Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Primal Fear
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: 2002
Rating: 3/5
The record really is different, just like the band said it would be. If “Nuclear Fire” clicked “right away,” the same can’t be said for its follow-up. The first four tracks (careful: intro included!) pick up where the predecessor left off, except that the chorus of “Light Years From Home” suspiciously leans toward “Silver And Gold” from the debut. Then comes the painful “Revolution”, a song that’s tough going from start to finish. In the other weak spots on the record, the nagging is focused on the choruses, which one after another kill the otherwise great riffs and atmosphere of the songs (e.g. “Fear”, “Silence”, “Magic Eye”). The band sort of makes up for the nagging with the melodic and fiercely clichéd “Mind Control”, which is placed smack in the middle of the record so the listener can somehow keep pushing through, step by step, toward the end. “We Came Down”, on the other hand, is a killer banger and exactly what I expected from “Primal Fear”. This is where the band shows why it’s currently one of the top dogs of German heavy metal, and of heavy metal in general.
In pushing Scheppers’ vocals to the front, Mat Sinner went so far in the production that Ralf’s vocal lines ran over quite a few tastefully played guitar triplets (the chorus of “Controlled”, the chorus of “Cold Day In Hell”), which should have been similar and up front in the transitions. Ralf even resorts to semitone lines in his singing (the chorus of “Fear”). Even though the guitar riffs absolutely don’t allow it, he goes right over them. Yep! You could also call that deliberate botching in the “search for something different.” And just so the music could really get on the listener’s nerves, backing vocals join Ralf’s main line in places where they don’t fit the riffs at all. The screeching steel eagle is breaking its wings. Dear Ralf, force isn’t everything! So you often get the feeling you’re hearing nervous choir yelling laid over double bass drums, with guitar riffs that are once again perfection but just can’t come alive. That’s how the chorus of “Mind Machine” gets ruined too. Everything in it is set up great. The double bass pedal and the riffing are wound up like lightning, and after the build-up carries the track’s atmosphere to the chorus, the song literally goes watery.
The guitar duo of Wolter/Leibing has finally become perfectly tight. Excellent solos offer an escape from the heavy-handed atmosphere created by this at times unfortunate combination of riffing and Ralf’s singing inside the choruses. All the ornaments between the riffs and in the transitions, the wound-up active pickups that miss not even the gentlest guitar lick, the perfect triplets and the inventive guitar solo melodies in the duels are what save “Primal Fear” and their fourth release
Taken as a whole, the record keeps enough listenability to be worth adding to your collection. The guys can take five years on the next one for all I care, as long as they cover up the current lack-of-ideas syndrome.
Lineup
Ralf Scheppers – vocals
Stefan Leibing – guitar
Henny Wolter – guitar
Mat Sinner – bass, backing vocals
Klaus Sperling – drums
Production
Mat Sinner
Tracklist
1. Countdown To Insanity
2. Black Sun
3. Armageddon
4. Lightyears From Home
5. Revolution
6. Fear
7. Mind Control
8. Magic Eye
9. Mind Machine
10. Silence
11. We Go Down
12. Cold Day In Hell
13. Controlled
