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.

Primal Fear-Nuclear Fire

Metal Mind
2001/2011

Primal Fear's third album Nuclear Fire originally came out in January of 2001 following up the band's 1999 release Jaws of death. Former Sinner guitarist Henry Wolter was brought into the band before the recording of this album. This album picks up where "Jaws of death" left off. More Judas Priest inspired metal as songs like the blazing "Angel in black" and the hard hitting "Kiss of death" sound very much like material from Priest's Painkiller. However Primal Fear put some of their own ideas into this album as well. Songs like "Back from hell" and "Fight the fire" are dominated by intensity that they only hinted on their previous albums. The title track is a soaring song that will have you nodding your head throughout. So there are not a great deal of changes since "Jaws of death" but instead they seem to have been building upon the same sound from that album. If anything they sound even more comfortable and confident on "Nuclear Fire". This 2011 re-issue includes a band biography, four bonus tracks and a video clip and Angel in black. Another great job by Metal Mind.

Primal Fear-Jaws of death

Metal Mind
1999/2011 Re-issue



In 1997 former Tyran Pace / Gamma Ray vocalist Rolf Scheepers and Sinner bassist Mat Sinner decided to form Primal Fear. Primal Fear's 1998 debut frequently became labeled as Judas Priest clone of the Painkiller variety. I have no problem with that, in fact it was welcome considering the real Priest were going in a different direction with the not so impressive Jugulator. Originally released in July of 1999 the follow-up Jaws of death certainly saw the band pushing the boundaries more and taking some chances. The metal is law type sound was style there as was Scheeper's Rob Halford style vocals, but there are certainly more tempo changes and a bit more of focus on the melodies. Tracks like "Final Embrace", "Play to kill" and the burner "Into the future" hear Primal Fear plowing forward like a monster. Not content to just trample your senses they mix it up some with tracks like "Nation in fear" and "Say a prayer" which show a more layered songwriting style that includes some needed pace changes within the songs. Closer "Hatred in my soul" is likely my favorite on this album and a great way to end it because this is a hit you in the gut kind of cut with lots of force and fire behind it. This re-issue includes bonus tracks "Kill the king" and "Horrorscope" plus a lyric booklet and band biography. Overall a great package and an album that sounds as good now as it did twelve years ago.

Primal Fear-All over the world

Frontiers
2010

For the most part live DVDs are normally hit or miss with me and I normally know what I am going to think about about the DVD fairly early in the show. Going by the above it didn't take long for me to realize that Primal Fear were just as good live as they are in the studio. In fact they are likely even better live. The main part of the DVD was recorded in Switzerland but there is more footage from shows in the USA, Japan and Brazil. Which explains why the DVD is called "All over the world", but live CD is called "In The USA" because it was all recorded in the states. The track listing on both are actually very similar with the DVD having three tracks not on the CD. Seeing them live on this show allows the band to state their case even more than on the recently released CD. They take the stage like a storm and never let up. Ralf Scheepers brings his Rob Halford style vocals to new heights and always seemed in control. His stage presence is undeniable as he has the crowd eating out of his hands the whole time. The music is loud as thunder and the band plows through tracks "Nuclear Fire", "Riding the eagle", "Metal is Forever" and more. The cameras focus on the action and catch reactions of the fans at the same time. The DVD also includes several videoclips, scenes from tours in the above mentioned countries and the making of 16.6. "All over the world" shows Primal Fear at their best and includes lots of material for fans to enjoy.

Primal Fear-Live in the U.S.A

Frontiers
2010

Live albums are often hit and miss for me. Sometimes a band just explodes on a live album. Other times it sounds like the studio versions with some crowd noise and maybe some between song banter thrown in. Let's see how German classic metal act Primal Fear stack up. So twelve years into their recording career Primal Fear release their first official live album. Primal Fear to me have always been like 90% Judas Priest and maybe 10% their own ideas. Even though they are perhaps low on the originality scale they do have two major points in their favor. One is that they do a good job of sounding like Priest and the other is that they have been around during that the real Judas Priest have been recoding poor album after poor album. Primal Fear are confident in what they do and that's a major selling point for this live album. They come across as a larger than life metal machine with and overwhelmingly loud and heavy sound. The disc presents an intro and thirteen tracks that serve like a live anthology pulling from several albums. The versions here are not much different from their studio counterparts. However the performances are so tight that fans are still going to pleased enough to have a definite interest in this album.