''Dark Days'' is the third studio album by the American

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

band

Coal Chamber Coal Chamber is an American nu metal band formed by Dez Fafara and Meegs Rascón in Los Angeles in 1992, initially under the name She's in Pain. The original lineup also consisted of bassist Rayna Foss and drummer Jon Tor. Mike Cox replaced Tor ...

. It was released on May 7, 2002.

Background and production

Coal Chamber began recording ''Dark Days'' with producer Ross Hogarth at Rumbo Recorders on May 29, 2001. The band finished recording bass and drum tracks by mid-June 2001, after which guitars and vocals were recorded. The album was mostly completed on September 18, 2001, with Dez Farara going into the studio to re-record his vocals on September 21, 2001. Bassist Rayna Foss-Rose left the band after this album was recorded; she was replaced by Nadja Peulen, who had already previously replaced her for Coal Chamber's tours in 1999 during Rayna's pregnancy. This was the last studio album from Coal Chamber before they disbanded due to personal differences.

Composition

''Dark Days'' is often regarded as the band's most aggressive and heaviest album; while past Coal Chamber albums had softer songs scattered throughout them, ''Dark Days'' stays mostly aggressive all the way through. ''Dark Days'' mostly combines the styles from the band's debut album with their second album ''

Chamber Music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

'', mixing the

elements with the

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different ...

elements from Chamber Music. ''Dark Days'' received mixed reviews from music critics but was more popular with fans.

Release and promotion

"Fiend" was the album's only single, releasing in March 2002. It was accompanied by a video clip directed by photographer Paul Brown. The clip found airplay on ''

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

'', which also featured an interview with the band and the song "Glow" was also most notably featured on the soundtrack of ''

The Scorpion King ''The Scorpion King'' is a 2002 action adventure film directed by Chuck Russell. The film stars Dwayne Johnson (credited as The Rock) as the lead, with Steven Brand, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan in supporting roles. It ...

''. It is one of the band's most well known songs and is thought to be about how the band and the nu metal genre were getting heavily criticized at the time. The album debuted and peaked at number 34 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling more than 31,000 copies in its first week. On their last show, guitarist Meegs Rascón accidentally hit vocalist

Dez Fafara Bradley James "Dez" Fafara is an American vocalist who performs in the metal bands DevilDriver and Coal Chamber. Early life Fafara is of Portuguese and Italian descent. His father, Tiger Fafara, and his late uncle, Stanley Fafara, were child ...

on the head with his guitar, with Dez walking off stage only to reappear claiming that this was to be Coal Chamber's last show. Dez then released '' Giving the Devil His Due'' which was a collection of unreleased tracks, remixes, and demos by Coal Chamber. Afterward, he went on to start the band

DevilDriver DevilDriver is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California, formed in 2002, consisting of vocalist Dez Fafara, bassist Jon Miller, guitarist Alex Lee and drummer Davier Pérez. The b ...

. The song "Something Told Me" was featured on the ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

end credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the ve ...

as the second song.

Track listing

All songs written by Mike Cox/ B. Dez Fafara/Rayna Foss/Miguel Rascón except where noted.

Credits

- lead vocals *Miquel Rascon - guitars, backing vocals *Rayna Foss-Rose - bass *Mike Cox - drums Production *Ross Hogarth - production, engineering, mixing, mastering *Jeremy Blair - assistant engineering

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dark Days (Coal Chamber Album) 2002 albums Coal Chamber albums Roadrunner Records albums