Review by Daniel for Vendetta - Brain Damage (1988)

My experience with second tier Teutonic thrash metal outfit Vendetta began fairly early in my time as a teenage tape trader back in the early 1990’s when I received their first two albums on either side of the one cassette from a reliable European gentleman I’d been corresponding with. I remember them being quite entertaining too & they both received a good few listens over the coming month or so but I think it’s fair to say that my attention had already been well & truly captured by the thriving death metal insurgence by that stage so I’d suggest that Vendetta were always going to be facing an uphill battle in their quest to justify return visits in the longer term. As a result, Vendetta kinda slipped off my radar until a few years ago when I revisited their 1987 debut album “Go & Live… Stay & Die” & found it to offer an enjoyable brand of speed metal-infused thrash, complete with NWOBHM influences, a wonderfully raw guitar tone, an electric energy & some lengthy arrangements that showcased an impressive attention to detail. The vocals & guitar solos weren’t amazing but it was a decent enough first-up effort overall. Ever since that time I’ve been meaning to revisit Vendetta’s most highly regarded release in their 1988 sophomore album “Brain Damage” which seems to have gained somewhat of a cult following over the years.

"Brain Damage" sees legendary German metal producer Harris Johns returning to produce his second Vendetta album only this time he's under the guidance of experienced executive producer Karl-U Walterbach whose resume certainly proceeded him. Walterbach had worked on a string of classic Teutonic metal releases such as Celtic Frost’s “Morbid Tales”, “Emperors Return” & “Into Mega Therion”, Kreator’s “Pleasure To Kill” & Running Wild’s “Port Royal” while Johns’ own CV sported the likes of Helloween’s self-titled E.P. & “Walls of Jericho” debut album, Kreator’s “Pleasure To Kill”, Voivod’s “Killing Technology” & “Dimension Hatross” & Sodom’s “Persecution Mania” so Noise Records had certainly brought in the big guns & “Brain Damage” sounds less raw & more professional than “Go & Live… Stay & Die” as a result. In fact, the clear & bright production quality plays a pretty major role in the appeal of this record as the song-writing isn’t always up to scratch.

The time that Vendetta put into the arrangements on the debut is once again on show here with some quite progressive & slightly technical moments popping up here & there. The musicianship is excellent throughout with the band's performances being super-tight which gives the arrangements their very best chance at success. Vendetta prove themselves to be well capable of creating some great, chuggy thrash riffs but the NWOBHM influence that was so evident on “Go & Live… Stay & Die” is once again fairly obvious here with Iron Maiden being the clear source inspiration, particularly in some of the more progressive sections where bassist Klaus Ullrich is given the chance to shine such as the lengthy instrumental centrepiece “Fade To Insanity”. I mentioned earlier that speed metal played a role in the make-up of the debut & “Brain Damage” is no different in that regard, so much so that I’d suggest that the dual tagging is warranted here. Thrash metal is still the main player but I don’t think you can disregard the significance of the German speed metal contribution as there's often a little ambiguity about which genre has the ascendency.

Once again though, the limiting factor in Vendetta’s metal assault can be found in the vocals of guitarists Achim Hömerlein & Michael Wehner which don’t really meet the mark for a band with such a melodic sensibility in my opinion. Perhaps if Vendetta took a more raw & aggressive approach similar to Kreator or Sodom then I wouldn’t be discussing it so much but Vendetta’s sound is intended to be cleaner & more accessible so I’m not sure that this result has served then particularly well. The raspy vocals certainly don’t hide their German origin but often remind me a lot of Kai Hansen’s dodgy contributions to the early Helloween releases which I wasn’t much of a fan of to begin with.

Despite this shortcoming, there is some reward to be found in “Brain Damage” as the class in the instrumentation is quite impressive. There are a few weaker numbers to be found across the tracklisting (see the title track, “Precious Existence”, Dominance of Violence” & particularly the pointless “Love Song”) but the stronger material is able to balance it out with opener “War”, the previously mentioned instrumental “Fade To Insanity” & the fast & thrashy “Never Die” (my personal favourite) being the best inclusions. I do have to admit that I’d be more likely to reach for the rawer debut album over this one though as it’s simply a little more consistent. Still… if you really dig some of the more underground bands from the Teutonic thrash scene like Grinder, Darkness & Pyacanda then “Brain Damage” will no doubt be of interest to you.