Yet again another example of those X-files cases, where bands with a long history (and in this case even a full-length album) and still only a limited access to background info, suddenly pop out from somewhere and throw their latest release into your face. Always gives me this "did I miss something" feeling, but what to expect from a country with more bands than inhabitants. So what would agent Scully and Mulder think of chILL's latest 2-track single, mixed by Monsteriser bulk Miitri Aaltonen, who has already been responsible for getting the sound of Mokoma, Stam1na or Kotiteollisuus on tape. Quite mysterious that this unknown band catches this famous guy… but all mystery aside - "In Your Spine" simply rocks! The sound totally blows away. The mixture of NuMetal, Alternative and Rock might be a lot to stomach for some, but chill play it very well. American NuMetal reminding of Korn to Metalcore-minted blasting a lá Finnish Nicole, while the entity suggests a lot of Swedish banging influences as Meshuggah, The Haunted or One Man Army. Topped off with catchy chorus lines that make Diablo blush yellow-green. But it's really better to hear it on your own than having someone categorizing it, especially as chILL can't really be tagged with anything. The only stamp the single "In Your Spine" deserves is "excellent". While "Madluck" and "Rotten Apples" could be too much and clutter-like for many who can’t deal with versatile bands, headbangers who look for something more than the known schemes and voices, and favour unpredictability will gladly help chILL into a broader spotlight. In fact, Jouni Rantanen and Helend Jantsikene’s vocals could be the deal breaker. That said, without them the hooks of especially "Madluck" wouldn't be so addictive. “In Your Spine” will be released on 1st February and can be downloaded on the band's homepage. 9 / 10 Alexandra Zischow - 22.01.2010 / www.tuskasi.com

chILL – In Your Spine Releasedate: 01-02-2010; Label: Twisted Entertainment By: Sabine van Gameren chILL is a metal band from Finland. Their very first formation was in 1995, but not until 2006 there was a steady line up. In 2008 the band released their debut album “Controlled Chaos” and anno 2010 the promo “In Your Spine” sees light. In my review of their album “Controlled Chaos” (link) I commented this band on the fact that they were quite experimenting and not finding that surprise element in their music yet. This promo contains two songs so it is hard to judge how much this has changed, but there is to say that the band set a different product with it. The music contains that raw vocals and a clearly visible guitar sound in their music. Catchy vocal lines where a cleaner side does good to the band’s own face. In these two songs the band suddenly knows how to make people wondering about them. Luckily for these people the band announced that this release is “promoting chILL’s forthcoming album and giving everyone a little heads up of what’s to come”. The band clearly made a step forward and with a good production as this they can brightly look forward to the release of their new album.

chILL are a Finnish grunge metal band and today I've been issued with their promo CD, 'In Your Spine' to review. It has been dedicated to a close friend of theirs who is now deceased and was inspired by such loss. It has been made freely available and is able to be downloaded from their website. Madluck - The introduction to this song is quite powerful as it merges from a few strums of the guitar into an explosion of sound. The overall sound is very atmospheric and emotionally charged. It takes you on a soul destroying ride of anger, pain, sorrow, despair, betrayal, respect, love and life in general. The vocals mainly bare that grunge style grunt to their clean vocal though there is also a hint of death vocal in here especially toward the end. As a first impression, I am sold! Hearing the accent coming through in the vocals gives it an alluring edge and I am left wanting more! "Dodge another bullet by just that much, Survive this crazy life with madluck, Dodge another bullet under the gun, Survive this crazy life with mad fucking luck..." Rotten Apples - This track starts out with a more furious pace and basically hits the overdrive button on your senses. It is fast paced then slow paced then fast paced then slow paced and so on. It is a rollercoaster of emotion. Its overall intensity creates an amazing flow of atmosphere. The vocals are not totally clean as they alter between clean, grungy and even hardcore screamer styles. This promo has been sound engineered well and has a good structure to it. It is definitely emotionally driven even with its structural changes. Another great track and I want to hear some more! "I can't find much comfort in these words, It's not getting any better it just keeps getting worse, I can't find my way through this surreal dream, All the silence and secrecy makes me feel so damn guilty..." In essence, these two tracks have sparked a new interest. If this promo is anything to go by, then this band simply rocks! I would love to hear an entire album. I love hearing the accent coming through in the vocals. I love the intensity of the emotionally driven music. As sick as it sounds, I love the pain and angst within. The music is so perfectly collaborated it guides you harmoniously through each tragic emotion. Each little mini over lead simply creates atmosphere and steers you through the turbulent river. The CD cover seems to be an animal skull being held up by someone's hands over a campfire. Throughout the cover is more interesting artwork which doesn't interfere with the printed lyrics. This is a great introduction to the band so I can only recommend to all my readers out there to go and get yourself a copy! 02. Aug. Dèa di Mortè / Mystic Metal

First of all: Who are you? Give a short introduction of yourself and the band. My name is Jouni Rantanen and I sing lead vocals in the FINNISH band chILL. It's pretty hard to give a short description of chILL's musical style but we like to mix catchy grunge driven rock and modern metal in a slightly progressive way. You really have to hear it for yourself and make up your own mind. I also sing and play guitar in a band called Saasta. Saasta plays finnish grunge influenced rock acoustically on guitar and keyboards and we`re recording our first EP. chILL has released a couple of EP's, one full-length album "controlled chaos" and now we're promoting our upcoming sophomore album with a FREE two song promo single "In your spine". The original artwork and songs are available for download FREE at the band's official website: www.chillinyourspine.com What was your first personal contact with music like, and which are your most important influences? The first artist I remember listening to was Michael Jackson when I was like seven or so but music wasn't yet really that important to me until I was fourteen and I heard Nirvana's song "rape me" and the album "in utero" for the first time. It hit me so hard that suddenly everything changed. It was something I had never heard before and it just totally blew me away. I somehow now knew what I wanted to do with my life. It was actually Miska, chILL's guitarist who introduced me to Nirvana. We had been best friends since babies and both started playing guitar about the same time but always had our own musical projects cause both wanted to be the next Kurt Cobain and there can be only one! Of course other grunge labeled bands of that era were a huge influence too and still are. The next huge thing for me was KoRn, again something totally different from what I had heard before and just really weird. For me It was Somehow a logical transition from grunge to nu-metal. I had always thought metal was somehow too testosterone-filled, too serious or narrow minded but now it was suddenly something interesting and new for me and I started getting more into metal. At that time I started developing an interest towards hip-hop too (for obvious reasons). Marilyn Manson's "anti-christ superstar" album was a huge influence too, especially lyrically. Nowadays I pretty much try to listen to, as well as let myself be influenced by all types of music. If the song is good it doesn't matter in what category someone has placed it. Where does the band’s name come from? chILL`s name comes from the sensation that makes the hair in the back of your neck stand up and sends cold chills running down your spine and of course the cold conditions of Finland had something to do with the name choice too. What do you want to achieve with your music? I guess something that everyone wants: leave our mark in the world. It would be great to create something immortal, something that would keep on living a life of it`s own long after our time has passed… a classic album for example. Regarding your songs’ contents, your interest is on more than the usual “shallow&selling” policy that can be found almost everywhere in nowadays’ music. What would you say is the biggest problem the common music policy suffers from, and do you see a chance to change that? There are so many bands around these days and many that sound so much alike, that a lot of great music just gets lost in the grey mass. Everything sounds the same and everyone loses interest. For many it feels like there's only one right way, standard or formula of making music and when they hear something different they automatically reject it. In my opinion people should listen to all types of music without prejudice or pre-conceptions and just form their own opinion about it. It really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, it's enough if you