Coal Chamber Music:

		List Price: $24.98		Label: Roadrunner Records Salesrank: 336351 Released: September 27, 2005
		Our Price: $13.75
		Used Price: $7.33
		Media: Audio CD

Coal Chamber Reviews:
"Try to remember, try to forget"
2008-01-10 - If you're like me and no matter what you do, you can't escape your nu-metal past, then you will likely appreciate this 2005 re-issue of Coal Chamber's infamous debut. The meat-headed lyrics, the recycled guitar riffs, the cheesy psuedo-goth style, it's all well preserved in this little nu-metal oddity from way back 1997. Padded out with a bonus DVD, featuring two full-length concerts, bonus tracks, brand new artwork and liner notes, if you actually still enjoy this album, then the double-dip is actually justified. For what it's worth, this is actually a really well-done package.

First things first: The album itself. Owing a lot to the production style of Ross Robinson (Korn, Limp Bizkit), Coal Chamber's debut was a low-fi, rough around the edges, almost urgent affair. Cutting their teeth in the industry, the production team of Jay Baumgardner (who would later go on to produce countless hit rock records) and Jay Gordon (who went on to form the band Orgy) do their very best to bring out what was good about Coal Chamber in the first place: boldness and volume. As simplistic as they were, they were very primitive and instantly gratifying. Hear one of these songs on the radio today, and you're compelled to turn it up as loud as possible, no matter how cheesy it really is. Even though frontman Dez Fafara's vocals were (and still are) unique to the genre, it was really guitarist Meegs Rascon's riffs that brought it all together. Despite obvious Korn plagarism, Rascon busts out some of the fattest and catchiest riffs and hooks in nu-metal history. Even still, it seems that the dumber Fafara's lyrics got, the better the songs were, as evidenced by such nu-metal classics as "Loco" and "Big Truck." Sure, the band did get around to writing some good tunes in their time, and "Pig" and "My Frustration" are both excellent examples of the band actually coming together to create something remotely interesting and unique as the songs actually still sound good today. Other catchy numbers like "Clock" and "Sway" show that the band did have a sense of fun, behind all the ridiculous posturing. Sequenced together, the songs all sound like a trip through a rather colorful and disturbing nu-metal funhouse, via 1997. For added value, this collection tacks on six bonus tracks to the original album, but if you already own "Giving The Devil His Due," they're nothing new.

As for the DVD, as mentioned before, the main course consists of two full-length concerts from 1996 and 1999, respectively. The latter concert, in support of their second album "Chamber Music" is the more entertaining one, as there is a lot more material to go around, and the band sounds much tighter. Both are lacking severely in the production values department, though. Looking like the average YouTube amateur bootleg, the picture is at times blurry and grainy and the sound quality leaves much to be desired. But who cares? Coal Chamber, if nothing else, were good for a cheap thrill, and that's what these concerts deliver. It's fun to watch the oh-so-metal Dez Fafara hop around the stage, clad in see-thru, fishnet shirts and leather pants while bassist Rayna Foss spins around in circles in skimpy outfits that provided half of this band's appeal in it's day. Also on the DVD are two different videos for "Loco." One is a live performance from Ozzfest 1997 and the other is the rarely scene music video which is actually quite entertaining and ceases to get old. So, really, the DVD is where the meat and potatoes are. The liner notes, which has input from all four band members (who supposedly hate each other nowadays) and the producers recounts the making-of the album and the early history of the band. For all the cash-ins Roadrunner Records has put out there, this is one of the better, and if you still rock this album out when no one's looking, you will definitely appreciate this slice of late 90's nu-metal cheese. Mmmm, delicious.



Coal Chamber 25th Anniversary Series
2005-09-29 - I never thought I would be writing a Coal Chamber review again! I was very excited when I heard about this re-release/re-issue (or whatever you wanna call it). If you are a Coal Chamber fan you are going to love this.

Let's talk about the artwork. The front cover is the same, but the added the "Parental Advisory" sign on it. As you would remeber the orginal version didn't. This Coal Chamber cd comes in a nice digipack.

When you open the digipack up. There are some nice new pictures in here that I haven'tseen before. The cd booklet is in the middle. Left side is the music CD and the Right is the DVD.

If you look at the cd booklet it doesn't look like anything new, same pic as you seen before. Once you open up the booklet you don't see lyrics, not just yet. You got the Bio of Coal Chamber and much more! Aslo in the booklet there are a lot of different colored pics. Most of the pics was not in the original CD Booklet.

You might have seen the back, with the Bonus Trackson the back. The original CD came with 14 songs, and this cd isloaded with 20! You got "Headstones And The Walking Dead", "Big Truck (Hand-On-Wheel Mix), Pig Demo, Sway Demo(I kinda like it better than the oringal version my self), Unspoild Demo, and Loco Demo.

Now if your a hardcore Coal Chamber fan you are prob. thinking "what the hell" because you might already heard those songs or have it on the "Giving The Devil His Dues" CD. But Don't worry as you all know there is more!

Now to my fav. part of this digipack! The DVD! On the back it says "Includes 2 live concerts from 1996 and 1999. Don't worry its not two songs its more like 12. I don't remeber the exact number but its prob around 20/30 min or so. You also got a Live Video of Loco from Ozzfest '96. And to top all that off, the Video for Loco! Now you can delete that crappy version of the "Loco" Video off your comp and have a great quality version of it!

With everything this digipack came with I am very pleased! I loved the first Coal Chamber CD, and this just makes it better! It's worth the price! I do not regret it at all! Also don't forget if you wanna hear other Remix's, Demos, and B-Sides check out Coal Chamber's "Giving The Devil His Dues"