''The Impossibility of Reason'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by the American heavy metal band

Chimaira Chimaira () is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the group was a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene. The band's name is derived from the word Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek myth ...

, released on May 13, 2003. It is the first album to feature

Matt DeVries Matthew DeVries (born January 28, 1977) is the former rhythm guitarist in the heavy metal band Chimaira and the former bassist in the metal band Fear Factory. During his time with Chimaira, he, along with Rob Arnold (the lead guitarist) and M ...

on rhythm guitar. The album is a noted for its

groove metal Groove metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music that began in the early 1990s. The genre achieved success in the 1990s and continued having success in the 2000s. Inspired by thrash metal and traditional heavy metal, groove metal features raspy ...

-oriented sound, especially when compared to the band's previous releases which were considered closer to the

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, sometimes called aggro-metal) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, alternative rock, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu met ...

genre. Upon release, it debuted No. 117 on the ''Billboard'' 200 charts. To date the album has sold around 200,000 copies in the US. A

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

version of ''The Impossibility of Reason'' was released in 2004, which included a bonus disc called ''Reasoning the Impossible''. The song "Army of Me" appeared on the ''

Freddy vs. Jason ''Freddy vs. Jason'' is a 2003 American slasher film directed by Ronny Yu and written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift. It is a crossover between the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' and ''Friday the 13th'' series, being the eighth installment i ...

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Production

''The Impossibility of Reason'' was recorded with six-string guitars in

drop C tuning Drop C tuning is an alternative guitar tuning where at least one string has been lowered to a C, but most commonly refers to CGCFAD, which can be described as D tuning with a 6th string dropped to C, or drop D tuning transposed down a whole st ...

, a standard that future albums would follow, and deemphasizes

electronic effects An electronic effect influences the structure, reactivity, or properties of molecule but is neither a traditional bond nor a steric effect. In organic chemistry, the term stereoelectronic effect is also used to emphasize the relation between th ...

. Rob Arnold later explained that the higher tuning allows "much more clarity and power to the attack" in comparison to the murky drop A tuning used on '' Pass Out of Existence''. Thus, the album has been considered heavier than Chimaira's 2001 debut, yet still bears a melodic side. Vocalist Mark Hunter noted the album's musical growth and credited the influence of band's they toured with. He also elaborated that while the sampling featured in their previous album was "ear candy," it would be more focused to "enhance the music" on their 2003 effort. Chimaira would continue their progression of heaviness with future albums. In an interview, Hunter described ''The Impossibility of Reason'' and compared it with the band's prior release: :"With the new album we give the listener a feeling like they can’t breathe, the songs pound you continuous. The breakdowns in the songs don’t go all soft, but stay on the heavy level." The production of ''The Impossibility of Reason'' was filmed and would be included on the '' Dehumanizing Process'' DVD in October 2004.

Touring and promotion

Chimaira toured with the likes of

In Flames In Flames is a Swedish heavy metal band, formed by guitarist Jesper Strömblad in Gothenburg in 1990. Alongside At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered the genres known as Swedish death metal and melodic death metal. During t ...

, Soilwork and

Unearth Unearth is an American metalcore band from Boston, Massachusetts. Formed in 1998, the group has released seven studio albums. History Early career (1998–2002) Unearth was formed by Trevor Phipps, Buz McGrath, Ken Susi, Mike Rudberg, a ...

before joining

Ozzfest Ozzfest is an annual music festival tour of the United States and sometimes Europe and later Japan, featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Sharon Osbourne and her husband Ozzy Osbourne, both ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. They also performed on European Road Rage 2003 with

Spineshank Spineshank was an American metal band from Los Angeles. The band has released four studio albums: '' Strictly Diesel'' (1998), ''The Height of Callousness'' (2000), ''Self-Destructive Pattern'' (2003), and ''Anger Denial Acceptance'' (2012). Hi ...

and

Ill Niño Ill Niño (stylized as ill niño) is an American metal band formed in Union City, New Jersey, in 1998 by drummer and percussionist Dave Chavarri. They have released seven studio albums, two EPs and one compilation album, totaling in over 1.3 mi ...

before heading to Japan and Australia, the latter being firsts for Chimaira. In early 2003, a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was filmed for the melodic "Down Again" which aired on ''

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

''. By autumn that same year, a video for "Pure Hatred" debuted and gained substantial airplay on ''

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...

''. With its intense, anthemic chorus, the song became a concert favorite with significant crowd participation.Becky, Collin
BacStagePass.com
(August 7, 2003). Retrieved on 12-04-10. On November 16, 2004, "Pure Hatred" was also featured in the ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...

'' episode " Exploding House" during the "talking to plants" segment.

Track listing

Notes

*Tracks 1-2 taken from the pre-production sessions for ''The Impossibility of Reason'' (November 2002) **Produced and mixed by

Ben Schigel Switched (previously depicted as Sw1tched) was a nu metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. History Forming in 1999 as Sw1tch, the band played shows around Ohio and released a demo entitled ''Fuckin' Demo''. The songs "Anymore", "Wrongside", "Inside" ...

**Co-produced by Mark Hunter and

Rob Arnold Rob Arnold (born January 3, 1980) is an American musician, best known for performing as the lead guitarist of the metal band Chimaira and later the rhythm guitarist of the death metal band Six Feet Under. In an interview with Roadrunner Records ...

*Tracks 3-4 are out-takes from the '' Pass Out of Existence'' album sessions (April 2001) **Track 4 was recorded as part of a tribute cover album for

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...

**Produced and mixed by

Andrew Murdock Andrew Murdock (born January 24, 1962), also known as Mudrock, is an American record producer specializing in rock and metal genres. He is best known for producing Godsmack's ''Godsmack'' and '' Awake'' albums. More recently, Murdock has prod ...

*Tracks 5-9 taken from various pre-production sessions for '' Pass Out of Existence'' (March 2000–February 2001) **Produced and mixed by

* Tracks 10-11 recorded live off the board at The Glass House, Pomona, CA (December 7, 2003) ** (Un)mixed by Tom Kubik

Personnel

Chimaira * Mark Hunter – vocals, guitar on "Implements of Destruction" *

– lead guitar *

Andols Herrick Chimaira () is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the group was a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene. The band's name is derived from the word Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek myth ...

– drums *

– rhythm guitar * Chris Spicuzza – keyboards,

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

Jim LaMarca Chimaira () is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in August 1998, the group was a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal scene. The band's name is derived from the word Chimera, a monstrous creature in Greek myth ...

– bass guitar Additional musicians *Jason Hager – rhythm guitar (''Reasoning the Impossible'', Tracks 3-9) *Ricky Evensend – live drums (''Reasoning the Impossible'', Tracks 10-11) Production * Ben Schigel – producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

* Mark Hunter – producer * Rob Arnold – producer * Colin Richardson – mixing * Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound * Garrett Zunt – artwork

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Impossibility Of Reason, The Chimaira albums 2003 albums Roadrunner Records albums