Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Primal Fear
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2014
Running time: 64:35
Rating: 4.5/5
Primal Fear are among the few power metal survivors today who can be called true »metal old guard«, the kind who’ve credibly picked up an unlimited shelf life. They emerged in the late nineties, during the big revival of metal subgenres that bet on melodic catchiness and are led by polished singing, not growling! Today power metal is nowhere near as popular among newly minted metalheads, since after 17 years of the band’s defiance the bar for sonic extremity in metal has been set much, much higher. Still! Anyone looking for tradition in the sense of strings of open »Judas style« riffs, refined with sharp, fast picking over lead guitar phrases in harmonies of thirds, contrasted with the weighty, compact undercarriage of double bass drum pedals, and above it all a clean, polished vocal that’s explosive in delivering power from the mids to the highest registers, yet has refined sensitivity when needed, can always bet with a calm mind on the German eagles, or, you might say, the German answer to Judas Priest. In other words, the traditional Primal Fear sound.
Although the basic songwriting formula at Primal Fear hasn’t changed at its creative core, you could say a minimal shift did happen from the album »New Religion« onwards. Over the years Primal Fear have grown from raw fury into a mature band that has sensibly built elements of pomp (symphonic touches) and even hints of hard rock into its vocabulary. Only in »traces«, of course, but enough to be felt, and in a way that keeps their strictly authentic, recognizable musical character intact.
With »Unbreakable«, Primal Fear delivered the album that, among all the post-»The Devil’s Ground« records, came closest to the band’s early period. That era is still the most prized among fans of their music. It was precisely the integration of the one-of-a-kind Swedish multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and composer Magnus Karlsson that let the band stretch its musical expression while holding on to all the raw primal quality of an unbridled power metal sheen, led by predatory guitar phrases and the explosive singing of Ralf Scheppers, for whom you still can’t find a worthy vocal equivalent on the European metal scene.
The new album »Delivering The Black« deepens the character of its excellent predecessor »Unbreakable«! In sound and style it even feels a touch more raucous than its predecessor, which nobody expected, nor was that upgrade demanded, but there’s never enough noise in metal, so it’s a welcome fact. A very pleasant, positive surprise, then, and proof that the last two men in the band who decide which ideas make it onto new albums are still Mat SInner and Ralf Scheppers. Together with Magnus Karlsson that makes three people responsible for the look and feel of the new album, and Magnus, given his well-known, widely respected songwriting brilliance, you could even say musical genius, with an innate sense for creating infectious melodies, is the factor that actually lets the band take small but, despite everything, noticeable steps of musical experimentation. Magnus is recruited by many, many musicians, even record labels, for his exceptional talent, as a »legionnaire«, a »good hired gun«. On this album too he contributed some of his stylistically recognizable melodic finesse, which sparkles fantastically across the record. A record that is otherwise bluntly, typically »Fear-style« and, as proven time and again, leaves no survivors, yet masterfully absorbs these little filigree tricks of the great master Karlsson into its body.
In any case, Primal Fear wouldn’t have reached this level of songwriting and arranging maturity if the band members weren’t active in various side projects, where they can release their creative energy and actually grow and mature as composers. Mat Sinner, who has led the iron heavy rockers Sinner for several decades, has been involved for a few years in the megalomaniacal project Rock Meets Classics, his Sinner/Primal Fear colleague Alex Beyrodt leads the hard rock outfit Voodoo Circle, and as for Magnus Karlsson, there’s no point wasting words anyway, the most fitting term for him being »Mr. Everywhere«.
Hence the conclusion that on Unbreakable, and especially on the new album »Delivering the Black«, Primal Fear found the right mix of all the load-bearing elements of their newer direction when it comes to the language of their musical style. They delivered the album they were actually looking for. Optimized in terms of ideas.
The album rolls along wonderfully through a combination of typical »Fear-style« smashers, like the opening, expectedly raucous King For A Day, with Rebel Faction then fiercely fanning that element further, a real »little Primal Fear Painkiller« rhythmically crossed with thrash metal uncompromisingness! The first atmospheric detour comes from the mid-tempo, catchy When Death Comes Knocking, released as the album’s first single, while Alive & On Fire owes some of its charisma to the old-school sound of the German metal universe, calling up the elemental guitar phrasing of the Accept type. It’s the band’s habit that the title track counts as one of the album’s highlights. Delivering the Black can be called a thoroughly updated, modern-sounding Nuclear Fire for 2014, even though the closing, dark but fiercely furious Inseminoid is cast in the recognizable Nuclear Fire mold. Road To Asylum is the band’s typical power metal march, built on heavy use of the double bass drum pedals, while the excellent epic suite One Night In December announces that perceptibly higher melodic polish of the newer Primal Fear, for which the aforementioned creativity of Magnus Karlsson is responsible. It’s a track with a top-notch atmospheric crescendo in a melodically tight, polished chorus, which Magnus naturally carried over, idea-wise, from his songwriting solutions in the realms of melodic rock. A gorgeous suite full of mood swings, fleshed out with symphonic orchestrations too, confirming the multilayered musical training of its authors Mat Sinner and Magnus Karlsson. Never Pray For Justice is yet another typical power metal anthem cut to the typical German pattern, and Kai Hansen could easily have used it on one of his Gamma Ray albums. It has another extremely catchy chorus. Born Witrh A Broken Heart is a beautiful power metal ballad, brewed in line with the tradition Primal Fear have reliably kept since the very start of their career, and another welcome point of total mood reversal on the album. Without a pinch of sugar or bouts of pathos, with a lovely, flowing build-up of mood in the verse and a crescendo in the chorus.
We covered the tracks of the regular version of the album. The expanded European edition also contains three additional tracks, as well as a bonus DVD with both videos for the released singles, When Death Comes Knocking and King For A Day. The three extra tracks don’t reduce the album’s quality one bit. Well, actually two of them. We have to subtract the radio edit of the single When Death Comes Knocking. The effect is, if anything, the opposite. The songs Innocent Man and Man Without Shadow deepen the album’s extremely melodic definition, especially in its second half, and fit seamlessly with the regular tracks, so they don’t need the »bonus« label at all.
Še o solažah. Those are pure fairy tale. On his third Primal Fear album, Karlsson has slotted wonderfully into the philosophy of this band’s traditional strengths when it comes to creating fantastic guitar solo duels, which once again astound with the catchy chemistry of the current Beyrodt / Karlsson pairing. The two guitarists have also once again masterfully embellished the elemental guitar phrases with recognizable yet tastefully woven guitar ornaments (blended mostly in harmonies of thirds). Guitar brilliance all over the place, then!
The album »Delivering the Black« is a mirror of the Primal Fear crew’s exceptional creative songwriting maturity. It’s an album with no weak spot, one on which Primal Fear served up the ideal dose of symphonic and melodically infectious forms within the otherwise recognizably elemental character of the Primal Fear musical form, which effectively keeps all the typical engraving of uncompromising sonic raucousness and sharpness of the best you can squeeze out in 2014 from the legacy of the traditional heavy metal school of stainless German steel. No less, no more! An outstanding album. In terms of sound and style. Let’s hope the band will present it on new tours in a hefty dose! With some serious stage time.
Line-up
Ralf Scheppers – vocals, backing vocals
Alex Beyrodt – guitar
Magnus Karlsson – guitar, keyboards
Mat Sinner – bass guitar, backing vocals
Randy Black – drums, percussion
Production
Mat Sinner
Track list
CD
1. King for a Day
2. Rebel Faction
3. When Death Comes Knocking
4. Alive & On Fire
5. Delivering the Black
6. Road to Asylum
7. One Night in December
8. King for a Day
9. Born With a Broken Heart
10. Innocent Man *
11. Inseminoid
12. Man Without Shadow *
13. When Death Comes Knocking *
* … bonus tracks included only on the European market version of the album
DVD:
1. When Death Comes Knocking (video)
2. King For A Day (video)
3. Making Of (clip)
