Artist: Brainstorm
Title: Just Highs No Lows (12 Years of Persistence)
Type: Double Album
Label: Metal Blade

This is a ‘Best of’ compilation from the German Power Metallers. It comprises a selection of tracks from the albums Ambiguity (2000), Metal Mortis (2001), Soul Temptation (2003), Liquid Monster (2005) and Downburst (2008). Then, for those who have everything (in a Brainstorm sense), there are another 10 or so tracks, depending on which version you have, including the ‘Trinity of Lust’ trilogy, various limited edition tracks and live tracks. Running in at about 150 minutes over two CDs, it’s a comprehensive introduction to the band, or top-up as the case may be.

My first encounter with Brainstorm was in 2005 at La Locomotive in Paris. I was standing in the rain waiting to get in to see Mercenary when a couple of guys came out, said a personal hello to everyone waiting and thanked us for coming. I had no idea who these nice people were but given that it said ‘Brainstorm’ on their tops, I guessed they were something to do with the band. A couple of hours later, I realised I’d been speaking to the lead singer and a guitarist. Chests thrust forward, Brainstorm ruled La Locomotive but more importantly, took the audience on a magical journey. The show lasted the best part of two hours, the crowd formed a huge conga and we were all friends. This band knows how to value its audience and give them a good time. The music was great too, and I bought a copy of ‘Liquid Monster’, an album which still gives me pleasure. Listening to ‘Just Highs, No Lows’, it is a great mystery why I haven’t bought any more of Brainstorm’s albums.

‘Just Highs, No Lows’ begins with four tracks off Downburst and works backwards in time. As you would hope and expect, it is the best produced material on this impressive collection, and gives the album an explosive start. Brainstorm’s brand of Power Metal is sophisticated. It’s only when we get to ‘Tear Down the Walls’ off the 2000 album Ambiguity that we hit the full-blown clichéd territory, and even then it’s fun and is followed up with ‘Maharaja Palace’, a track full of Eastern promise. For me, ‘Liquid Monster’ as the album that I already owned was the yardstick and all the qualities of that album are here. Every track is strong on melody, there’s a sharp sense of the dramatic in the guitar work and vocals without deviation towards pomposity. The whole thing is as smooth as a pint of Guinness. The opening track ‘Falling Spiral Down’ is an absolute belter and lays down the standard. It’s serious without inducing long faces. The melody is typically fast and fluid, there are lots of nice touches throughout and the chorus is catchy and anthemic. It’s perhaps strange to compare Brainstorm with Nevermore but there is a similar level of intensity and especially on a vocal level, there’s an emotive passion about it. And these guys can play, as you might expect of a band which has been developing its brand of Power Metal since 1989. The standard is maintained. Each track has its identity and above all, it’s audience-friendly. What are the highlights? Well, it doesn’t really work like that as each track stands imperially on its own. The variety is interesting. Even the ballads like ‘End in Sorrow’ have punch, and then if that’s not to your taste it’s immediately followed by the rip-roaring melodies of ‘How do you Feel’. ‘Fornever’ is one of a number tracks which are vaguely militaristic and certainly majestic, while the impression given on ‘Soul Temptation’ is that an exotic story is being told. There’s a dark side too, which ensures that the music rises above the normal surreal level of Power Metal. ‘The Leading’ in particular has a sense of impending danger about its construction. ‘Doorway to Survive’ wins the prize for being the catchiest song. The rising chorus is pure class. The track chugs on like a train in the night. The second cd maintains the standard even though it’s earlier material and from different sources. My personal favourite is ‘Under Lights’, which has a great acoustic line. The strangest track on my copy of the cd is the band’s version of ‘Is this the Way to Amarillo’. It’s hardly award-winning stuff, but it’s fun. It also proves, if it needs to be proved, that the band may be a serious band but don’t take themselves too seriously.

Like the concert I went to, this compilation is as audience-friendly as it gets. In fact I’ve become obsessed with it. It’s a great listen, technically excellent and I highly recommend it. Just Highs, no Lows indeed.

http://www.truemetal.org/brainstorm
http://www.myspace.com/officialbrainstorm
http://www.metalblade.de

Andrew Doherty

MTUK HOME