The chain
of circumstantial evidence is long and speaks for itself: Brainstorm’s new
album, Midnight Ghost, is a veritable milestone. There are plenty of reasons
for this, starting with the initial compilation of ideas through the meticulous
development of the song arrangements and concentrated production at Sebastian
‘Seeb’ Levermann’s (Orden Ogan) Greenman Studios to the atmospheric cover
artwork courtesy of Gyula Havancsak (Accept, Stratovarius). All the cogs have
obviously meshed and produced a result that’s bound to delight all power metal
fans and has even surprised the five band members themselves. “It’s pretty
unusual that musicians still get shivers down their spines when they listen to
the new material after a long and energy-sapping production. In this case we
can really say that all Brainstorm musicians are total fans of our new
recording,” says vocalist Andy B. Franck, adding: “Midnight Ghost is the album
we want to be measured by in the future.”
Are there
special reasons for this creative avalanche that was kicked off almost two
years ago and has now culminated in ten new songs?
I’m asking
myself the above question whilst listening to what I thought was a pretty poor
opener in ‘Devil’s Eye’. A potentially good song seems to be drowned by the relentless
double bass drums. But the disappointment didn’t last long as we hit into
‘Revealing The Darkness’, which again starts with the double bass drum, but
soon turns into a very nice verse with some great guitar licking, together with
a killer bridge. Proper metal this, with hints of Accept thrown in for good
measure.
If you’re
into your melodic / hard metal then this album will be for you. I do feel like
these guys are stuck a little in the 80’s which admittedly isn’t a bad thing I
suppose, just not quite for me. Some people move on, some don’t. There’s no
right or wrong in that whatsoever. As we reach ‘Jeanne Boulet 1764’, which
starts in a very Tenacious D way, we are treated to a far more in-depth effort
of what this band can do. A dark, melodic, synth filled anthem which is by far
the best effort on this album so far.I’m loving the start of ‘Divine Inner
Ghost’ with it’s driving riff, a great verse to the song but unfortunately it
doesn’t last long when the chorus kicks in. I’m finding the chorus here all
seem to be a bit too melodic for me. We’ve got good openings to tracks and
verses and then we are let down by the chorus.
Overall a
good album for the metalheads out there. Me personally, I prefer a little more
diversity but I’ve heard a lot worse.
Score 6/10
Reviewed by
Sty
Track Listing
1 – Devil’s Eye
2 – Revealing The Darkness
3 – Ravenous Minds
4 – The Pyre
5 – Jeanne Boulet 1764
6 – Divine Inner Ghost
7 – When Pain Becomes Real
8 – Four Blessings
9 – Haunting Voices
10 – The Path
Line-Up
Andy B.Franck – Vocals
Torsten Ihlenfeld – Guitars
Milan Loncaric – Guitars
Antonio Leva – Bass
Dieter Bernert - Drums