Brainstorm – Scary Creatures

[nyrating]

10th January 2016 Reinier de Vries Album Reviews 0

Strike while the iron is hot is an expression that can be used here. The band didn’t waste a lot of time entering the studio again after their rather successful 2014 album ‘Firesoul’. The first album I bought was their debut ‘Hungry’, not a bad album, but the production and the songs were not yet high quality. With new singer Andy B. Franck, the next album already was a big step ahead. Better songwriting, a better sound and a much better vocalist. After that the band released a lot of albums and not one of them was below average. My personal favorites are ‘Soul Temptation’, ‘Downburst’ and ‘Firesoul’.

After listening a few times to this new album, there is a big chance that I can add ‘Scary Creatures’ to this row. Andy B. is still one of my favorite power metal singers, also on this album he switches easy from high to low and from clean to more raw like a model changes clothes.

Like on most of their albums there are some rather fast double bass power metal tracks like “The World To See”, “Where Angels Dream”,”Twisted Ways” and “Scars In Your Eyes”. Varied by more melodic a bit slower tracks like “How Much Can You Take”, the catchy song “We Are” (with a child choir) and “Caressed By the Blackness”. The title track has some orchestral pieces, a kind of hypnotizing rhytmn and due to some electronic sounds, quite modern. This track shows that Brainstorm is still developing and not afraid to add new things to their style. The closing track is the softest song, with Andy using a rather low singing style.

At first I was a little afraid that by entering the studio again so soon the songwriting would be less strong, but fortunately I worried in vain. Again a class album of one of the better German power metal bands. There are not a lot of bands that combine power metal with melody, catchy refrains and excellent singing without sounding cheesy. Brainstorm has been doing this for many albums still keeping their dark and heavy sound.

Next month they will be touring as a support of Primal Fear, there is no excuse to stay home!

Tracklist:

01. The World To See

02. How Much Can You Take

03. We Are

04. Where Angels Dream

05. Scary Creatures

06. Twisted Ways

07. Caressed By the Blackness

08. Scars In Your Eyes

09. Take Me To the Never

10. Sky Among the Clouds

Playing time: 49:00

Release date: 15 January 2016

Label: AFM Records

Website: www.brainstorm-web.net

About Reinier de Vries 188 Articles

Once a metal head, always a metalhead. My parents thought it would only be a period, but they were wrong. I quit to explain the beauty of metal music to others that are not into metal, because it is something you can't tell in words... It is like explaining to a teetotaller why a cold beer is so nice on a hot day... I started with bands like Accept, Metal Church, Iron Maiden and Metallica in the eighties and I think I will still listen to them when I'm stone deaf and old...