69 Chambers

War On The Inside

Written by: PP on 27/04/2009 14:40:51

There's no other way for me to start this review than to give kudos for 69 Chambers' front woman Nina Treml for dropping her clothes to pose fully naked for the band's debut album "War On The Inside". Not only does it take guts to do it, but it also displays the sort of conviction and will-power that this band has to succeed. Because honestly, what better way to get males to at least check out your band than to show a bit of bare skin? Sad but true, I know. But lets get to the point, shall we.

It's somewhat hard to connect 69 Chambers with a particular genre of music because they blend together straight forward alternative rock and elements of metal so seamlessly. There are moments where I feel like I'm listening to a female-fronted Soundgarden, but when Nina & Maddy (backing vocals) drop the unusual melancholy in their clean voice and switch to deep growling, you can be forgiven for tossing them straight into the metal genre. But here too it is difficult (at least for the undersigned) to name-drop any particular bands. Not because 69 Chambers are particularly original - their rock/metal fusion has surely been done over and over again - but there just aren't that many female-fronted bands of this type to reference. Maybe "Version 2.0" era Garbage, or The Cranberries but even here I feel like I'm pushing it somewhat.

Anyway, the focus of the record is on vocal melodies. The instruments can be quite nothingsaying at times, and seem to function only as a platform for Nina & Maddy's dual-vocal harmonies. But here's the problem: although no song is outright bad, there's still a certain something lacking in the melodies. Even after six or seven listens I'm struggling to remember other songs than the poppy "Thinking About You", which tells me that their songs don't yet contain strong enough melodies. So while "War On The Inside" is a decent female-fronted rock effort, it's still missing its "Zombie" or "Push It" to make it worthwhile.

6

Download: Thinking About You, On The Inside
For the fans of: The Cranberries, Garbage, Hole, Guano Apes
Listen: Myspace

Release date 24.04.2009
Silverwolf Productions

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