Sunday, February 21, 2016

PRIMAL FEAR: "Rulebreaker"

Rating: RRRr
Label: Frontiers 2016
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Judas Priest... oops, Primal Fear and their latest offering to the Gods of Heavy Metal. Listening to the opening minutes of their album, Rulebreaker (some kind of Jawbreaker flashback attack?) and quickly notice that the trio of Mat Sinner, Magnus Karlsson and Ralf Scheepers, must have been spending hours in front of their Priest shrine. In fact. 'Angels Of Mercy' and 'The End Is Near' are both steeped in the Painkiller formula and it's pedal to the metal from the start go.

"Bullets & Tears", let go of the pace for a moment as it's more in the vein of U.D.O. and especially his 1990 album. Typical Teutonic metal complete with a rusty catchy hook as well as the power and the glory. 'The stage is my castle. The lights give me power'. The enchanting words from "In Metal We Trust", very creative and overseen stuff that should get the fantasy fan going overboard and off the deep end. A wee bit too blunt though? The epic track of "We Walk Without Fear" takes the listener on a journey through the many different faces of Primal Fear and we like it a lot.

They play good if unexceptional metal on 'Rulebreaker', a massive Priest fixation that seems honest enough, but never quite as great as their idols. There are still many compelling buzzes and headbanging moments to discovered here though. Huge production and great mix. The true definition of HEAVY METAL in the year of 2016?

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