Throbbing with pure rage and twice as vicious as the demo, Years of Fire’s full-length debut sees original Chimaira guitarist Jason Hager, former Ascension frontman Chris Wood, and lead guitarist Cole Martinez form a new world-class wrecking crew.

Visceral Departure obliterates the barriers between metalcore and classic thrash, simultaneously deploying brute riffs and amped-up, squealing leads. The lucky label that snaps up Chimaira will do well to grab Years of Fire while it’s in town.

This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2006.