Chamber Music (1999) ( )

Product Summary Label: Uni/roadrunner UPC: 00016861865924 Release Date: 9/7/1999 Buy.com Sku: 60506930 Item#: MTYHTC Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Mist ~ Coal Chamber 2. Tragedy ~ Coal Chamber 3. El Cu Cuy ~ Coal Chamber 4. Untrue ~ Coal Chamber 5. Tyler's Song ~ Coal Chamber 6. What's In Your Mind? ~ Coal Chamber 7. Not Living ~ Coal Chamber 8. Shock The Monkey - (Excerpt, with Ozzy Osbourne) ~ Coal Chamber 9. Burgundy ~ Coal Chamber 10. Entwined ~ Coal Chamber 11. Feed My Dreams ~ Coal Chamber 12. My Mercy ~ Coal Chamber 13. No Home ~ Coal Chamber 14. Shari Vegas ~ Coal Chamber 15. Notion ~ Coal Chamber 16. Anything But You ~ Coal Chamber   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Coal Chamber: B. Dez Fafara (vocals); Meegs Rascon (guitar, keyboards, background vocals); Rayna Foss Rose (bass); Mike "Bug" Cox (drums). Additional personnel: E. Blue (vocals, keyboards); Ozzy Osbourne, Aimee Echo (vocals); Amir Derakh (keyboards, Micro-Moog synthesizer, percussion); Josh Abraham (keyboards, programming); Troy Van Leeuwen, Jay Baumgardner, Jay Gordon (keyboards); Brian Virtue, Anthony Valcic, Phil Western (programming); Georgie The Pug, DJ Lethal. Recorded at Long View Farms, North Brookfield, Massachusetts and Westlake Audio, Los Angeles, California. In retrospect, White Zombie was one of the most influential metal bands of the '90s -- their breakthrough album, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, relied more on camp theatrics than catchy melodies or guitar riffs, and the follow-up, Astro-Creep 2000, featured an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production that camouflaged the simplicity of the music. Like many of the more popular alternative metal bands of the late '90s, Coal Chamber owe something to White Zombie's musical approach, often relying on noise, texture, and sheer aggression to put their music across, and sometimes neglecting craft in the process. In following up their popular yet somewhat uneven debut, Coal Chamber follows the White Zombie blueprint to a tee on its second album, Chamber Music, expanding the production palette to include electronic/industrial sounds, a bit of updated goth (i.e., more by way of Marilyn Manson than Bauhaus), and even a few orchestrations. In pure sonic terms, all of this means that Chamber Music is a better listen than its predecessor, and since it packs just as much of a wallop, it can be seen as a step forward. In another sense, however, it's something of a holding pattern, because even though the band's sound has grown more eclectic, they don't show significant growth as songwriters. Coal Chamber is still plagued by unmemorable guitar riffs that ride one note, or the same two chords, for far too long, and they simply aren't rhythmically interesting or complex enough to take this approach repeatedly. Plus, in the wake of Orgy's successful cover of New Order's "Blue Monday," there's yet another inexplicable alt-metal cover of an '80s pop song, this time Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey" (performed with special guest Ozzy Osbourne). It's not an incredibly catchy version of the song, and there doesn't seem to be a logical reason for choosing it, which makes it seem like trend-hopping. All of this is not to say that Chamber Music won't appeal to the band's fans -- after all, Coal Chamber is just as hard-hitting as ever, so anyone who liked the first record will certainly like this one too. It just would have been nice to have a little more musical substance behind the blustering intensity. ~ Steve Huey In retrospect, White Zombie was one of the most influential metal bands of the '90s -- their breakthrough album, La Sexorcisto: Devil Music, Vol. 1, relied more on camp theatrics than catchy melodies or guitar riffs, and the follow-up, Astro-Creep 2000, featured an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production that camouflaged the simplicity of the music. Like many of the more popular alternative metal bands of the late '90s, Coal Chamber owe something to White Zombie's musical approach, often relying on noise, texture, and sheer aggression to put their music across. In following up their debut, Coal Chamber follows the White Zombie blueprint to a tee on its second album, Chamber Music, expanding the production palette to include electronic/industrial sounds, a bit of updated goth (i.e., more by way of Marilyn Manson than Bauhaus), and even a few orchestrations. In pure sonic terms, all of this means that Chamber Music is a better listen than its predecessor, and since it packs just as much of a wallop, it can be seen as a step forward. Plus, in the wake of Orgy's successful cover of New Order's "Blue Monday," there's yet another inexplicable alt-metal cover of an '80s pop song, this time Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey" (performed with special guest Ozzy Osbourne). ~ Steve Huey Producer: Josh Abraham Engineer: Chad Fridirici; Brian McIve Musical Guests Ozzy Osbourne E. Blue Aimee Echo Amir Derakh Jay Gordon Georgie The Pug DJ Lethal   Compilation Appearances Bride Of Chucky Heavy Metal 2000 (Bonus Tracks) (Limited Edition) (Explicit Version) Scorpion King Resident Evil   Technical Info Release Date : 09/07/1999 Original Release Date : 1999 Catalog ID : 618 659 Label : Roadrunner Records (USA) Number of Discs : 1 Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00016861865924   Professional Reviews Alternative Press (11/99, pp.93,96) - 3 out of 5 - "...sound infinitely more comfortable as a band....Underlain with eerie melody and a dark tunefulness, CHAMBER MUSIC sees the group indulging in their glam/goth influences much more than they did in the past..."    Product Image