Primal Fear-Devil's Ground

Metal Mind
2004/2011

Primal Fear's forth release "Devil's Ground" was originally released in 2004. This seems to be the top Primal Fear album that fans have some problems with. That may be putting it mildly as some fans like it, others rate it as mediocre or just below. Then there are some fans who are just besides themselves frothing at the mouth and shaking their fists in anger over this release. I think it falls in the decent, but could have been better category. The fact that fans had to wait three years for this and the results were slightly generic may have been a large reason why it was met with a less than favorable response in some corners. For the negatives there are several songs go longer than they should, the lyrics are not going to win any prizes for creativity and the production is maybe a bit more slick than it needed to be. Still the same Judas Priest-Painkiller era sound is still present with maybe a touch of Accept throw in. They follow that blueprint with strict attention to blazing solos and soaring vocals from Rolf Scheepers. It's not the first album of theirs that I would for because I think the previous albums hit harder and there is less filler on those two albums. Still this album follows mostly in the style of their previous outings. The re-issue includes two re-mixes and a pair of cover songs as bonus tracks.