69 Chambers - War on the inside

The cover of 69 Chambers debut album shows a really beautiful young lady naked in a bath tub. The lady that is covered with tattoos is also the lead singer of the band, Nina Treml. Nina is the typical example of a world citizen. She grew up in South Korea, moved to Singapore when she was seven and from the age of sixteen onwards, she lived in Switserland. For the inspiration of their debut album she travelled to the United States. She returned with thirteen songs and the recording process started.

The music of the power threesome is a mixture of Soundgarden, Kyuss and maybe some Black Sabbath. It’s a crossover between stoner, grunge and metal. Also it’s pretty obvious the album exists of female vocals and luckily enough not in a gothic kind of way. Most of the time the powerful voice of Nina combines both melody and brutality that fits exactly with the music. This even results in some grunts from this lady in ‘Judas Goat’.

However the cd sounds fantastic and the songs are very catchy, the level of the arrangement caves in around "The Collapse Of Time And Space". You get around three average songs to get through, before the quality level is restored with "Final Momento", but after that the whole thing collapses like a house of cards. Also something I noticed is that Nina keeps on the safe side vocally. You will not hear an outcry anywhere, the vocals remain in service of the songs. Not that it’s bad, but there is no surprise as well. Seen as a whole, this debut is not bad at all. I still listen to it with enough pleasure, but I believe that something is missing.

The production was lead by Tommy Vetterli, better known as Tommy T. Baron of the Swiss techno thrash band Coroner.

This album is not made for head banging, but it still rocks, although in an adult manner, with style and grace, without even for a moment losing its heaviness. It’s a solid work, a high quality production, made for vast audiences, either heavy metal or alternative ones. It would be a shame to be overlooked.