BRAIN DAMAGE - Mind Crimes

11 songs
39:52 minutes
***** ***
(self-released)

Bandpage

Vendetta released two classic albums, Go And Live... Stay And Die and Brain Damage. Despite the undisputable quality of their music, they never achieved the deserved success and so broke up in 1990. In 2002, they did a comeback and have released three albums since then, but once again, to little popular acclaim.

Two members of the original line-up have now founded a new band named after Vendetta’s second album, recruiting three further members that have also been active in the metal scene for a long time. The band name Brain Damage means that the new bands wants to continue where Vendetta stopped in the late Eighties. Their debut album Born To Love... Live To Win, an obvious nod at Vendetta’s first album, came out in 2014, and three years later they are back with Mind Crimes. Both albums have been self-released, with the band currently still looking for a record label.

The opener and title track is actually a lengthy intro, but the first regular track No Respect then shows what Brain Damage are all about: heavy speed metal sounds that make me feel thirty years younger. The following Suicidal Humanity is another fast track with the necessary amount of retro flair. Occasionally the band allows for a slower pace, but it’s the compact fast material that comes quickest to the point. I only have some problems with Bed Of Prokrustes where Brain Damage try to sound more modern by experimenting with nu metal elements, which doesn’t work so well for them. Fortunately there is a lot of more appealing material, like the unusually brutal Fifth Force which is another highlight on the album. Another standout track is the progressive and playful Right To Die. All in all the album’s second half is a little more aggressive, showing that in the end Brain Damage are a little more on the thrash side than Vendetta were, which should be considered an observation and not a point of criticism.

Retro is the name of the game, and those who grew up listening to Vendetta will definitely find a lot to like with Brain Damage. Of course the last thirty years have left their traces, and the musicians were exposed to new influences, so that Brain Damage don’t end up sounding like a mere copy. Their first album was elected "demo of the month" in a big metal magazine, and I have no doubts that Mind Crimes will achieve similar praise. Brain Damage play authentic old school metal that never tries to pander to current trends.