The second cd by Chamber, also known as L’Orchestre de Chambre Noir. “Ghost stories & Fairy-tales” comes in a luxurious digipack, with various drawings and an additional textsheet. This German ensemble around Marcus Testory has delivered twelve new songs, or in their own words, ‘twelve handcrafted tales of live and love itself’.
Again they fuse orchestral music with rock, gothic and folk elements. I’m fond of strings, to which Chamber treats me abundantly. Violins and cello are a pleasure to listen to, as well as the guitars, and double bass and piano. The lyrics are short tales, sometimes melancholic, sometimes cheerful, sometimes humorous. Ghosts and fairies are some of the characters to be found inside. The deep dramatic voice of the charismatic Marcus or Max is a little dominant, you’ve got to get used to it. I like the songs in which he is assisted by (female) backing voices. Mr. ASP also participates on vocals now and then. One of the highlights is the emotional A Dead Man’s Song (‘All I ever wanted was the ultimate song, pure,true fulfilment of the heart’). Also nice is the traditional folk piece ‘A tale of real love’.
Again Chamber has created an album with a rich, full sound and original narrative lyrics. “Ghost stories & Fairy-tales” is even more varied than the previous album, every song surprises in its sound and style. There is even a cheerful Irish folk piece present, ‘Hometown’, in the best Pogues manner. ‘Heart of Stones” reminds me of the Sisters of Mercy classic ‘Temple of love’, which Chamber also has on its live repertoire by the way. You won’t be surprised that a song with the title ‘The truth about snow-white’ isn’t too serious (and somewhat naughty). It also contains the well-known theme from Grieg’s ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’. And if this isn’t enough, ‘Little devil’ brings us traditional rock’n roll/rockabilly. Not so easy to put Chamber into a category, but it’s certainly entertaining, colourful and original what this ensemble brings us.
