| CD REVIEW 69 Chambers |
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Band: 69 Chambers I predict a very controversial future for this Swiss band! On the one side there will be people who’ll feel the band ain’t all what they’re portrayed to be, just because frontwoman (lead vocals & guitar) Nina Treml sings with a rather passionate, emotional voice (móst of the time), which is usually more at home in Pop music circles. A point which silly I-hate-women-in-Rock music journalists are boùnd to use to put the band down [one review I’ve read already refered to her growled vocals – in the songs “Return Of The Repressed”, “Judas Goat”, and “The Collapse Of Time And Space” (all of which following each other in the middle of the album) as the short bit of male shouting during “Judas Goat”…makes one wonder whether that guy even bothered to listen to the album twice!)! On the other side, it’s a dead-certainty that the trio (the others being bassist…and possible backing singer Maddy Madarasz and drummer Michi Brugger) from Zurich will gather a flock of faithful fans around themselves, and not alone because of the blonde frontwoman’s nice looks and tattoos! Nina was born in Seoul from Swiss parents, lived the first 9 years of her life in South Korea, in Singapore the next 7, and landed up in Switzerland at the age of 16. She soon started her musical career as a bassist, discovered the joys of songwriting, and started writing her own songs. She founded 69 Chambers in 2001, and the band did their first appearances at the Universal Music Breakthrough Contest, of which it won the first two rounds! It was a starting point for many Swiss gigs to follow, and the band eventually not only recorded a first demo, but followed that up with an EP. A video was played quite often on Viva Switzerland. Then, in 2007, the trio (which had already gone through several line-up changes) made its international live debut, playing alongside such renowned artists as Muse, Testament, and Chemical Brothers at the Pentaport Festival in Incheon, Seoul. The good response to that festival appearance then made way for the band’s first full-length release. But first Nina travelled to the USA, an experience which came out as a bad trip, but the “unfreedom” of the “land of the free” gave her the necessary inspiration for the 13 tracks which were to become the album’s material. Returning home, she headed out to the New Sound Studio in Pfäffikon (less than 20 kms from Zürich in a Westerly direction) to record the songs with producer Tommy Vetterli (of Coroner and Kreator fame). The result is a varied album containing a couple of more ballad-geared tracks (semi-acoustic album closer “A Ruse” being the most abvious one), but overall being typified with scorching tracks with catchy if somewhat repetitive guitar riffs…and Nina’s soft voice (that, except for the 3 tracks mentioned above, where a couple of growled verses take care of a bit of surprise). In the reviews I already saw, one speaks of “Alternative Rock/ Metal”, but in reality there’s quite a bit of Grunge and even Stoner in the band’s music! In essence, you shouldn’t listen too much to those music reviewers who say negative stuff about this nice trio…in stead, check out what’s available at myspace.com/69chambers [last time I looked, that was a full-length version of album opener “The Day Of The Locust” (a perfect example of the band’s combining of groovy guitar riffs with effective repetition on top of a very present rhythm section…the whole smothered in Nina’s attractive vocals), and samples of “Judas Goat” (arguably one of the heavier tracks on the album), “Ex Nihilo” (a calmer song overall with some weird atmospherics – gréat track that, with a touch of mysticism, but also with a fair degree of aggression as the song evolves!), “Return Of The Repressed”, and “Thinking About You”]…and make up your own mind! Me, I’m already sold! 90/100 Tony. |