German band PRIMAL FEAR have been around in one form or another ever since 1997, with vocalist Ralf Scheepers and bassist Mat Sinner making up the stable core of the band. They have 10 studio albums to their name so far. “Delivering the Black” is the most recent of these, and was released through Italian label Frontiers Music in 2014.
This experienced German band kicks off their album on all cylinders, and keeps going in that manner throughout the greater majority of this album. This is no frills and balls to the wall metal, with a foundation that I guess you might call speed metal or pace-filled heavy metal, with occasional sequences here and there taking on either a more traditional heavy metal style or more of a power metal expression. Solid, vibrant and high intensity stuff, in the the raise your fist and headbang yourself to a neck fracture tradition.
The lead vocals of Scheepers is a key ingredient, with a powerful and suitably aggressive vocal style his voice is a presence vital in maintaining and at best elevating these compositions into entities deserving attention, although I experience him as the kind of vocalist that solidifies quality rather than one that elevates material of lesser scope into something greater. He doesn’t carry the tunes as such, but provides the proverbial icing on the cake.
The cake itself mainly consist of for different layers: We have intense, vibrant speed metal on one hand, of the kind that can trace it’s origins back to early Helloween and from there on back to Judas Priest. Then we have two different layers of more traditional heavy metal: the ones that sound like escapees from a Judas Priest album, the song Alive & On Fire a perfect example of this, and then there’s the more epic oriented, slower paced escapades closer to the likes of Saxon and Dio-era Black Sabbath, both of which are given a run on the tracks that expands beyond the 6 minute mark on this production. At last there’s the obligatory power ballad, in this case a pleasant but predictable affair called Born With a Broken Heart.
While Primal Fear comes across as a mainly guitar driven band, easily alternating between tight, firm and edgy riffs, grittier and dirtier riff escapades with a more vibrant and expressive sound as well as powerful, rich and majestic riff constructions, careful use of keyboards and orchestration are used to good effect, One Night in December a delightful example of the latter.
I did find that this was an album that dipped a bit towards the end though, and the last three songs here just didn’t manage to fire on all cylinders for me, although I can’t specify just what the difference is. Perhaps something as easy as getting used to the type of material the band explore, at this point, or perhaps a more subtle case of the riff patterns and melodies explore just not being quite as appealing. No matter if it is one, the other or something different, the first seven tracks are all delightful, quality examples of intense and vibrant metal with something of a timeless quality to it.
To conclude: Primal Fear have crafted an album of high energy, high intensity metal, mainly staying put inside a traditional speed metal tradition from what I can hear, of a kind that can be traced back to Judas Priest as source of origin, with a select few cuts exploring a more epic heavy metal style and some clear and distinct Judas Priest sounding items thrown in for good measure, alongside an instance of the good, old power ballad. Fans of early Helloween and Judas Priest would appear to be a likely key audience, and I’d hazard a guess that those who enjoy both of these will find this album to be at minimum an interesting one.
My rating: 74/100
