On their seventh release, Germany's Brainstorm keep the fires burning that they started smoldering with 2005's Liquid Monster. Downburst, produced by Sascha Paeth and Miro, takes the trademark Brainstorm sound (hard to believe these guys have been at this for close to 18 years now), which features soaring vocal harmonies, catchy guitar riffs, and speedy rhythms. Fans of hook laden power metal should eat this stuff right up, with tunes like "Redemption in Your Eyes" and "Falling Spiral Down" having plenty of anthemic qualities, such as larger-than-life sing along choruses, sweeping keyboards, crunchy guitar work, and manic double bass drums. If you like more crushing, heavier material, look no further than "Fire Walk With Me", a real groove-laden yet beefy metal rocker, featuring a great vocal from bandleader Andy B. Franck. Brainstorm are also quite adept at power ballads, such as the passionate & majestic "End in Sorrow", or the ultra memorable "How Do You Feel", which should thrill fans of 80's metal. I'm reminded of vintage Rainbow or even Symphony X on the menacing "Protect Me From Myself", complete with complex neo-classical riffs from Torsten Thlenfeld & Milan Loncaric, and "Surrounding Walls" is just solid symphonic metal for all you fans of Kamelot or Nightwish, featuring huge vocal hooks from Franck, orchestral keyboards, and some memorable guitar punch.
By the time you get to the final track "All Alone", which is a powerful melodic metal tune, you realize there's not a dud in the bunch here, and each song is instantly memorable and warrants the replay button. If you thought Brainstorm peaked with Liquid Monster, think again. Downburst is highly recommended to melodic power metal fans of all ages.
Track Listing
1. Falling Spiral Down
2. Fire Walk With Me
3. Stained With Sin
4. Redemption In Your Eyes
5. End In Sorrow
6. How Do You Feel
7. Protect Me From Myself
8. Surrounding Walls
9. Frozen
10. All Alone
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