The newest from "Coal Chamber," "Chamber Music," oh so cleverly opens with just that, a dark string section pulling out a somber melody entitled "Mist" to set the mood, before the neurotic jerk and swing that is the trademark "Coal Chamber" tempo, interrupts with first song "Tragedy" and offers the observation (or revelation) "Cynics and Christ-Like Hypocrites, How they stick to you.like glue." About puddle deep, but the point is made.

Singer Dez displays his command over the whine, bark and all out retching scream, giving a generally creepy performance which achieves the intensity he's shooting for. A bit repetitive at times, although often this repetition works as a substitution for melodic hook and pulls off some of the charm. "Coal Chamber" is best when they find a hook within the repetition and balance it against the more melodic side they are quite capable of (witness the bass spine, crumble and crush and catchy chorus of "Untrue").

The guttural howls that back the chunky "What's In Your mind" are an unsettling and inventive texture. Purists of the heavy might disagree, but "Coal Chamber" are at their best when they are exploring the softer dynamics of their sound, but since they are known for being "heavy," a certain bludgeoning mentality must always prevail.

"Chamber Music" most definitely embraces the melody a bit more than their riff laden, and somewhat derivative, but catchier last effort. These more melodic interplays focus more on the accomplished bass playing abilities of Rayna Foss-Rose and she creates a very notable presence.

The hype track is the Peter Gabriel cover "Shock The Monkey," with guest vocals courtesy of the man himself, Ozzy Osbourne, and the disk is worth the price alone to hear Ozzy earnestly proclaim, "Don't you monkey with the monkey." It's fairly true to the original, with obviously darker and heavier overtones in the instrumentation. Cool stuff. Touted as one of ". . .The most anticipated albums of 1999," I'm not sure if this will hold up to the hype. It's decent and rocks justly and the production is as tasty as the genre gets, but it's held up by it's own shortcoming of having this feeling of trying too hard and over thinking some of the pieces. It's hard to pin point, but the whole listen leaves the impression of it not being as cool as one might want it to be.

The shear dynamic of intensities make this an interesting listen, and this album jams on the moody heavy crunch and whisper trip that is all the rage. So, "Coal Chamber" fills their niche expectedly, with indications they are capable of adaptation before stagnation.