Chamber Music Alaska

Chamber Music

Coal Chamber

Roadrunner Records, 1999

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 09/07/1999

Sometimes, I do feel like the years I spent away from the metalscene have left me at a severe disadvantage when looking at today'smetal scene. I missed out on the time when artists like MarilynManson came up from the ranks; all I get to see is themulti-platinum, parent-angering end result.

So I do feel like an outsider when I listen to an album like Chamber Music, the latest from Coal Chamber. On one side, Ido hear music that is constantly pushing the envelope and causes meto smile. On the other hand, I sometimes hear tracks that fail toresolve themselves in my mind, leaving a rather cluttered picturebehind.

Like a lot of bands I've heard of late, Coal Chamber seems tomix the power of bands like Pantera with the fury of Nine InchNails. The resulting sound isn't techno, but it isn't quite metal,either. And while many bands are working on perfecting this sound,Coal Chamber - vocalist B. Dez Fafara, guitarist Meegs Rascon,bassist Rayna Foss Rose and drummer Mike "Bug" Cox - do seem tomake themselves unique in the crowd.

After the theme-inspired opener "Mist," Coal Chamber kick thingsinto overdrive with songs like "El Cu Cuy," "Untrue," "What's InYour Mind" and "Not Living". Tracks like these not only areentertaining, but they make the listener think about the boundariesof heavy metal as they know them - and challenge them to expandthose boundaries. Granted, it's a little jarring the first timearound, but revolution always is.