Although few people are probably aware of the fact,
Silver Mountain's debut album, 1983's wonderful
Shakin' Brains, served as something of a testing ground for the neo-classical metal
Yngwie Malmsteen would ride to the top in the years that followed. It's no secret that
Malmsteen had been friendly with his Swedish compatriots in
Silver Mountain prior to relocating to the U.S. and joining
Ron Keel in
Steeler, and it's even less of a coincidence that half of the musicians responsible for this underground classic -- keyboard and drum-playing siblings
Jens and
Anders Johansson -- would go on to work with
Malmsteen's new solo project the very next year. Which should serve as further support for the claim that
Silver Mountain was in fact the link between the neo-classical metal movement's acknowledged birth at the hands of
Ritchie Blackmore and
Ronnie James Dio's
Rainbow and its subsequent popularization by
Malmsteen,
Stratovarius, et al. All of the genre's token qualities are to be found here: the mystical, semi-fantastical lyrics, the incredible interplay between soloing guitar and keyboards, and of course the metal and the classical music elements. Sterling opener "1789" encapsulates all of these elements to their highest degree, welding together a memorable riff that's part driving rhythm and part piercing lead guitar, and then pummeling the listener with it at a galloping clip on its way to an explosive guitar solo. All-purpose frontman
Jonas Hansson may not have the greatest command of the English language, the perfect voice (curiously, he sounds like a less potent
Jeff Scott Soto), or six-string chops quite as refined and mechanically fast as the aforementioned
Malmsteen, but in many ways his fiery and more instinctive style (check out his impromptu solo midway through "Looking for You") is all the more exciting and unpredictable for it. As for his regular foil, brilliant keyboardist
Jens Johansson, he too is in top form here, injecting additional highlights such as "Aftermath," "Always," and "Keep on Keepin' On" with all of the jaw-dropping flash and technique that would earn him regular kudos as perhaps the decade's top heavy metal key-meister. It wouldn't be too great a stretch to assert that, together,
Hansson and
Johansson are to '80s metal what
Blackmore and
Lord were to the '70s. And in case you're worried that
Silver Mountain is a one-trick pony, look no further than the sweetly acoustic piano ballad "King of the Sea" or manic poundings like "Destruction Song" and "Vikings" for the kind of straightforward, house-burning aggression typical of the then still recent New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The similarly energetic "Spring Maiden" features an opening riff borrowed straight from
Motörhead's "Shine," and that about covers all you need to know about
Shakin' Brains: easily one of the most underrated albums -- and best-kept secrets -- of the '80s.