Rockezine.com interview with Brainstorm on Jul 15, 2003

with Torsten on Jul 15, 2003


		Your new album “Soul Temptation” will be released soon. First of all let me congratulate you, it is a great album! Thanks for the compliment.
		You probably haven’t had many reactions to the album yet, since the release date is still quite far away. How have the reactions to the album been so far and what do you think of the album yourself? We get amazing reactions from everywhere; people seem to love the album. Speaking for ourselves, we think it is the best Brainstorm album so far and we are very proud of it.
		What can the fans expect from “Soul Temptation”? The best and most various Brainstorm album ever, with everything you love to hear on a Brainstorm album, and way more you will love to hear, but didn’t expect. There are a lot of heavy guitars of course, pounding drums, unforgettable melodies; music created with a mix of passion and anger.
		How would you introduce Brainstorm to the Rockezine readers? Heavy guitars, pounding drums, unforgettable melodies; music created with a mix of passion and anger. ;-)
		Andy B. Franck, singer of Symphorce, joined Brainstorm some years ago. How has he adapted to your playing style and how do things work out in general? As he is not involved in the basic song writing process, like it always has been in Brainstorm, it is definitely his great voice and personality, his nearly unbeatable qualities as a front man that he brought into Brainstorm. So, things are going very well.
		Being in two bands at the same time, sometimes leads to conflicts; touring, song writing and recording to name a few. How does the band deal with this situation? Things work out perfect. Andy is a great vocalist and the best choice we could make. It’s like finding the missing link and not the 5th wheel on the wagon.
		Brainstorm doesn’t really play typical European power metal, in fact the band sounds more American to me than European. Where does Brainstorm find inspiration to write such material and what bands have influenced you the most? The inspiration comes from deep inside of us. Bands that we love among others are Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Savatage, Metal Church, Queensrÿche, Megadeth, Testament and many, many more.
		Concerning the previous question, there has been quite a power/heavy metal explosion in Europe in the past few years, but like mentioned before, Brainstorm doesn’t really compare. Have you nevertheless benefited from this explosion? Oh yes, of course. You know, we have been around since 1989, so we survived that grunge and alternative thing. Real metal is back in the eye of the media and fans since quite a number of years and that’s really great.
		In Holland power metal is not so popular and the scene is small, while in most other European countries the scene is flourishing. Have you noticed this lack of interest or have you been received well here? And what do you think is the reason for this? I haven’t recognized a lack of interest in Holland. Our concerts we played in Holland have been very well and reactions of the fans have been great. Also, a lovely Dutch woman and her husband are running our website (http://www.brainstormweb.com), on which they do an amazing job, by the way, so we have found good friends in Holland and those two Dutch people (and others I know) are really into heavy metal, believe me.
		The eternal debate: Hammerfall, you either love them or hate them. What do you think of Hammerfall and that kind of heavy metal bands in general, who basically recycle old material, yet they seem to be immensely popular? Things started to grow again with Hammerfall, so it is definitely great that Hammerfall appeared on the scene some years ago. They have been one of the reasons for the growing interest of fans and media and Hammerfall brought back metal into the minds of many people. I guess there’s nothing more to add.
		Back to the new album, can you tell us a bit more about the concept of the album; I’m especially interested in hearing the idea behind ‘The Trinity Of Lust’? Main focus is, of course, the trilogy. The lyrical concept in short: The story is about a man, who gets imprisoned in the dungeons of the Maharajas. The last thing he hears is Shiva’s voice and he gets obsessed by seeing the woman behind that voice. As he manages to escape and find Shiva, he gets tempted, but just to reawaken Shiva’s father, not for pleasure. As he realizes, he has awakened from the hypnosis and escapes, but only to see that it’s only his body that is free again, his soul is still tempted.
		There’s some oriental sounding elements in the previously mentioned trinity, which give the songs a nice extra flavour. Where did this inspiration come from, is it inspired by the theme of the songs or just a separate idea? We all, especially Milan and me, love those oriental harmonies and the instruments from the orient. Also, it is a very interesting culture with a great history, so, it is a fictive story, but somehow connected with real history.
		My absolute favourite song is the title track, there’s some really excellent guitar riffs in it. The song reminds me slightly of Savatage’s older work. Is this a coincidence or are there really some Savatage influences in the song? Cool, this is also one of my favourites. I don’t think it is influenced by Savatage, although Savatage is a great band, but they are not the only band in the world that can write such monumental, intense songs with a great atmosphere.
		Do you have a favourite track yourself? The whole trilogy with “Shiva’s Tears”, “Fornever” and “Soul Temptation”, and “Highs Without Lows” are some of my favourites.
		Has Metal Blade planned a tour for you already? Wouldn’t it be practical to tour together with Symphorce or is that not going to happen? That won’t happen, but we are in the middle of negotiations for a tour in autumn of this year. We will keep you updated on any news on our homepage.
		To finish, a rather silly question; recently it came to my attention that some Latvian (I believe) Eurovision song contest band have named themselves Brainstorm as well. Is this legal and do you care about this? We don’t care. There are so many different things that are called Brainstorm. We, some other bands, factories, booking agencies… we can deal with it, because our fans really know which Brainstorm is the real Brainstorm.
		Well that’s it! Thank you very much for answering my questions and I wish you all the luck with the release of “Soul Temptation”! Do you want to add anything to this interview? Well, I hope you all love the new album as much as we do. We are very proud of the result. The limited edition will be a double digipack including a bonus-DVD with our concert from last years Summer Breeze Festival, a new video clip for “Highs Without Lows” and some very cool artwork. Be sure you don’t miss it. Thanks and cheers - Torsten
		(Frank van de Voorde)