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COAL CHAMBER "Rivals" Napalm Records
Review by Matthew Haumschild
Websites
Line up
Coal Chamber is: Dez Fafara, Meegs Rascon, Mikey Cox, and Nadja
Peulen
New cohesion. One of the things I’ve always liked about Coal Chamber is that fact that each one of their albums sound completely different from another. Not many bands can really boast this as each bands new effort is compared with their previous ones. Coal Chamber’s history is a little more unique as the band virtually broke up for over a decade. The last time they were on tour, President George W Bush was in office and Dez Fafara stated in a few concerts that this was going to be the last Coal Chamber concert yadda yadda. Coal Chamber’s heyday was clearly between the years of 1996 and 1999, granted they two of their three albums during that timeframe and “Dark Days” was a just a monumental disappointment and clearly did not last the test of time. When Dez Fafara went off to do Devil Driver and left the rest of the band to fend for itself, it was probably the best thing the band did…break up. Nu-Metal to this day is still spoken with disdain because it is so completely different from the conventional metal that we know now that it has become the bastard step-child of metal and Coal Chamber, for better or for worse, were the leaders of this so-called nu-metal. Frankly, I’m surprised they made this album at all. Fafara in many interviews has stated he’d never go back to Coal Chamber that it was like going back to the 3rd grade while he was in high-school. Just to be very clear, Devil Driver and Coal Chamber are VERY different bands with very different dynamics and the two bands really can’t be compared. Aside from the singer, they have nothing in common.
On a personal level, Coal Chamber was one of my most favorite
bands as a teenager. Those first two albums indeed bring back a lot
of memories. Three of my most favorite shows I’ve ever seen involved
Coal Chamber. Coal Chamber at Ozzfest 97’, CC with Machine Head and
Pantera in 98’, and in that same year CC with Sevendust at First
Avenue. I still remember the first time I heard the band, I bought a
Ozzfest 96’ video tape (because Slayer and Sepultura were on it) and
I see this kid that wasn’t much older than I was, playing drums, and
this blond woman on bass, and this funny looking guitar player and
singer walk on stage playing “Loco.” And they tore it up! I’ve been
a fan since.
Fast forward to 2015, “Rivals,” a few things before I dive
into the music. The album cover sucks. I have to say that…it sucks.
Quite possibly one of the most uninspiring album covers I’ve ever
seen from a quasi-established band. I even put off listening to the
album because of it, which is a bad sign. After listening to the
album a dozen times now, I really wished they would have called the
album something else and came out with a better album cover. Shame
on you Napalm for some horrible marketing decisions!
“I.O.U. Nothing” should have been named “I Owe You Nothing,”
it would have sounded better. The song is actually smashing. The
song has that same drive that a mature band should have as their
opening track. It gets the blood pumping and immediately grabs the
listener’s attention and adds a catchy chorus that people could yell
to at a show. It’s a fun, almost upbeat metal song. What makes this
song even more unique, there’s guitar layering. I can’t recall a
time where Coal Chamber was ever creative in their guitar layering
while recording. It’s a bit refreshing.
By the first track I could tell Meegs and Mikey have this new
cohesion between them. They seem to play with the same magic they
had all those years ago. Mikey’s playing has also improved as well
playing a lot of beats…off-beat and playing very creatively which
shows off his advanced technique as a drummer. This is evident on
every track on the record.
There other songs worth noting are “Bad Blood Between Us,”
“Light In The Shadows,” Suffer In Silence,” and “Over My Head.”
“Over My Head” is such an awesome song but has the worst
ending ever! If I still had Pro-Tools I would edit out the last 30
seconds or so, it features this utterly pathetic person whining
“Over my head” over and over again. The song was so perfect
too! Catchy and heavy as hell! Everything was going so well with
this song and is easily the best song on the whole album, but the
ending kinda of ruined it. I still listen to it and change the track
at the 3:00 minute mark.
Overall, I love it. If you can put up with an awful album
cover and a few songs where you wonder why the recorded them in the
first place (Dumpster Dive & Orion), then by all means, get this
album. It’s as good as “Chamber Music” is and I’m happy I bought
this one, I think you will be too.
9/10 Just so we’re keeping score, Coal Chamber’s first album would have been rated 10/10, I give that to very few albums.
Matthew Haumschild
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