BRAINSTORM: Climbing Above The Wall Of Skulls
Interview by Ken Morton Wall Of Skulls by Brainstorm is the 13th epic release from this famed German heavy metal collective, and it’s a thrilling sonic adventure well worth seeking out. Featuring the mesmerzing vocals of Andy B. Franck and produced by Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann of Orden Ogan infamy, Wall Of Skulls presents Brainstorm in their finest hour! Highwire Daze recently interviewed the one and only Mr. Andy B. Franck to find out more about the story behind Walls Of Skulls, and working not only with Seeb from Orden Ogan but Peter “Peavy” Wagner of Rage as well on the album. Also discussed was Andy B. Franck’s time spent within the ranks of Symphorce and more! Read on... Is there any overall story or concept behind that title Wall Of Skulls? No, not really. It’s just the idea I had months ago when Torsten our guitarist came to me and said he wanted to have a title which was really catchy, which sounds really heavy. And I had this idea about Wall Of Souls, which is really more less what I think happens in all our minds – especially over the last couple of years with all this social media stuff and 18
all the religious problems we have in the Far East for example. You could take a look down at Israel and Palestine for example – you have dead bodies on both sides every time – so it’s people getting killed because of rockets – because of bombs and everything. There’s so much hate and anger and fear – everything on both sides – they’re really not able to talk to each other anymore. I have no idea what will happen in the future, because they’ve built up a wall in their head – no one is able to climb above it. And I call this wall a Wall Of Skulls because it’s built out of dead bodies. So that’s more or less the idea behind the album title. But it’s no concept album. Let’s talk about some of the songs and some of people you worked with on Wall Of Skulls. Sebastian “Seeb” Levermann of Orden Ogan was the producer – what was it like working with him? I’ve known Seeb for many years now. To me, it’s my third album working with him, and for Brainstorm it’s the second – and I think what makes the big difference working with Seeb to all the other guys we’ve already worked with is that you can call him a real producer. I think the real difference is that more or less he becomes the sixth member of the band for the time we’re in the studio. He’s not just sitting there behind March/April 2022
HIGHWIRE DAZE
