Chinchilla - The Last Millenium

*=Staff's pick	The Last Millenium War Machine* Demon's We Call* Nighttrain Of Death* Father Forgive Me* After The War Victims Of The Night The Boys Are Back In Town They Are Liars The Highest Price*

Genre	Heavy Metal	Thomas Laasch	Vocals
Tracks	10	Udo Gerstenmeyer	Guitar
Runningtime	50 Min.	-	Guitar
Label	Metal Blade	Marc Peters	Bass
Release	11 March 2002	Steffen Theurer	Drums
Country	Germany	Marc Steck	Keyboards
Similar artists	Sinner, Silent Force, Judas Priest

Chinchilla, which origin from Germany, is a new acquaintance to me, and a very pleasant one I might add. They have previously released one album prior to this one, and if that one is as good as this one, than it is certainly something to check out. Chinchilla play metal that should appeal to you who like that kind of groovy and classic metal, with strong vocals. This is something in between classic groovy rock'n'roll and melodic metal of the modern kind, with the emphasis on the latter.

They manage to produce a very personal and unique atmosphere on this album, and all is wrapped in a very powerful package, that makes plenty of room for catchy refrains, choirs and good, driving riffs which sometimes are amazingly headbangingfriendly, but yet simple and classic. These guys make no fuzz about this, and that is heard in their music. It sounds genuine and made with love for good music. Any specific standout tracks are hard to pick out, as this overall is a very even album with high standard on most songs.

It all sounds a bit english and a tiny bit american if you ask me, but with the european sense for great melodies and hooks, especially in the refrains where bands such as Edguy and Avantasia comes to mind from time to time. The verseriffs and vocals reminds more than once of a very heavy version of Iron Maiden, and much of that is due to the singer's efforts.

The singer is worth a few extra credits, as he has a very strong and characteristic voice that bears up this very good. Strong similarities to a certain Mr. Bruce Dickinson can be spotted, but with slightly better precision when it comes to hitting the right keys, and that is not a bad thing. This is a very fresh and interesting contribution to the metalscene of today. Check this band out, and I can almost guarantee that you will find this a very welcome contribution to your cdcollection if you care for wellplayed, catchy, honest and classic heavy metal.

See also review of: Take No Prisoners , Madtropolis

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	9	8,5

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Tommy