Since the beginning of the year, many bands noticeably strengthen their music and heavy metal bands are no exception. The Teutonic band of
Primal Fear illustrates this trend perfectly.
Indeed, after the superb and orchestral “
Seven Seals”, the quintet, which in-between has separated from the sympathetic Shredder Tom Naumann and has hired one of its own former members, namely Henry Wolter, is back with “
New Religion”, a seventh album truly over-boosted! The first title “
Sign of Fear” shows the general style of the album: incisive and direct, the new offering of
Mat Sinner and
Ralf Scheepers makes no concession and distils during nearly 52 minutes an important dose of brutality and grandiloquence, punctually interrupted by softness and emotion. From the beginning, one can only be surprised by how amazingly Ralf sounds like
Metal God Rob
Halford, so well in fact that one may wonder if indeed it is not the lead singer of Priest who is shouting here! The music too participates in creating this impression of cloning, as there is only a thin line between “
Sign Of Fear” and “Painkiller”, which the Germans didn’t cross here, but were very close to! Starting with the second title, the personality of
Primal Fear is eventually progressively more present.
And this is in fact a good thing!
Primal Fear’s style is easily recognizable thanks to its clean, aerial production and thanks to its orchestrations which second efficient and perfectly equilibrated melodies. All of this is proven by “Face The
Emptiness”, on which Rob
Halford’s ghost of the “
Angel” period still slightly surrounds us due to Ralf Scheeper’s so special timbre, or by the eponym title “
New Religion” with its more modern style and which come close from a boosted and heavy version of “
Seven Seal” thanks to its slightly quirky refrain. It is proven again by “
Blood On Your
Hands” while “The
Curse of Sharon” is stunning with its kind of gothic style and its
Stratovarius-like riff!
Despite not being essential, some other titles are also attractive as they bring their bunch of good things: “Too Much Time”, which may remind you of “Milagros Charm” of
Time Requiem, or the very loud and
Blaze Bayley-like “
Psycho”, or again “Word On
Fire” and lastly the closing title in a quite majestic way, the melodic and melancholic “The Man (
That I Don’t Know)”. Special mention to the two titles really coming out of the whole: the ballad “Every time It Rains”, full of tenderness with the duo of Ralf and a dazzling Simone Simmons. A pure killing!
And the epic and delicate “Fighting
The Darkness” lasting more than 8 minutes (!) with a quite soft atmospheric introduction with a piano before stretching lengthily so showing us the full palette of talent of these five virtuosos musicians. New-trend
Helloween’s spirit haunts this title which captivates and amazes us with its exacerbated power!
Primal Fear shows us a new, extremely pleasing face with its 7th opus which is so… In fact, I can’t find any word to properly describe this magisterial work, this master piece of art which must absolutely finds its way in your record library, between
Judas Priest and
Stratovarius! Full of elements all part of its overall success, “
New Religion” is without a doubt the most beautiful thing a German band of power metal could have achieved since the two-part “Keeper Of The
Seven Keys – part 1 & 2”. It’s no less than beautiful, amazingly genial!! Astonishing and marvellous!!!
Translated by Heavyboy
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