{"id":27609,"date":"2025-12-01T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=27609"},"modified":"2025-11-26T15:54:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T15:54:17","slug":"marvel-brain-drain-diaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=27609","title":{"rendered":"M\u00e4rvel – ‘Brain Drain Diaries’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The self-proclaimed ‘Barons of high energy rock n’ roll’, otherwise known as M\u00e4rvel, return with their 10th album, cunningly titled ‘Brain Drain Diaries’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Swedish three-piece have been in the game for 20 years now. King (vocals & guitar), The Burgher (bass) and The Vicar on drums play the sorta rock n’ roll we here at RPM adore, and their high-energy mix of Thin Lizzy, Hellacopters and Kiss is always something to get excited about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded and self-produced at the Sunshine Factory in their homeland, ‘Brain Drain Diaries\u2019 is what we have come to expect from the masked trio who dress like evil henchmen from a 60\u2019s Batman TV show.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrically, the band have taken a more reflective approach here, with themes of resilience, honesty and songs straight from the heart. But musically, it\u2019s all about catchy hooks and killer riffs, baby!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m pretty much sold on the album art to be fair, but the opening one-two of \u2018Look It\u2019s Rock n Roll\u2019 and \u2018A Beautiful Corpse\u2019 seals the deal in magnificent style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the former coming on strong like latter-day Hellacopters, M\u00e4rvel deliver a killer opener with a refrain to die for and a high-octane solo to boot. This is low-slung rock n’ roll at its finest.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latter, with its twin guitar attack, urgent beats and vintage Kiss feel, is pure rock n’ roll energy guaranteed to get the heart racing and the vocal cords working. That opening chorus will catch ya, hook, line and sinker. It\u2019s probably the best track on the album. But it\u2019s got some stiff competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e4rvel have a knack for wearing their influences on their sleeves with no shame. ‘Biding My Time’ drifts from a Lizzy-like verse to a Kiss-inspired chorus with ease, but just ends up sounding like M\u00e4rvel to me. The glam rock stomp of ‘Time Has A Way\u2019 has a very British feel, like Mud or The Sweet in their prime. It\u2019s as instant as Instant Whip and twice as nice. You\u2019ll be humming it before the second chorus kicks in, believe me.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The likes of \u2018Brain Drain\u2019 and ‘Take A Stand’ prove not only that M\u00e4rvel stole the beat from the Lord, but they may well have improved on it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00e4rvel may not have the same kudos as the likes of The Hellacopters, The Hives or Turbonegro in certain circles, but ‘Brain Drain Diaries’ continues a strong run of killer albums from a band who are up there with their contemporaries delivering the goods to the max.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The self-proclaimed ‘Barons of high energy rock n’ roll’, otherwise known as M\u00e4rvel, return with their 10th album, cunningly titled ‘Brain Drain Diaries’. The Swedish three-piece have been in the game for 20 years now. King (vocals & guitar), The Burgher (bass) and The Vicar on drums play the sorta rock n’ roll we here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[1787,1818,1710,1681,1680,1833,2052],"class_list":["post-27609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-tourlife","tag-vinyl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27612,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27609\/revisions\/27612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}