Horrorscope (Horrorscope - Chinchilla)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Horrorscope - Chinchilla
Date:	10/06/08 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Urdo Gerstenmeyer is a good guitarist, not that he'll let you hear that.

Disadvantages: Bland and samey power metal of the less exciting kind.

Chinchilla are a curiously named German band playing the same variety of light, vocal-centric power metal as many other German bands, failing to make any kind of name for themselves due to being distinctly average. Their debut album is also their weakest, largely due to the uncomfortable presence of numerous ballads interrupting the flow of what would otherwise be a fairly enjoyable, if incredibly samey and uneventful forty minutes.

Guitarist Urdo Gerstenmeyer is the real talent behind the band, but disappointingly opts to remain hidden behind the tedious drums of Steffen Theurer and the admittedly impressive vocals of Martin Obermeier, whose squeak is reminiscent of Geoff Tate. Obermeier is naturally at his best on the slow songs 'Heaven or Hell,' 'How the Children Dance,' 'Who is Who,' 'She's So Evil' and 'Help,' though the shoddy quality of these songs on the whole prevents his performance from being memorable, or even easy to digest.

None of these songs are original, and their repetitive and ever-so-predictable structures started to grate on me as early as the first song. In some cases it's appropriate to judge an album by its cover, and taking one look at the terrible beastie artwork here should be enough to ward off any prospective buyers. The same goes for the hilarious, irrelevant pun title, if you see what they did there.

1. Hill of Secret
2. Heaven or Hell
3. King for a Day
4. How the Children Dance
5. Reborn of God
6. Who is Who
7. Horrorscope
8. The Cross
9. She's So Evil
10. Crack in the Mirror
11. Lies of Tomorrow
12. Help

Summary: Chinchilla's first album (1999).