or a band rumored to have broken up, Coal Chamber is mighty busy these
days. Despite Internet rumors of the group's demise, Coal Chamber is in
fact plowing ahead on its third album. A spokesperson for the band's
record label, Roadrunner Records, reports that the band's three Los
Angeles-based members (frontman Dez Fafara, guitarist Meegs Rascon, and
drummer Mike Cox) recently teamed up with their Atlanta-based bassist
Rayna Foss-Rose in L.A. to write and record new material. The band
managed to record demos of several new songs and plans to reconvene in
the studio after a brief rest.

Coal Chamber was to have spent its summer with Slipknot, Slayer,
Sevendust, and the rest of the Tattoo The Earth tour, but pulled out of
the tour last month to work on new material (see "Coal Chamber Drops
Off 'Tattoo' Tour"). The move sparked rumors of the band's breakup
online, but Roadrunner flatly denies a split and cites the progress on
the new album as evidence. Apparently, Fafara has been piling on the
work. The vocalist recently manned the boards as the producer on the
debut album for Texas up-and-comers Dirt. Dez hooked up with the band
at Houston's AMG Studios for his first non-Coal Chamber stab at
producing. Dirt is currently mixing its debut with Barry Conley (Red Hot
Chili Peppers, L7, Sugar Ray), and is talking to several record companies
about a deal.