Release date: September 1, 2023
Label: Atomic Fire Records
Production: Mat Sinner (co-producers: Ralf Scheepers & Tom Naumann)
Album length: 57.51 min
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 8.5/10
“Code Red” is, believe it or not, the 14th studio album from German power metal terminators Primal Fear. The band has been grinding away tirelessly since 1997 and is considered one of the hardest-working outfits in the genre, keeping the studio albums coming on a regular basis. In fact, the wait for the latest one, “Code Red,” was the longest gap between albums they’ve ever had. Three years have passed since “Metal Commando” (2020, RockLine review), an album that counts as one of the weaker and quickly forgotten entries in the band’s rich catalog.
“Code Red,” unlike its predecessor, is once again an incredibly strong effort. Primal Fear are consistent from track to track. The album keeps its artistic stance at a high level of quality that never lets up. A string of great ideas piled up, and the band’s chemistry is brilliantly capitalized on once more here. As we’ve come to expect – and the bar for Primal Fear albums is always set very high – the band has truly shown itself in full glory with “Code Red.”
Hooky choruses! That’s what power metal a la Primal Fear needs! And of course they’re pulling hard on the days of twenty years ago – the era of the first four albums. This crew is a seasoned gang of six chiseled metal godfathers who know exactly how to serve things up, both in the studio and when it comes to hitting the optimal level of hookiness a given composition can deliver.
Sinner and Scheepers remain the engine driving the band. The latter once again delivers a killer vocal performance – just as we’re used to from him. There are three outstanding guitarists, with no hide-and-seek between them for ages now, and Karlsson is also well-versed in production tricks as well as dressing up the arrangements with keyboards and orchestral ornaments. Then there’s the cannon fortress, the rolling beast of jerky double bass pedal work – drummer Michael Ehre (also of Gamma Ray, The Unity and Uli Jon Roth), without whom the destructiveness of the guitar phrases would never grab so effectively. Everything is in its place. Add the proverbially excellent solo escapades from all three guitar aces and the atmospheric transitional modulations that keep the album remarkably dynamic. There isn’t a moment that ‘steals’ minutes from the listener. In other words, no ‘filler.’ Which is pretty hard to pull off given the unchanging songwriting formula after such a long run and such an impressive string of released albums.
The track Their Gods Have Failed is a new mini power metal symphony, the longest composition on the album. The most dynamic and at the same time extremely dark. One of the darkest songs on the album. Like Eye of the Storm from “Apocalypse” (2018, RockLine review) or We Walk Without Fear from “Rulebreaker” (2016). With a seriously extended instrumental section where all the essential ingredients of Primal Fear’s musical dossier sparkle once again. The vivid dressing up of transitions with guitar harmonies in triplets is not missing! Then there’s Cancel Culture, which shows a whole range of kinship with fellow countrymen Gamma Ray, as the new, extremely hooky chorus melody demonstrates. The mid-tempo but distinctly dark Deep in the Night also stands out on the album for its chorus hookiness. And that’s far from all. The opening furious roundhouse of Another Hero, or the downright furious Raged By Pain, which confirms their dogged unrelenting pursuit of maximum destructiveness even after more than 25 years in the game. The ballad-like yet epically bombastic Forever, where Karlsson had the main songwriting say, calms the album down at the very tail end, while the vivid closing slap in the face, Fearless, pours oil on the fire in the finale.
Even in new times, Primal Fear remain more infectious than Accept and decidedly more destructive than Helloween – if we’re looking at their German countrymen for a bit of sonic and stylistic ‘pigeonholing.’ “Code Red” is another supremely venomous Primal Fear album. Thankfully, once again a seriously inspired and strong document that puts the band back in its place as one of the central figures of (European) power metal!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Another Hero
2. Bring That Noise (originally titled The Flood)
3. Deep In The Night
4. Cancel Culture
5. Play A Song
6.The World Is On Fire
7.Their Gods Have Failed
8.Steelmelter
9.Raged By Pain
10. Forever
11. Fearless
Line-up:
Ralf Scheepers – vocals
Mat Sinner – bass guitar, backing vocals
Alex Beyrodt – guitar
Tom Naumann – guitar
Magnus Karlsson – guitar
Michael Ehré – drums
