CHIMAIRA frontman Mark Hunter has revealed to Metal Insider that the band is "really deep" into the songwriting process for the follow-up to 2011's "The Age Of Hell" for a tentative summer release via eOne Music. "We have twelve demos written and we've actually gone into the studio and demoed it professionally instead of just a standard computer/Pro Tools kind of thing," he said. "We're getting ready to enter the studio in February and make a new album."

He added: "2011 sucked. [laughs] This year's been all about rebuilding and we got a chance to do overseas. Our first show with the new line-up was at Soundwave in Australia in front of 10,000 people. It was really nice to have to go through such a terrible year and just kind of stand on top of a mountain and go, 'Wow, OK, we got out of it, and we're here, we got a band, we sound great, and we can move forward.' So this year has been restructuring the entire business from the ground up, realigning ourselves with new teams; be it management, agent, merchandise companies, everything from the whole ground up. In my opinion, the only way to move forward was to rebuild the whole thing from the bottom up.

"We want to come out with an album that not only captures the essence of what the fans have grown to know over the years, but we want to do something not only for the scene that's special, but for musicians out there, too. The musicianship in this band now is definitely on the next level. Everyone's pretty much a virtuoso at their instrument. Some of the stuff Emil [Werstler, guitar] was writing yesterday on this new song, I'm watching him play and I'm like, 'There are only going to be about a handful of people that'll able to play this!' [laughs] I'm imagining like a kid getting home, getting our new record and maybe they have the guitar, and they go sit down and try play along to it. And it's going to take them a very long time. [laughs]

"We couldn't be happier moving forward. It sucks that we had to go through hell — no pun intended — to get to where we are now. But I think all of us, coming from lessons of life, lessons of bands, lessons of the industry, we've lived and learned and now we have something completely different to prove."

CHIMAIRA will return to the stage for its first and only remaining U.S. appearance of 2012 on December 29. The 13th annual Chimaira Christmas will take place at Cleveland, Ohio's House Of Blues.

CHIMAIRA's current lineup is as follows:

Mark Hunter - Vocals
Matt Szlachta (DIRGE WITHIN) - Guitar
Jeremy Creamer (DAATH) - Bass
Emil Werstler (DAATH) - Guitar
Sean Zatorsky (DAATH) - Keyboards
Austin D'Amond (BLEED THE SKY, THE ELITE) - Drums

"The Age Of Hell" sold more than 7,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 54 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's previous CD, "The Infection", opened with 15,000 units back in April 2009 to land at No. 30. This figure was roughly in line with the first-week tally registered by CHIMAIRA's 2007 album, "Resurrection", which shifted 16,000 copies to enter the chart at No. 42.

"The Age Of Hell" was released in the U.S. on August 16, 2011 via eOne Music; in Germany on August 26; and in the United Kingdom, Australia and the rest of Europe on August 29 through Long Branch Records.