Brainstorm: ‘Scary Creatures’
BRAINSTORM
SCARY CREATURES
Released on January 15, 2016 (AFM Records)
Review:
Brainstorm are a band that I was completely unfamiliar with prior to listening to their latest release, entitled Scary Creatures. I have always been a fan of power metal bands, so I was surprised when I came across Brainstorm. For some reason or another, they have just slipped underneath my metal radar.
The opening track “The World To See” is a real attention getter. It has all of the power and intensity to make it the obvious choice for the first single off of the album. I really had to listen to this album several times before it began to grow on me. That’s not to say that it’s not a good album. It is and admittedly, the more that I listen to it, the more that I like it.
I think the lead singer, Andy B. Franck, is talented and has a unique tone to his voice. He sounds a bit like a hybrid of John Bush (Armored Saint, Anthrax) and a much lower tone Rob Halford (Judas Priest) without the screams. Most of the power metal bands that I have previously listened to had a vocalist with a higher range, which unfortunately makes many of them all sound the same, or wind up sounding like a complete rip-off of Judas Priest. Interestingly, Franck‘s singing was the thing that took me a while to warm up to Scary Creatures. Ironically, its his singing that helps to make this album a bit of a standout from so many of the others. I think listeners who listen to bands like Helloween, Gamma Ray, Primal Fear, Blind Guardian and Iced Earth will like Brainstorm. Vocally, Brainstorm falls closer to the Iced Earth sound than the others, but musically there are a lot of similarities to the others listed.
The stand out tracks on Scary Creatures are “The World To See”, “How Much Can You Take”, “Scary Creatures”, “Scars In Your Eyes” and “Sky Among The Clouds.” Overall, this a great effort by a band that pretty much came out of nowhere. It will be interesting to see how their sound progresses as they continue to grow as a band. The musicianship from all members is really quite good and the production is top notch.
There’s nothing scary about these creatures known as Brainstorm. In fact, I’d say they’ve made a nice slab of molten power metal to tide us over until their next release.
CD1 Track List:
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
CD2 Limited Edition Track List:
01. The World To See
02. Highs Without Lows
03. Shiver
04. Worlds Are Coming Through
05. Erased By The Dark
06. Firesoul
07. Descendants Of The Fire
08. Entering Solitude
09. Recall The Real
10. Shadowseeker
11. Feed Me Lies
12. What Grows Inside
13. The Chosen
14. And I Wonder
15. Shiva’s Tears
16. Temple Of Stone
17. Fire Walk With Me
18. All Those Words
Band Members:
Andy B. Franck – vocals
Torsten Ihlenfeld – guitar
Milan Loncaric – guitar
Antonio Ieva – bass
Dieter Bernert – drums
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Reviewed by Bobby Caughron for Sleaze Roxx, January 2016
BRAINSTORM – The World To See (2015) // Official Music Video // AFM Records
BRAINSTORM – The World To See (2015) // official clip // AFM RecordsSubscribe to AFM Records: http://bit.ly/1Ag5sAWTaken from the album “Scary Creatures”, to…