Brainstorm - Firesoul

Power Metal
AFM
2014










1. Erased By The Dark
2. Firesoul
3. Descendants Of The Fire
4. Entering Solitude
5. Recall The Real
6. Shadowseeker
7. Feed Me Lies
8. What Grows Inside
9. The Chosen
10. ...And I Wonder

I've always liked Brainstorm though I'm not sure I could say I've ever quite loved them. Never really a top tier power metal band, they have none the less made some material I've liked and I do quite enjoy Andy B. Franck's vocals.  Basically, they have qualified as a good power metal band if not a favorite or a leader of the pack in my eyes. With that in mind I went into this one with modest expectations, but some curiosity. It had been awhile since they Really peaked my interest, but I'd also love to hear something like Metus Mortis or Soul Temptation again. What I wanted was some good German power metal heaviness.

Well, what I wanted was pretty much what I got. This is some heavy German power metal. Firesoul is a straight forward sort of album as it just focuses on blazing ahead, keeping the head up, and keeping the listener's head banging. Mission accomplished I would say as the band sounds good with the pedal to the floor and just focusing on laying down some heavy riffs while Andy B Franck soars above them with his Bruce Dickinson reminiscent sound and projection. There's not a huge amount of variation here and this is pretty no frills, but that kind of works to the album's benefit. Basically, there is an obvious formula, but the formula is solid. Firesoul is the kind of album I could easily see myself throwing on when I just want high energy/something to pump me up. There are a few moments of the more melodic to vary things just a bit though and those are also appreciated in that sort of way. Entering The Solitude uses a short melodic passage to set up the song early on and a couple others do make wider use of a mid paced, melodic approach. These include Recall The Real with it's chanting and paced approach as well as the highlight ...And I Wonder. That one just nails the mid paced approach as it allows Franck's vocals to breathe nicely and comes off as very powerful. Also worth noting is a nice touch of piano included in it.

Overall, this album is about 75% the same sort of song, but it just does a good job of it. Sometimes you want an album that just charges ahead and this fits into that sort of a niche. Perhaps not complicating things too much is to this band's benefit as this is the best album I've heard from them in awhile. I guess you can overthink things sometimes and getting back to basics serves Brainstorm well. If you just want some good, heavy, straight up German power metal than this is pretty satisfying.

Highlights: Descendants Of The Fire, Entering Solitude, ...And I Wonder

Rating - 3.5/5