Review - Chamber Music

Coal Chamber was one of the best new breaking bands on the hard-music scene two years ago. The band's self-titled debut was a tasty slab of rough cuts -- think White Zombie without the electronics -- and the Chamber was knocking 'em dead at OzzFest. So why then does the promising group fall victim to the "sophomore-effort curse?"

The fire and rage from the first CD is gone; instead we get substandard crunch-by-committee, drowning in glossy production. Coal Chamber's metalized cover of Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey"-- featuring vocals by Ozzy Osbourne -- is as blatant a stab at radio play as they come. But the addition of metal's Papa Smurf doesn't help this tune out one bit. In fact, it gets my vote for worst cover song of 1999.