BRAINSTORM Wall of Skulls | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by AFM Records on September 17th, 2021

Quick Background

Brainstorm is a German power metal band formed in 1989 by guitarists Torsten Ihlenfeld and Milan Loncaric, and drummer Dieter Bernert. After releasing two albums, the band stabilized the line-up with the arrival of singer Andy B. Franck and the release of Ambiguity in 2000. They are known to play a somewhat darker style of music than most power metal groups. I really like this band and I have seen them live a couple of times. However, I don't know their discography deeply as they are more of a 'best of' band for me. With that said, Soul Temptation from 2003 may be their best album, and actually their latest albums have been consistently good. Their previous album for example Midnight Ghost (2018) did very well for me and it may be one of their best. So let's see what 2021 brings us.

Wall of Skulls

Wall of Skulls is their 13th studio album. With a stable lineup and a sequence of good records, Brainstorm is back with their power metal. The new effort features an intro track and 10 proper tracks. All of them around the 4 minute mark totaling 45 minutes of high energy and dark power metal. 

"Where Ravens Fly" starts with a Helloween flavor. But when the vocals start, the similarities are reduced. Franck's voice is nothing like their compatriots, meaning no high pitched screams. But rather a lower register with melody vocal approach. Speaking of melody, the guitar solos throughout the album are also very melodic instead of a million notes per second. Check "End of My Innocence" for a great example of it. 

Wall of Skulls is also spiced up by two guest singers that fit the band very well. Peavy, the Rage mastermind, can be heard on the heavy "Escape the Silence" (albeit he only sings a short bridge) and Seeb from Orden Ogan on another heavy one "Turn Off the Light". Such a powerful contribution to this Judas Priest inspired tune. Seeb is also the producer and again did a good job creating a modern and bombastic power metal production. I mean, how huge is the chorus of "Solitude"? What a great sing along while fist pumping song.  A short but nice guitar solo reminding me of a Bach organ phrase. Furious double-bass drums set the tone for "Stigmatized (Shadows Fall)" another heavy song with top-notch guitar work.  

I know that "Glory Disappears" has some weird lyrics, actually overall the lyrics are not their strong point, but anyways I love this song. It's so catchy and fun to sing along. This chorus is tattooed in my head already. "I, the Deceiver" keeps the energy high until the very end, this epic feel song brings up the Judas Priest influence to close the album on another very high note. To top it off, as in Midnight Ghost, another great album artwork that reminds me of Axel Rudi Pell's Game of Sins.  

The Picky Guy

The second half of the album while still good is not as powerful as the first one, with a couple of songs with less impact namely "My Dystopia" and specially "Holding On". Other than that nothing really to complain here. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

Brainstorm. has again proven that they deserve much more attention from the metal community. Wall of Skulls is another power metal masterclass. Catchy without becoming cheesy, full of hooks without becoming happy metal and  melodic but also powerfully heavy.  

SCORE: 84/100

Genre: Power Metal

Released by AFM Records on September 17th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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ABORTED Maniacult | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Century Media Records on September 10th, 2021

Quick Background

Aborted is a Belgian death metal band formed in 1995 with their debut album released in 1999. The founder and only constant member is Sven de Caluwé (vocals). Aborted's current lineup now features members from Belgium, The Netherlands and the US. The band has released ten studio albums before Maniacult. 

Maniacult

This is therefore their 11th studio album following 2018's TerrorVision. Maniacult features 11 tracks and clocks in at 41 minutes. Track number one functions as a long intro and track 7 is a short and dark piano instrumental. This song is actually the only moment of easy in an album that is bone-crushing for the other 37 minutes and 9 proper tracks. While being a death metal band, Aborted uses elements of grind and black metal. Specially due to the versatility of frontman Sven. 

My favorite songs on the album were released as video singles. Following the intro, the title track is an instant punch in the face. Double bass drums at full speed and aggressiveness throughout the 3.5 minutes including a breakdown and a melodic guitar solo. Actually the guitar solos are very interesting on this album. Never overdone but very tasteful and technical with melody. "Impetus Odi" has a well produced video which shows gory images that include skulls, brains and human sacrifice. Musically, same aggression but this is a groovier track. It reminds me of the latest albums from Cattle Decapitation, very nice track. And for the track “Dementophobia” the band has made a very special “Scooby-Doo” inspired video clip. Watch it below. It is also my favorite song of the album. It's the song the balances aggression, groove and melody the best. Track 9 "Drag Me to Hell" is one of the longest songs on the album with just above 5 minutes. It features a moody guitar intro which is a nice way to catch your breath. But the tempo increases after almost two minutes to the same aggression we have experience throughout the album. Still the song maintains some influence of a more atmospheric sound. 

Two other  highlights for me are: "Ceremonial Ineptitude" another groovy track with extreme aggression. This one makes me thing of Emperor and again features a nice guitar solo. And "Grotesque" going a bit traditional metal with those guitar riffs. Finally, also shout out to the artwork, I like it a lot.  Kind of Aliens meets the Walking Dead. 

The Picky Guy

There's one thing that bugs me, the constant use of 'ugh'. Totally unnecessary IMHO, but not a deal breaker. Other than that, not all songs capture my attention as the best ones on the album, so in that sense it is a bit inconsistent affair. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

Aborted have been making quality death metal for years and Maniacult shows no sign of slowing it down. It's nothing really new or that we haven't heard before, but it's well written and executed. A good album that should please the band fans and death metal fans in general, so give it a try if that fits you. 79/100 is what I am going for. 

SCORE: 79/100

Genre: Death Metal

Released by Century Media Records on September 10th, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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IRON MAIDEN Senjutsu | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by Parlophone Records on September 3rd, 2021

Quick Background

Iron Maiden. needs no introduction. By many measures, it is the biggest metal band on the planet. My first album, my first band, my first guitar riff, my first show...and so forth. So yes, as a fan for most of their career I remember when Somewhere in Time was released as their new album in 1986. And I have followed every new release since then. I have also been to almost all new album tours since Fear of The Dark. Because of that I can be very critical and have high expectations. I also must say that I love all phases of the band, the only two albums that I don't really like are Fear of the Dark and Virtual XI. So I do appreciate the 2000's albums and the progressive direction. So let's get to it. 

Senjutsu 

The 17th studio album is again a double CD, now with 10 songs and clocking in at 82 minutes. The order of the 10 tracks and the CD split was very well thought. The first 3 songs and the first part of "Lost In A Lost World" are great and very different from previous efforts. The title track is surprising and distinct from anything the band has done before. Niko's drumming inspired by Taiko drummers of Japan is absolutely mesmerizing. The guitarwork and song structure, it's very distinctive and stands out. The first single "The Writing On The Wall " is also different from other tracks due to its folk influence. Great guitarwork from Adrian. The second single "Stratego" is short but inventive, diverse and powerful. A full review on the description below. Now this is the first moment on the album that I get bothered by unnecessary loud keyboards. On the other hand, "Lost In A Lost World" is a perfect use of keyboards to create this base for the acoustic strumming guitars in this unique moody intro. All the vocal layers and effects are a new experiment for the band. And it worked nicely. After 2 minutes though, we transition to a traditional Harris galloping riffs and a trademark hooks and guitar leads. It sounds a lot like "Brave New World". This is the first hint of something that is bothering some fans, the recycling of ideas, riffs and chord progressions. I still think it's a decent track. That feeling can be exacerbated by "The Time Machine" which is a great song and I love the chorus. But it does resemble "The Talisman" quite a lot with a hint of "The Book of Souls". "Darkest Hour" is already one of my all time favorite slow tempo songs from Maiden. This Smith/Dickinson tale about Churchill is very similar to something they would release in Bruce's solo album. And by the way, what great guitar solos in it! Overall, Senjutsu is probably Maiden's album with the highest number of guitar solos and they are very interesting and somewhat different from their solos in previous albums. "Days Of Future Past" the shortest and simplest song on the album brings us back to the very early days. I think it's cool they always add a couple of songs like it.    

Then of course we have CD2 featuring the last 3 epic songs. Together they add up to 35 minutes of music by Harris alone. Those tracks are what I think is causing some devise opinion among fans. I see people loving them and others hating them. The other thing is that they are darker tunes, in that sense they take me back to Blaze Bayley era. "Death Of The Celts " specially is almost as a sequel to "The Clansman" and "The Parchment" resembles "Sign Of The Cross". "Hell On Earth" is one of my favorites on the album, closing it with this sad but hopeful feeling, I just love the melodies on this one, the pace and how huge the sort of chorus sound. I think it's a magnificent album closer. I can't understand how a Maiden fan won't love this one. Once you get into the song, when you hear the guitar melodies foreshadowing the goose bumping verses to come later. And by the way there are not a lot of repetition on this song and that's the beauty is a long journey with huge payoffs when we get to those amazing vocal melodies. Specially verse 5 and 6 starting with 'I wish I could go back' and the ending bridge 'Love in anger, life in danger / Lost in anger, life in danger'. Masterpiece! 

The Picky Guy

As I noticed in Stratego and Writing on the Wall, I still think that the vocals are often a bit low on the mix. With that said except for the YouTube mix, it's not a big deal. But the over use of keyboards it is! Sometimes it is so loud on the mix that irritates me, e.g. "Stratego". I have no idea why Steve felt the need to stuff keyboards everywhere, specially when you already have three guitar players. So overall, I don't like the production. Not coincidently the Smith/Dickinson songs sound best. 

Many are complaining about the song lengths and recycling of ideas, that doesn't really bother me personally. I have a magic solution, wait for it...you can just not listen to the second CD! But seriously, Since the come back with BNW, I haven't been bothered by the longer songs, actually they are usually my favorites. On the same token, I like all of them here in Senjetsu, but it's undeniable that they were stretched. The album is just 2 minutes shy of being a single CD, I'd hate to think they pushed for double CD and triple vinyl for commercial reasons as the prices of this release have honestly been outrageous. I say that because by cutting the long fadeout of Hell on earth and the wave samples on darkest hour would already suffice. Otherwise "The Parchment" is the clearest example of a song overextended with a lot of repetition, Bruce himself criticized this one on an interview. With that said, at 8:34 Bruce burst this amazing melody 'we are ready to believe' followed by two great verses and closing with a fantastic scream 'meet me there'. It's so great that the song could end here and save 3 minutes. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

Dark and more melancholic album than the previous records, probably due to most compositions being by Harris, leads to similarities and callbacks to the Bailey albums. When it comes to music writing, this is one of the best and most consistent album since 7th Son and at par with my post 80's favorites A Matter of Life and Death and Brave New World. But production wise it is underwhelming and at points downright irritating. Look, divisive big bands such as Maiden will always cause people to complain, it's the classic reaction that when I read in posts becomes comical. Half of people will complain it sounds the same and the other half will complain that it doesn't sound like Powerslave or something else from the 80's. I don't care, either way, if I enjoy the music, I like it and period. To me this is a very good album, 86/100, and there's a chance that I will increase that with time. 

SCORE: 86/100

Genre: Heavy Metal

Released by Parlophone Records on September 3rd, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

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