Label: AFM Records
Release date: 08.02.2019
Produced by: Herman Frank
Album length: 68.58 min
Genre: Heavy Metal
Ever since he joined the legendary Accept in the early eighties, Herman Frank has been one of the key figures forging heavy metal. First as a member of Accept, then with his Victory, with whom he has put out nine studio albums to date, and later as the mastermind behind his own solo studio albums, which, let’s be straight about it, are really classic heavy metal works, cooked up from a recipe of Teutonic metal pioneering in the old German school style, which Herman Frank has always belonged to.
In the last years of his prolific career, in which he also made a name for himself as an important music producer, Herman Frank is simply enjoying himself. After realizing for the second time in his career that he has no business being in Accept, since his hands were completely tied the whole time, he caught a strong wind in his sails and focused once again, and in a big way, on his solo career, where he enjoys boundless artistic freedom.
On this album, too, he’s backed by a top-notch crew of German musicians: bassist Michael Müller (Jaded Heart), former Rage and Axxis drummer Andre Hilgers (now with Bonfire), guitarist Heiko Schröder, and Swedish singer Rickard Thornberg a.k.a. Rick Altzi, who also sings for power metallers Masterplan.
In short: you won’t find any deep philosophy behind »Fight The Fear«. Fans of old-school, ossified metal done “the German way”, you can head off to the nearest decent CD shop with an easy mind (there aren’t any in Slovenia, mind you) and buy the album “blind”. Or easier still, just “click blind” and “unburden” your credit cards. It’ll meet all your expectations and demands. Herman Frank doesn’t slow down. His guitars are once again extreme and wrecking. Once more he’s scattered some outstanding guitar phrases around, proving he remains the true master of his trade and craft, which he has honed to absolute perfection over the years.
On »Fight The Fear« you get as authentic a summary as you could ask for of the old legacy, refined with modern production approaches. The classic approach typical of Accept and Victory “figures”, plus a freshened-up and, in its phrasing, “thrash-ified” destructiveness of the kind that Panzer go for, the band Frank founded some time ago with Schmier (Destruction) and his drumming colleague from his Accept days, Stefan Schwarzmann.
There are fourteen tracks on the album. That’s even more than on the otherwise excellent predecessor »The Devil Rides Out« (2016), which boasts 12 songs. So the listener has quite a bit of trouble, even after several spins, telling the tracks apart, as well as the lead phrases. On first listens the album therefore sounds fairly monotonous, even though it’s far from it. There are, of course, too many tracks on it, and ten would have been plenty. Herman Frank stays fierce. As if the last hour of humanity were ticking away on the planet (sarcastic enough, though the planet would actually benefit). The album is played and produced from start to finish in the highest possible gear, developing extreme speed and destructiveness, and throughout an incredible riff-driven hunger and relentlessness. The songs are once again armed with an excellent helping of guitar solos, without which no Frank album is even imaginable. Interesting that Hilgers, who is otherwise famous for his exceptional drumming variety, doesn’t reach for any sky-screaming fills, but faithfully carries out the commandments of main composer Herman Frank by mostly just holding down the basic rhythms. It’s interesting that the guy doesn’t really cut loose on drums, even though he has quite a bit of room in the transitional parts of the songs.
Altzi remains the vocal charisma and a constant. With his throaty, authoritative vocal approach, which he doesn’t deviate from by an inch on the album, Frank’s songs get, in terms of punch, pomp, theatrical drama and even sinister obscurity, that much-needed dot on the “i”, which, in such an authentic mood, keeps the listener firmly glued in constant tension. Herman Frank has delivered some truly excellent tracks for the new album. The strong, pounding start and its ending are the standouts, while the middle section also holds a few less interesting tracks that nobody would miss if they weren’t on the album. All in all, it’s an extremely fine, high-quality, classically conceived heavy metal album, with which Herman Frank firmly holds his position as one of the most striking musicians in the heavy metal business of the generation that actually put heavy metal on the world map. It doesn’t get more authentic than this.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
rating: 8.0 / 10
Tracklist:
1. Until the End
2. Fear
3. Terror
4. Sinners
5. Hatred
6. Hail & Row
7. Hitman
8. Stay Down
9. Rock You
10. Don’t Cross the Line
11. Are You Ready
12. Wings of Destiny
13. Waiting for the Night
14. Lost in Heaven
Lineup:
Rick Altzi – vocals
Herman Frank – guitar
Heiko Schröder – guitar
Michael Müller – bass guitar
Andre Hilgers – drums
