Brainstorm

Brainstorm is a German Power metal band formed in 1989 by guitarist Torsten Ihlenfeld, guitarist Milan Loncaric, and drummer Dieter Bernert.

In the first year, Stefan Fronk was behind the microphone and Peter Waldstätter played bass. In 1991, through member changes, the band was completed by vocalist Marcus Jürgens and bassist Andeas Mailänder. They released their first demo recording, "Hand of Doom" the year after their formation, followed by two more demo albums, "Heart Of Hate", 1992; "The Fifth Season", 1994), until in 1997, after numerous concert appearances, the band received their first record deal. The band produced their first full-length album, "Hungry", entirely by themselves, and then embarked on their first European tour.

For the second album, titled "Unholy", the band enlisted the help of several renowned musicians, including Dirk Schlächter (Gamma Ray) and Charlie Bauerfeind (Blind Guardian). After the release of the album, the German band not only achieved serious professional success as the opening act for Iced Earth, but also won over the audience with their powerful music.

Singer Marcus Jürgens left the band in 1999, and was temporarily replaced by Henne Basse for a few scheduled concerts. Eventually, however, the band asked Andy B. Franck, the singer of Symphorce, which had formed the previous year, to take on the role of frontman. A new record deal was also signed with the new singer, and Metal Blade Records became a serious career opportunity for the increasingly well-known German band.

As a result, not only numerous festival appearances and several European tours (including with Saxon, Edguy, and King Diamond), but also three full-length albums in a short period of time marked the band's importance in the metal world. This led to the release of the albums "Ambiguity" (2000), Metus Mortis (2001) and Soul Temptation (2003). The stylistic features can be primarily understood around the American-style Power metal and the European song-centricity,

and the tension between the two makes the band's material unique during this period.

The fifth album, Liquid Monster, like the previous album, already achieved tangible chart successes, and Brainstorm was released as the main song at several European metal festivals. The band's first official video clip (All Those Words) was also released.

The tour related to the album kept the audience in a fever for a year and a half, with which they visited Hungary three times: after a concert at the Petőfi Csarnok, they were guests at the Sziget Festival in 2005 and 2006, and then in 2007 they performed at the Fehérvár Music Days. Following their success, the band released their first DVD. After an extremely limited edition of nine live recordings (Live Suffering: The Official Bootleg, 2004), they released the double album Honey from the B's (Beasting around the Bush) in 2007.

The same year, they re-released their first two albums in a restored, digitized version, with early demo recordings as a bonus.

Shortly after the end of the concert tour, they released their sixth album, Downburst (2008). The single "Fire Walk With Me", released as the lead-off single, took the band to the top of the charts in Hungary. Following this, the band visited Hungary again: in March 2008, they rocked the Avalon Club stage with Moby Dick.

In 2009, the band signed a contract with a new label and recorded their seventh album, Memorial Roots, which was released in October 2009. This time, the album launch tour took the band to the United States and Mexico, touring with Primal Fear.

The release of the band's new album was followed by a double compilation album "Just Highs No Lows (12 Years Of Persistence)" just a few weeks later, which included the band's most successful songs, rarities, covers, and previously unreleased recordings in Europe.

Following the new tour and other works by Andy B. Franck, the band only started working on their next album in 2011. The recordings took place in 'Studio22' in Ludwigsburg near Stuttgart and were directed by producer Axel Heckert. The album, titled “On The Spur Of The Moment”, was released at the end of September 2011, and a new video was made for the song "In These Walls". The new album only contains elements of the power metal style that was so characteristic of the band before, with melodic themes and singable choruses taking centre stage, which was also observed in the case of Andy B. Franck's other band, Symphorce.

"Firesoul", the band's most successful album to date (number 43 in Germany), was released in April 2014. The 2014 Essen concert, at which Brainstorm played the entire album, is included in the limited edition of the later album "Scary Creatures". "Scary Creatures" also reached number 43 in the German charts. A few months later, cover designer Gyula Havancsak was hired, and the collaboration with Sebastian "Seeb" Levermann (Orden Ogan) began. The resulting album, "Midnight Ghost", was released in 2018.

Brainstorm

Albums

Members

Former members