Coal Chamber (album)

Coal Chamber is the debut studio album by American nu metal band Coal Chamber. It was released on February 11, 1997, by Roadrunner Records and contains the single "Loco". The special edition of the album contains the bonus tracks "Headstones and the Walking Dead", "Big Truck (Hand-On-Wheel Mix)", "Pig (Demo)", "Sway (Demo)", "Unspoiled (Demo)", and "Loco (Demo)" (all of which are available on Giving the Devil His Due). The DVD features two of the band's concerts, a live video of "Loco", and the music video of "Loco".

It has been certified gold by the RIAA, with an excess of 500,000 copies in the United States and is the band's most successful album.

Three singles were released on the album: "Loco", "Big Truck", and "Sway". "Loco" and "Big Truck" were released in 1997, while "Sway" was released in 1998. "Loco", "Big Truck", "Sway", "Oddity", and "Clock" were released on their greatest hits album.

Background and recording
Coal Chamber was formed in Los Angeles in 1992 by vocalist Dez Fafara and guitarist Miguel "Meegs" Rascón, originally under the name She's in Pain. They met after simultaneously putting out ads looking for a guitarist and vocalist, respectively, and bonded over a mutual love for the Sisters of Mercy. After a few shows, they adopted their present name in 1993. By spring 1994, their lineup had solidified, featuring bassist Rayna Foss and drummer John Tor. Coal Chamber recorded a demo tape in August 1994, which was given to Roadrunner Records head of A&R Monte Conner by producer Ross Robinson. Fear Factory guitarist Dino Cazares also recommended the band to Conner. Roadrunner subsequently offered the band a record deal, but as they were negotiating, Fafara left Coal Chamber due to disagreements with his wife. The band were unable to find a replacement for him and so "just partied and wasted time", according to Fafara.

After eight months, Rascón visited Fafara and asked him to return to Coal Chamber, who became active again by spring 1995. Conner was unaware that Coal Chamber had reunited until Dino Cazares gave him a new demo from the band during the mixing sessions of Fear Factory's Demanufacture (1995), after which he reconnected with the band. The band were in negotiations with Roadrunner for over a year before they officially signed to the label, in December 1995. A few weeks prior to their signing, John Tor was fired for "constantly fighting" with Rascón, after which they hired Mikey Cox as their new drummer.

Coal Chamber was recorded in 45–50 days with producers Jay Gordon and Jay Baumgardner at NRG Recording Studios in North Hollywood, California. Ross Robinson had been expected to produce the album. In a 1998 interview with RockOnline, Fafara said that whilst he had "a lot of respect" for him, Coal Chamber believed that Robinson would have turned them into something that they were not. He later said that the band "ran away" from him and selected Gordon and Baumgardner instead because people were comparing them to Korn. The band knew of Gordon through Rascón, and Baumgardner was the owner of NRG Studios. Neither had worked on a full-length album before. Roadrunner initially gave Coal Chamber a hard time about choosing their own producers, but relented after Gordon sent a demo of "Pig" to Monte Conner, who was impressed by its recording quality. Fafara recorded most of his vocals live, though he used a RadioShack bullhorn on tracks such as "Loco" and "Clock". Korn bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu loaned all of his gear to Foss during the album's recording; she also borrowed a five-string bass from Gordon on "Clock".

Music and lyrics
The album's sound has been compared to Korn and White Zombie. Regarding potential comparisons to Korn, Rascón stated in an April 1997 interview "We take it as a compliment. Korn's a great band. People have to compare us to something, I guess. We also get White Zombie and Marilyn Manson a lot." The song "Sway" includes the line, "the roof the roof the roof is on fire we don't need no water let the motherfucker burn burn motherfucker burn", which is taken from the song "The Roof Is on Fire" by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three.

A number of the album's songs are about Fafara's ex-wife, who left him on the day he began recording vocals. About the meaning of the song "Loco", Dez Fafara explains: "That's about living in Los Angeles and just wanting to do something different. And having a persona around myself where people think I'm a little nuts, but really I'm crazy for music. I was living in Los Angeles, trying to come out of that environment after it was totally devastated by hair metal and everything else. No one was going to clubs, there was no real scene in Los Angeles until bands like Coal Chamber and Deftones came out of LA. So that's what 'Loco' is about". The interlude "Amir of the Desert" was written about Amir Derakh, the album's engineer. Fafara said the song came about from the band "fucking around one afternoon and I was stoned."

Release and promotion
Coal Chamber was released in the United States on February 11, 1997, and in the United Kingdom on March 17, 1997. Conner said that the album was not initially considered a priority at Roadrunner, and as such the label did not ship a large amount of copies or have a music video filmed before its release. Prior to releasing the album, the band were already known in heavy metal circles for performing at the inaugural edition of Ozzfest in 1996, which also led to Sharon Osbourne becoming their manager. Mark Palmer, the manager of Roadrunner's UK branch, said that the album's buzz was "something we haven't experienced since the first Machine Head record, Burn My Eyes [(1994)]". The album debuted and peaked at number 76 on the UK Albums Chart. It also debuted at number seven on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart, where it logged 57 weeks on the chart across several stints.

In its first week of release, Coal Chamber only sold 844 copies in the United States. The album debuted at number 43 on the Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart on January 18, 1998. By April 1998, it had sold 240,000 copies in the United States. It peaked at number 10 on the Heatseekers Albums chart on August 8, 1998. The album was selling 5,000 copies per week at its peak, and continued to sell consistently for three years. On December 21, 1999, the album was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying the album had shipped in excess of 500,000 copies. However, Nielsen Soundscan, which tracks album sales, reported that it had sold approximately 448,000 copies by March 2002.

To support the album, Coal Chamber toured heavily throughout the entirety of 1997, sharing the stage with artists such as Anthrax, Danzig, Downset., Faith No More, Grip Inc., Helmet, Machine Head, Pantera, Sevendust, Soilent Green and Type O Negative. In the summer of 1997, they performed at Ozzfest, their second consecutive appearance at the festival. In October 1997, "Loco" was serviced to radio stations in the United States. A music video for the song was filmed with director Nathan 'Karma' Cox, a longtime friend of the band. Like Gordon and Baumgardner, Cox had not directed a video before. He would go on to direct videos for bands such as Disturbed, Linkin Park and Queens of the Stone Age in the early 2000s. On June 22, 1998, "Loco" was commercially released as a single in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 80 on the UK Singles Chart. The touring cycle lasted up until mid-1998, after which the band began focusing on a follow-up.

Critical reception
Coal Chamber received mixed reviews upon its release. Chronicles of Chaos writer Adrian Bromley compared it to Korn and Deftones, remarking that he had "a hard time telling these bands apart." However, Bromley noted a difference with Coal Chamber was the band's strong sense of groove. AllMusic's Steve Huey felt that the album was not original and lacked consistency and memorable riffs, but would still appeal to fans of alternative metal. Johnathan Selzer of Melody Maker acknowledged that whilst Coal Chamber could be accused of being "copyists" of Korn and Sepultura, the elements taken from those artists (and others) were all "means to an end" and that the album ultimately "rocks".

Kerrang! Mike Peake considered the album "the biggest, meanest, heaviest noise [...] in months", though noted it was "not perfect—it's hardly what you'd call new, and it does lack the production punch of something like Demanufacture". Ollie of In Music We Trust singled out Dez Fafara as the album's star quality, calling him "a born frontman" and "proably what has made me so addicted to this album." In an unfavourable review, Ian Winwood of Metal Hammer stated that the band were "lame" and "[sounded] like music that's being played on autopilot." He concluded that whilst he could see the band "becoming huge, the one thing I can't ever see them being is any good. At all." Tom Phillips of Select dismissed the album as "histrionic wank", and said that it had "less guts than a filleted flounder."

Retrospective reviews remain similarly mixed. Reviewing the 2005 CD/DVD reissue for AllMusic, Johnny Loftus labelled "Loco", "Sway" and "Oddity" as "classics of a late-'90s L.A. metal scene that included Korn, Deftones, Fear Factory, and System of a Down." He goes on to say whilst "Coal Chamber couldn't keep it up for a whole album", criticizing Fafara's lyrics and its "unimaginative two-note guitar riffs", it was "still an interesting listen, especially in relation to what they did differently from their peers." In a 2011 retrospective review for Kerrang!, Paul Travers wrote that although Coal Chamber ultimately did not experience the same level of commercial success as their contemporaries, "for a brief time, at the dawn of nu metal, they were right there at the vanguard of a brand new sound that was—whatever hindsight might have to say about it—big, brash and utterly exciting." In 2014, Thomas Lacey gave the album an unfavourable retrospective review for Rock Sound, stating that the album bore "a deeply unsettling sense of awareness from the band, a coldness that stems from knowing damn well that the music they're producing fills a gap in the market, nothing more". Lacey also criticized the track "Amir of the Desert", claiming it presents the band "[trying] their hand at some casual racism [...], complete with a 'comedy' indian accent that even the cast of Mrs. Brown's Boys would wince at."

Track listing
All lyrics are written by Dez Fafara; all music is written by Miguel Rascón, Rayna Foss and Mike Cox except where noted.


 * On The Complete Roadrunner Collection (1997–2003), "Maricon Puto" and "I" are merged into one track.
 * The song "Pig" ends at 3:20. After 1 minute and 41 seconds of silence (3:20 – 5:01), begins an untitled hidden track consisting of studio outtakes in which Jonathan Davis from Korn talks at the very end.

Special edition
A special edition of the album was released by Roadrunner in 2005. The package includes the original album with six bonus tracks along with a bonus DVD featuring the "Loco" music video and two live concerts. The concerts are live at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles in 1996, which was included in Kerrang!'s 100 greatest gigs of all time, and live at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco, 1999.

Personnel
Personnel per liner notes. Coal Chamber Additional personnel Production 2005 Reissue
 * Dez Fafara – lead vocals
 * Miguel Rascón – guitars, backing vocals
 * Rayna Foss – bass
 * Mike Cox – drums
 * Jay Gordon – additional vocals on ("Oddity" & "Maricon Puto")
 * Nathan "Karma" Cox – additional vocals on ("Clock")
 * Eric Levy – additional vocals on ("Sway"), additional percussion on ("Maricon Puto")
 * Jay Gordon – production, mixing
 * Jay Baumgardner – production, mixing
 * Amir Derakh – engineering, mixing
 * Lisa Lewis – assistant engineerArtwork
 * Marina Chavez – photography
 * CIEL – design
 * Monte Conner – production
 * Giulio Constanzo – art direction
 * Laurie Es – additional design
 * Kevin Estranda – production, photography
 * Steven Hartong – assistant production
 * Ted Jensen – remastering