CHIMERA are at the crossroads, turning into a moth or a butterfly. Both ways are possible and depend on the musical development and skills of both gents. I, of course, prefer the butterfly ;) LIefe kills!