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Fire in the Brain is the second album from Finland's OZ and probably their most well-known. After the debut, drummer and founding member Mark Ruffneck relocated the band to Sweden, a country with a more well-established metal scene in the early 80s. The resulting album came out when the NWOBHM was picking up steam internationally and OZ, despite not being from Britain, had the right sound and was swept up in the frenzy of independent label signings. Like other bands of the time, the music was simple, but loud and proud with plenty of great riffs and entertaining solos. The production was quite good for the time meaning the bass and drums can clearly be heard and OZ wrote some truly catchy songs like "Search Lights," "Megalomaniac" and "Fire in the Brain." They also had just enough of an evil vibe (the flaming skull on the cover, held by none other than Quorthon from Bathory, songs like "Black Candles") to offset the more pedestrian and mainstream-sounding cuts like "Free Me, Leave Me" and "Stop Believin'". Over everything you have the unique voice of Ape di Martini, whose leather-lunged shout sounds like no one else. Fire in the Brain is one of the great albums from the early 80s and every fan of that period in time needs to hear it.