O.K., full name of this group is L' Orchestre de Chambre Noir, but anyone just calls them Chamber, so leave it to this. This is their 2nd album and their best so far. 7 really gifted musicians form this little orchestra, but they usually don't play classic tunes, no, really great songs of different styles, mainly pop.
"Twelve handcrafted tales of love and life itself told by Chamber." says the inner sleeve and that's true. So lets take a closer look on those songs:

We start our travel through music history and different music styles with a bolero called "Entree- The Elven King".
The second song ("A Dead Man's Song") is just simple singer/songwriter style, about the ghost of a musician, caught in a rehearsal room, trying to inspire musicians to the ultimate song, but always failing...
The next one ("The Paper-Hearted Ghost") is also simple, though more powerful.
Song no.4 is a ballad called " A Tale Of Real Love".
Then comes "In My Garden", a song about a green fairy, a bit spooky in some parts.
"Invisible" isn't very interesting to me, so no comment on this.
"Silence-Release" is the true story of a sculptress who lived in Berlin. She always heard voices in her head, which in the end drove her into suicide.
Song no.8 is a really great (irish-)folk song about Vienna, the "Hometown" of Bandleader Marcus Testory and the start of the more interesting part of this album.
The next song "Heart Of Stone" sounds like Sisters Of Mercy played with strings and violins.
Song no.10 is the highlight of this album. "The Truth About Snow-White", everything you (never?) wanted to know about Snow-White and her ten Dwarfs (Ten? Yes, that's one of the secrets revealed in this song and it's -of course- explained what happened to the lost three Dwarfs.....). Musically it seems based on a classical song out of "Peter and the Wolf", but I can't remember which one it was.
The next one is really great, too. I think this might be the first time a chamber orchestra plays old school rock'n'roll. Possession is the theme of "Little Devil".
And the last song is a very fragile interpreted story of a love between brother and sister ("Shall I Fall").

This album will be re-released on October 31st, 2005.

For further information: www.chamber-online.de

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