Chinchilla continues the amusing tradition of oddly-named German power metal bands (imagine trying to promote a tour consisting of Chinchilla, Squealer, and Custard in America). Their early history is a bit murky -- they formed in 1988 and by 1990 had recorded an album, No Mercy, of which not a lot is known (it's not even listed on the official site's discography), and after guitarist Udo Gerstenmeyer left the band, they folded soon afterwards. Four years later, Gerstenmeyer recruited a completely different lineup and recorded what initially was a demo, but turned into the Who Is Who EP. More lineup changes ensued, and finally the band had some stable footing, releasing Horrorscope in 1998 before signing with Metal Blade in 2000. The 2000 release, Madness, is the album reviewed here. Not surprisingly, Chinchilla's style is rooted in Euro power metal 80's-style. They don't have the galloping pace of a Gamma Ray, but are more of a mid-paced melodic power metal band, maybe not too far removed from Iron Savior or Sinner. Overall, Madness is a competent album. It's not going to set the world alight nor impress anyone with originality, but the staples of the genre (singalong choruses, simple but nicely constructed riffs, a power ballad or two, and so forth) are here for the listening, with the interesting cover choice of Kiss' "I Stole Your Love" (staying relatively faithful to the original) thrown in for good measure.

After two releases in 2000 and 2002 with the same members, the lineup change bug has bitten again, with three new members joining the band in 2002, eventually releasing Madtropolis a year later. They still aren't interested in innovation (writing a song called "Heavy Metal" in 2003 seems a bit behind the times, particularly given its Manowar-ish anthemic chorus), but no doubt European audiences will like this.