Brainstorm - Liquid Monster
Brainstorm equals quality Power Metal and there is nothing new under the sun on their new studio album entitled Liquid Monster, naturally following in the wake of their successful Soul Temptation.
We are offered 11 new songs, ranging from high-speed Power Metal grenades, over groovy mid-tempo cuts to melodic semi-ballads.
Brainstorm is a well oiled and forcefully built machine ready to strike down any obstacles with a massive wall of intense sounds. This task only gets more manageable thanks to a vigorous and bombastic production.

A song like Worlds Are Comin' Through is very typical for the band, having a rough rhythm section, high quality and diverse drums and a memorable chorus line. Added spacey and dynamic key sounds and intelligent guitar soloing we are well underway to a great song, only wish they had dropped the minor vocal distortions.

In All Those Words Andy is joined by a female singer in the very melodic refrain, it adds another layer and it works very well. His strong and yet sensitive voice is a trademark of the band, a very talented singer able to change his approach when needed.

Heavenly beautifully melts warm acoustic guitars, dreaming keys and harmonious vocals together into a slow and melodic whole, clearly one of the album's best songs.
When focusing on the fast side of this monster, Despair To Drown comes to mind. A thrilling track with heavy riffs, phenomenal drumming, thundering guitar leads and rock solid bass passages.

What keeps this from being a more successful album is a dose of rather uninteresting elements found in considerable portions, especially the choruses at times seem too traditional and unchallenging. Invisible Enemy has one of them and a very monotone one indeed, a song that never really gets under my skin.
Burns My Soul also has a hard time holding my attention fixed. It's just too vague in character and don't really bring much exciting to the table, slowly grooving towards a flat ending.
Don't get me wrong; I like this album a lot, even the not so cool songs still rock to some degree, but I'm missing a higher average quality and one or two really fabulous tracks.

When turning to the actual execution of the songs I especially enjoy the technical and intense drumming but all members display very good performances, the bass is in my opinion hidden a bit too far away in the creative process though.
These guys surely know how to hold things together and I have always had a soft spot for their compact structures and bombastic rhythm section, still not reaching the heights found on the amazing Ambiguity album.

Dealing with personal struggles and aspects of forgiveness and sorrow indicates a quite humanistic lyrical sphere, about reaching deep within one self, all in all its good stuff and it nicely fits the mood of the songs.

What it isn't: Innovative and highly spectacular.
What it is: Reliable, ultra solid and well crafted.

Written by Tommy
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Show all reviews by Tommy

Ratings

Tommy: 6.5/10

Members: No members have rated this album yet.


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RevelationZ Comments


Comment by metalman (Anonymous) - Saturday, March 26, 2005
i dont get it, i go to the metal-temple site ,and there they give
it a review of just short of amazing, and here it gets 6.5

wtf


Comment by metalman (Anonymous) - Saturday, March 26, 2005
heres my review for the following

new judas priest cd: angel.. - sucks big time,

new kamelot cd -halo - pure awesome

new hammerfall cd - chapter V - fucking crap, just so boring


Comment by BlindPanzer (Anonymous) - Monday, March 28, 2005
6.5 is not bad. On a 10 point scale a 5 would be something decent (neither great nor bad) so I would agree completely with Tommy. Brainstorm is a good band and the album is good... it's just not great. They have never been able to capture that great live sense they put on their shows.. If they ever do, then I can tell you that won't be a 6.5 albun, buddy.

Keep up the good work Tommy \m/


Comment by Megaman (Anonymous) - Monday, April 4, 2005
Metalman: I won't argue with you about the new Hammerfall album. One of the worst metal records I have bought in my life.


Comment by metalman (Anonymous) - Wednesday, April 6, 2005
thank god somone agrees with me
on the hammerfall cd - what the hell where they thinking, i dont know,im still in shock


Comment by darren (Anonymous) - Wednesday, May 4, 2005
just heard a track off the new brainstorm(liquid monster)it sounds awsome,carnt wait to get the disk,just goes to show fellow metal heads "reviews"are everything"to buying power metal+
metal cds!,although sometimes,the reviewer does get it wrong but..
thats life i suppose.











Review by Tommy
None

Released by
Metal Blade - 2005

Tracklisting
1. Worlds Are Comin' Through
2. Inside The Monster
3. All Those Words
4. Lifeline
5. Invisible Enemy
6. Heavenly
7. Painside
8. Despair To Drown
9. Mask Of Life
10. Even Higher
11. Burns My Soul


Supplied by Target


Style
Power Metal

Related links
Visit the band page

Brainstorm - Official Website

Other articles
Ambiguity - (Tommy)

Soul Temptation - (David)



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Ratings
1 - Horrifying
2 - Terrible
3 - Bad
4 - Below average
5 - Average
6 - Good
7 - Very good
8 - Outstanding
9 - Genius
10 - Masterpiece
666 - Unrated

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