Flavio Brandão Stratosphere Project

Power Metal. What do you think of when you hear the name of that genre? I mean, aside from the giants we all know and love: Iron Maiden, Rainbow, Scorpions etc. Me? I personally think of sonic guitar licks, double bass, epic synth, and wailing hooks. I’m writing today to share a song with you that checks all of those boxes for me. The band is called The Flavio Brandão Stratosphere Project. I’m going to focus on one particular song today entitled “Twilight Storm” from the 2021 release “Depersonalization.”

From the open riff, it feels like a storm begins. Thundering bass, raining crash symbols, and the double bass of the drums quaking the ground. And of course, sinister riffing over octave licks perfecting the hurricane before it resolves into an epic synth / string arrangement you would expect from this genre.

The vocals come in and initially give me a Dio vibe, a touch of raspy, but with force behind them. As the song hooks into chorus, the singer hits Dickenson type of peaks. At this point, as most who know me would expect, I am now fascinated in knowing what the lyrics are. The project describes “Depersonalization” as a “Semi-Concept” album revolving around the protagonist being written about loses grasp of reality over the course of the album. Fascinating stuff.

The project is the brain child of Flavio, primarily written and composed by him. However, you will find a global collaborative effort in a lot of his work with other artists: Ivar Bergelin from Spain, Scott Hines from Australia, Michael Hos from the Netherlands, and Ludvik Rainer from Germany. In this particular song, there isn’t anyone listed in the credits outside of the Flavio Brandão Stratosphere Project, and as I listen to other songs from this project, the vocals don’t quite sound the same as some of the Ludvik vocals in other tracks, so it makes me wonder, did Flavio take on the vocals as well on this release? They sound really good. Check them out here on Spotify, and have a listen to the song below.