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.

Coal Chamber disbanded in 2003, after ten years together, and then reunited in 2011, with the lineup of Fafara, Cox, and Rascón, along with Chela Rhea Harper on bass.

[2] Coal Chamber was originally formed in 1992 under the name She's in Pain by vocalist Dez Fafara and guitarist Miguel "Meegs" Rascón,[3] based on a mutual love for the Sisters of Mercy.

[3] In late 1994, Dino Cazares of Fear Factory championed a demo tape by Coal Chamber, causing a huge local stir with gigs at the Roxy Theatre and Whisky a Go Go, eventually leading Roadrunner Records to offer the band a contract.

[10] In 1997, the band toured Europe with Machine Head,[7] Napalm Death, and Skinlab, including a show at the Dynamo Festival in the Netherlands.

"[13] Chamber Music sold 48,000 copies in it first week and debuted at number 22 on the Billboard 200 chart,[15] while its lead single, a cover of Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey", featuring Ozzy Osbourne, gave the band their first radio hit.

"[19] Fafara recognized that that record's direction was not well-received by the band's fanbase but did not view it as a failure due to its initial positive reception.

[20] That year, the band took part in Insane Clown Posse's Amazing Jeckel Brothers Tour, along with Biohazard, Krayzie Bone, Twiztid, and Mindless Self Indulgence.

[21] ICP member Violent J and his brother, Rob, made the decision to eliminate Coal Chamber from the tour.

[21] ICP claimed that Coal Chamber had been removed due to equipment problems but later revealed the true reason for their actions on The Howard Stern Show, on August 19, 1999.

[21] On air, Osbourne, who also appeared as a guest, informed Bruce and Utsler that Coal Chamber filed a lawsuit for breach of contract.

[13][30] The band members did not communicate with one another for a year,[13] until Fafara and Rascón reconnected to work on a song with Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx.

[31][32] The recording sessions were marked with high drug use and tensions between Fafara and Rascón, the latter of which informed the album's tone and some of its lyrics.

[36] Prior to its release, Coal Chamber joined the Jägermeister tour across the United States, which commenced on March 8.

[38][27] Coal Chamber attempted to continue the show with Rascón on vocals but soon stopped altogether after two more songs; Cox demolished his drumkit before storming offstage.

[13][41] In June and July 2002, they embarked on a summer tour of the United States with American Head Charge, Lollipop Lust Kill, and Medication.

[54] A month after the band's split, a compilation album, titled Giving the Devil His Due, was released, which included several demo tracks submitted by Coal Chamber prior to their signing with Roadrunner Records in 1997, along with alternative studio recordings and remixes of various tracks from their previous albums.

After taking two years off to recover from a car accident, drummer Mikey "Bug" Cox joined forces with his longtime friend and Orgy member Jay Gordon—and the producer of Coal Chamber's first album - to form Machine Gun Orchestra.

[59] In September 2011, Fafara, Cox, and Rascón officially reformed the band with bass guitarist Chela Rhea Harper, to play the Soundwave festival in Australia.

In October 2012, Fafara stated that the band were "taking it slow", partly due to his commitments with DevilDriver, but he also revealed that they had begun writing new material.

[62] Nadja Peulen officially reunited with the band in October 2013, and they signed to Napalm Records the following year, as they continued to work on a new album.

Nothing" online in March, and released a lyric video for "Suffer in Silence", which features Al Jourgensen, the following month.

When asked about a possible reunion, Fafara stated: "I'm not gonna say no, because we've all spoken", adding, "The main thing for me is that the relationship is all good after numerous fallouts in the beginning and after some stuff went horribly wrong when we got back together to release [2015 comeback album] Rivals.

[69] Coal Chamber announced their second reunion in November 2022 as well as their scheduled appearance at the 2023 Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[9][23][83][84][85] In a 2002 interview, Fafara said of the band's "spookycore" label: The kids came up with it first because we started gettin' a lot of comparisons to Korn and stuff.

"[92] Revolver credited the band for introducing gothic and industrial influences into the look of nu metal, which Kittie and Dope would later adopt.

said that the band "pre-empted the arrival of outfits like Slipknot, marrying feelings of personal anguish to slab-heavy catharsis, then filtering the lot through an absurdist nightmare lens.

[99] At the same time, Coal Chamber have been criticized for their image and similarities to Korn, with the latter stemming largely from their debut album.

[100] In 2009, Dayal Patterson of The Quietus called Coal Chamber "something of an icon for nu metal's limitations", while describing their legacy as "a collection of one-idea songs and a portfolio of truly laughable photos.

"[101] In their book A History of Heavy Metal (2017), Andrew O'Neill dismissed Coal Chamber as "a distinctly forgettable, cartoonish band, taking all the childish aspects of Korn and throwing away the real emotion and aggression.