Now for me, the whole Euro Metal scene has become very stagnant. Every band sounds the same, and it’s hard to tell the bands apart, but these guys are a step above. Early on in Primal Fear’s career, they were labelled as the German Judas Priest, which is quite ironic, as Ralf Scheepers auditioned for the singer in Judas Priest when Halford split with the band. Scheepers was in Gamma Ray, and he teamed up with Matt Sinner (from the band Sinner), to form Primal Fear.
This is the band’s eighth studio album, and produced by the band and Matt Sinner. In fact, the production on this album is the best I have heard them sound. Six Times Dead sounds absolutely huge. The guitar sound is vast and deep, and the vocal is epic. There are so many good moments on this album, so I will just highlight a few. 5.0/Torn has a killer riff and groove, and Scheepers’ vocals just flow over the track. The very heavy sounding, Soar, is killer with the electronic start. Night After Night is more JP than JP themselves, and I still find it incredible that Priest never hired Ralph. The Exorcist is pure pounding metal and has a huge guitar sound. Even the bonus track, Scream, is a killer tune.
Primal Fear don’t make bad records and this is no exception.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
