Band:
Andy B. Franck (Vocals)
Torsten Ihlenfeld (Guitar)
Milan Loncaric (Guitar)
Antonio Ieva (Bass)
Dieter Bernert (Drums)
Discography:
Hungry (1997)
Unholy (1998)
Ambiguity (2000)
Metus Mortis (2001)
Soul Temptation (2003)
Liquid Monster (2005)
Downburst (2008)
Memorial Roots (2009)
Guests:
Info
recorded in the Studio 22 with Axel Heckert
mixed at the Gate Studio by Sascha Paeth and Miro
Released 30/9-2011
Reviewed 20/9-2011
Links:
brainstorm-web.net
myspace
afm records
Well, let’s keep our focus at Andy to begin with, and here’s no big news really. Andy sing high pitched and low pitched like always and does it like a king, yet I’m not blown away by it. Sure, it souns good and there’s nothing wrong with it anywhere but it just don’t seem that amazing as it did 5-6 years ago since there’s nothing new about the way he does it anymore. It’s pretty much identical to how it was back then. Musically I believe they’ve roughed it up a bit. The guitars seems more aggressive, maybe even a bit rock ’n’ roll, than I remember them but the melodies are quite familiar, which means they are straight forward, harmonical and seems to lead in to something all the time. Overall though, the feeling is that it hasn’t happened a lot here either – Brainstorm keeps heading forward on the road they’ve been going on so far also this time. And this is something they can do and can do well.
In the background of the songs throughout the album they have theese ”mood sounds” that makes the album more dense and fun to listen at compared to if they only played their pretty straight forward heavy metal that their music is otherwise. One thing that I’ve always liked about Brainstorm, and Symphorce too as the matter of fact, is how they double and triple the vocals from Andy to make them sound more dense and deep – and better. It’s quite normal that Andy sings both the leads and background vocals and all alternative song lines on the albums, making him sing over himself as the dying tones are crossed by the next. These things may, however, harm the live performance somewhat, but on the album it sounds great when they do this! In my opinion, Andys voice might not evolve anything from where it is today but considering how good his voice is, that's kind of a small issue. I would love to hear him explore different things with his voice and not just stay inside the barriers he's set up, but there's definitely bands and vocalists that's harmed much more by not doing this than Brainstorm and Andy. When all is considered, they vary themselves quite a lot already and have showed that they can do good music with much variation. And if you think I've been giving Andy a hard time so far - I still consider him one of the best voices within power metal, it's just that this is his fourteenth album since 1999 and when he doesn't try anything new anymore it might get a bit repetitious.
'The Spur of the Moment' is a 46 minutes long album that feels like it ends all too fast overtime I hear it. I don't think anything is revolutionized by it but all fans of power metal, and especially fans of Brainstorm and Symphorce it's as given as it is to dress in warm clothes when it's cold outside… unless you're quicksilver poisoned and have burning skin of course. B!
HHHHHHH
