69 Chambers
Torque

That is a whole lot of chambers, wouldn’t you say? 69 that is, and with a title that bears some power as well. 69 Chambers is a swiss female fronted rock/metal trio who are now releasing their second album called Torque. They are according to Massacre fronted by a beautiful woman called Nina who’s best attributes I discovered were her skills with the instruments rather than looks, but then again for me music is not really about looks but about what I can hear. They also have a coroner in the band on the guitar and who is also a producer, can he be a producer of corpses? They do seem to play a bit on the female fronted thing having her face on the cover and everything, but what about the album then? Reviews have been somewhat mixed as far as I have been able to find out around the web but now it is my turn.

Musically it is modern rock/metal music with a female vocalist. She has a rock voice rather than the beautiful voice that many of today’s modern metal female singer shows, but their music is also more of a kind of rock music than what many of the modern female fronted bands shows for. Quite melodic in sound are they and the production is flawless, good sound and an overall impressive production. It also shows for a rather good variation over the fourteen tracks that plays for almost 65 minutes if you play everything. The vocals are not only female as there are some growls added for further vocal excitement, they also have Chirgel from Eluveitie as a guest on the album’s first track, which is cool as I like Eluveitie very much.

So, what about this trio then? Well, it is a cool album with many positive aspects to it but also some small niggles which makes me less positive. Lets take a look at what is good first. I think the songs are mostly good, powerful, straight ahead rock songs but with some nice added twists to them as well, the opening track is really good, then the fifth track Burn Some Gasoline, sixth and seventh track, The Peep Hole and Ring A Bell are the memorable tracks of the album. The other tracks are quite good as well and the overall impression of the album is a possible one considering that the singer is quite good and the band also has a very good sound and a high quality production.

All is not rosy and great though, first of all the album is too long and tend to feel boring and tiresome towards the latter stages of the album. There is also another more vague piece of the puzzle missing, that unknown factor that makes good better and it feels like this is an album that is well made, well produced, it is good in every way but it lacks that certain little bit of flair that makes a good album great. Still it is a good listen and I have enjoyed playing this album as the three best songs are really good and enjoyable and I think I may return to those songs later on as well.

In the end I think this album is a good album and if you do like female fronted modern rock/metal album I believe you will find this one amusing. I think it is a bit on the long side and also lacks that little last edge but even so it still makes for a good listen. 69 Chambers and their Torque is something to at least look up as I am sure their music appeals to many.