Bulgarian-led metal project Brainmaze is born out of a long and interesting backstory that’s finally seeing the light of day with an “aggressive, progressive and heavy” sound.
The Brainmaze project first began back in 2013, before becoming the personal project of Plovdiv-based bassist Ivan Shishkov. In the following decade, Ivan embarked on a trial-and-error adventure, collaborating with a multitude of musicians around the world to create music built around a central theme of “The inner demons that emerge when we’re alone, stripping away our masks and armor to let in Fear, Spite, Despair.”
Recording of an album began in 2014, but was never completed and it took until 2022 for Ivan to put together a band to perform live. They released a couple of singles but it didn’t quite work out, and work on the recordings resumed in November 2023. Over the next few months, recording began in earnest with the assistance of British vocalist Rob Davies, guitars by Venezuelan Ramon Martine and Argentinian German Maldonado, drums by Ecuadorian Fabian Carrion Troya and Argentinian David Mendez, and studio work by Ukrianian editor and mixer Ilarion Ivanenko and Colin Davis from US firm Imperial Mastering.
On the sound that’s been crafted as a result, Ivan told us: “It has an old-school flavour with a modern sound. A forward rhythm section – after all, all the songs are composed on bass guitar. I think that everyone who listens to the album will understand it.”
Our first taste of this is Anger, from the project’s debut album When Your Demons Come. It opens up with a funky little duet between bass and lead guitar, which drops into a rolling riff and drums that give way to a feisty verse supported by bumbling bass and lively guitars. That gives way to vicious vocals “It’s a little too late” answered by stabbing guitars and drums, before a busy bassline helps the pace to build again. A second chorus gives way to a cool little interaction between bass and guitar, setting up a final chorus.
On the track, Ivan told us: “Anger is a very personal song. It was created literally in 10 minutes – music, lyrics… The interplay between the bass guitar and rhythm guitars in the middle is quite interesting. For me personally, it’s one of my favourite songs on my concept album.” Check it out in the lyric video:
The album is packed with similarly intense tracks built around different types of emotions and feelings. It opens up with Fear, Spite and Despair before delving into Despair, Uncertainty, Insanity and a personal favourite, the final track I’m Terrified.
On the album, Ivan told us: “When Your Demons Come touches on feelings that every person experiences when they come home at night. When left alone with oneself, come the negative emotions and feelings that press us every day. This is an aggressive heavy metal album, but there are many different types of styles intertwined in the album and I’m not sure what style the entire album is.
“What I tried to do is for each song to paint a picture. I wanted, when a given song is heard, a person to be able to say ‘This is fear, spite etc…’ At least that’s what I called them. I listened to the music at the beginning and imagined the feeling that it evokes. The whole concept and even the guitar solos in the album were built on this basis. I also wanted the album to have memorable riffs and not dictated by speed and a lot of unmemorable notes
“In the process of creating and recording each song, I listened to it thousands of times, part by part. Colin Davis sent me the final mastering on 30 December – a wonderful farewell to 2024 and exactly one year since the start of recording the album. Since then, I haven’t stopped listening to it and I haven’t gotten tired of it. I’m very proud of my album. Overall, it is good to listen to the album two to three times at least. That’s when the real power can be discovered.”
The Brainmaze sound draws on a wide range of musical influences. As Ivan explains: “In the process of recording and my raw mix, I was sending the songs to my friends – metal music fans – for feedback. They were saying, ‘This sounds a bit like Pantera or Slayer or Megadeth or Fight or Death.’ But out of the twelve opinions, there was no repetition, so the sound and the songs are unique. Of course, the influence of my idols cannot be ignored. After all, I have lived and live with this music.”
And on what inspires the music, he added: “My mood influences me first. I don’t have much time for my hobby – music. As many times as I pick up my bass, a riff is born. Of course, I don’t remember everything. It doesn’t pass the quality test and therefore it’s not worth working on it to turn it into a song. I lived for 10 years with these 10 songs (well, two to three remained unfinished), so now I need a reboot.”
The recording of the album took its toll on Ivan, who routinely spent eight to ten hours per day at work then three to five hours working on the album through 2024. So he’s taking some well-earned time out to relax with friends and family. However, he’s open to playing gigs, if such a thing was possible with the band setup, telling us: “A dream of mine is to play the entire album as a warm-up for a famous band in a big stadium. You never know! Dreams sometimes come true, and one should never stop dreaming.”
You can follow Brainmaze on Facebook, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.
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