The Chase (Manafest album)

The Chase is the fifth studio album by the Christian rapper Manafest. It was released on March 30, 2010, under BEC Recordings, in association with Uprok Records.

The single "Avalanche" off the release has sold 50,000 copies as of September 1, 2011.

Critical reception
The album was met with generally positive and praiseworthy reviews with many calling it Manafest's best album yet.

Wayne Myatt of Jesus Freak Hideout positively highlighted the album and stated that "The Chase is an enjoyable album with so much variety that it never seems to become tedious. Releases like this one don't come around too often, so if you crave rock and rap, it doesn't get better than this." Indie Vision Music gave the album similar approval by saying "this is an outstanding album by Manafest, and his best work to date. If you liked his older albums and his fusion of rock and hip-hop then this album is exactly what you need. Manafest brings some big guitars to the party that do not disappoint." Alex Henderson of AllMusic went on to say "this is a respectable, if less than groundbreaking, contribution to rap-rock and rapcore."

On the flipside, in a more moderate review, Rapzilla noted "With the release of The Chase, it seems like the artist has finally become comfortable in his own skin, categorizing his project as rock rather than rap. And I'd say he's somewhere on the spectrum between Linkin and limp kinda like Fort Minor. This may disappoint some of his longtime fans, but it will more than likely gain him far more fans than he will lose." Finally, Tyler Hess of Christian Music Zine frankly stated "The Chase is Manafest’s fourth label release and it appears that he has learned to mix up his hip hop with some rock, some boy band ballads and most importantly enough diversity to keep an entire album interesting enough throughout, with a pace fast enough that The Chase feels like its over before it's really begun. Maybe it isn't really fitting with the trends, going back in time instead of pushing forward, but if you can let that go then you can probably still enjoy the latest from Manafest."

Awards
The album won "Rap/Hip Hop Album of the Year" at the 32nd annual GMA Canada Covenant Awards. The following year, the song "Avalanche" off the release won "Rap/Hip Hop Song of the Year".

The album also received a nomination in the category of "Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year" for the Juno Awards of 2011.

Singles
In early January 2010, "No Plan B" was released as a single, while the song "Avalanche" was released as a single on March 12.

"Avalanche" reached No. 4 on the CHR charts in September, 2010. This was followed by "Bring the Ruckus" which reached No. 1 on the CHR charts in August, 2011.

"No Plan B" reached No. 1 on ChristianRock.Net's charts, while "Bring the Ruckus" made it into the Top 5 as well.

Besides these, the singles "Fire in the Kitchen" and "Every Time You Run" were also released off the album.

Personnel
- Numbers in parentheses symbolize track numbers
 * Manafest - lead vocals, executive producer
 * Trevor McNevan - additional vocals on track 2, 4 & 8
 * Dustin Anstey - additional vocals, guitars, bass, drums: track 10 & 11
 * Kenta Koie (of Crossfaith) - additional vocals on track 12 (Japan edition)
 * Adam Messinger - backing vocals (1, 3, 5, 6, 12), all instrumentation (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12), additional instrumentation (3, 5), mixing on all tracks except 10 & 11
 * Josh Macintosh - guitars, bass, drums: track 3 & 5
 * Tyson Kuteyi - keyboards, additional drum programming, mixing: track 10 & 11
 * Phil Demetro - mastering
 * Jeff Carver - A&R
 * Melanie Greenwood - art direction, graphic design, photography
 * Chris Stacey - photography