Brainfever

Ah 1984, arguably Metal’s finest year. And that year from Germany, which arguably delivered the finest True Steel worldwide during the first half of the 1980s, came the first full- length release from the excellently-named BRAINFEVER. After existing in various forms since the 1970s and having released a single the previous year, these four Deutschlanders cranked out a cracking effort for Mausoleum Records. I cannot tell you where or when I first encountered ‘Capture the Night’- I don’t even remember where I bought the record- but it has been a mainstay in my collection for ages, as it delivers some truly top-notch tunes of heavy, classy straight-up Metal.

The album starts out firing on all eight with the immense ‘Into the Sky’, wherein the band wastes no time putting their considerable chops on display. BRAINFEVER excelled at writing strongly melodic songs that contained heavy, chugging rhythms, sharp leadwork, and the tremendous vocals of Horst Neumann, whose deep-but-not-gravelly voice gives the songs a warm, full texture that really sets the band a notch above many of their German counterparts. The band had a knack for writing epic, soaring numbers, and it’s on full display within minutes of this first tune getting started. Follow-up ‘Hangman’ begins with an organ intro and some chanting (kinda odd) but then the song opens up and is quite strong. Track 3 is the immense ‘Danger in the Night’, which again highlights the band’s ability to capture insanely memorable melodies in a manner that is simultaneously classy and heavy. Side A then loses the plot a bit, as ‘Thunder and Lightning’ falls flat and ‘Dirty Streets’ doesn’t leave a strong impression.

Side B plays out in a similar manner. Opener ‘Brainfever’ is good but gets eclipsed by follow-up ‘Capture the Night’. For those keeping score, this is the third absolutely brilliant track on the album, we’re talking all-time, Best Of Kraut Metal songs here. Then we hit the somewhat tiresome ‘Midnight Train’, and this is where I go off on a tangent for a moment. Trains seem to be a damn hard topic to successfully incorporate into Metal songs, as it seems most bands feel compelled to introduce a Western and/or bluesy tone into the song when they sing about a train. This just does not work for me. Granted, trains aren’t as egregious in Metal songs as brass instruments or saxophones, and yes I can think of a couple of Metal train songs that avoided these pitfalls and worked out alright (Ozzy’s ‘Crazy Train’, GnR’s ‘Night Train’), but in general my recommendation for aspiring Metal musicians is to avoid writing songs about trains; you’ll most likely go off the rails pretty badly (no way was I gonna pass up that pun!). To be fair, ‘Midnight Train’ doesn’t have a bluesy or Western vibe to it, but the song still doesn’t work too well, so my point stands. Side B does wrap up better though. While neither ‘Tool for the Show’ (gotta love some of those German song titles) nor ‘Suicide’ reach the same glorious heights of the album’s highlights, both are solid songs that feature some great guitar work so no complaints here.

The end result of all this is an album that’s really good but can feel a tad uneven since the songs span the full range from majestically monumental to very blasé. Given the multiple highlights hereon, I was always rather surprised and disappointed that BRAINFEVER didn’t last longer (they released one more LP and an EP) and that none of the members seemed to ever resurface in other groups, as these guys had some serious talent and strong songwriting skills. Alas, such was the fate of many a great, unsung 80s metal band. So while ‘Capture the Night’ is not some ultra-obscure collector rarity or tr00 kv1t unknown, don’t hesitate to capture a copy for your collection; it’s a strong, unique piece of German metal that shouldn’t be overlooked.