Märvel’s 10th album in almost 25 years, and still a three-piece. Honestly, what’s not to like?
“Look It’s Rock and Roll” sets the tone immediately. The boy Nicke Andersson has a lot to answer for — because if you love that strain of high-energy Scandinavian rock he helped turbo-charge, then this is absolutely in that lineage. In fact, The Hellacopters would love this. There’s a solo before anything really begins, harmonies stacked to the rafters, and two and a half minutes of pure, concentrated joy.
“A Beautiful Corpse” follows with the kind of guitars Thin Lizzy would have killed for, only sharpened with a metal edge. And the near title track “Brain Drain”? At five minutes long it’s damn near prog rock, but it’s a beauty; expansive without ever losing its punch.
Everything here lives and dies by its riffs, and “Take A Stand” proves the point emphatically. “How Much Can I Wait” adds depth and a touch of cinematic shimmer—something that, in other bands’ hands, would probably become a tender ballad. Not Märvel’s stock-in-trade, though, and all the better for it.
The NWOBHM-flavoured “Biding My Time” is a merry little throwback, while “Lord of the Gilded Cage” shows the cleverness in their songwriting that their more obvious peers just don’t quite have. They know how to twist familiar shapes into something that feels fresh.
If you love classic-sounding power pop served with a side order of rock ’n’ roll, Märvel have you covered. “Time Has A Way” underlines it: “time has a way of healing scars,” they sing, and the same can absolutely be said of rock itself.
“Butt To The Head” brings a flash of fatigue and world weariness—“I’m not dead yet, just dead tired”—and if life really is wearing them down, then the thunderous “Steal The Night” more than settles the score. It’s a trouble-finding, trouble-inviting anthem.
Since the late ’90s, when the postman was trotting down my drive with the latest 7” from whichever Scandinavian band was next in line, I’ve been listening to this stuff. And “Brain Drain Diaries” is as good as it gets.
RATING: 9/10
