German power metal veterans Primal Fear are back once again with another barnburner of an album for Nuclear Blast Records, titled Metal Commando. Perhaps not the most original title of all time and as cliche as it gets, but these guys never pretend to want to reinvent the wheel, and their latest treads familiar ground that the band have been mining their whole career, of course making it work once again. Led as always by the 'commanding' vocals of Ralf Scheepers, the thunderous bass skills of Mat Sinner, the three guitar army of Alex Beyrodt, Tom Naumann, and Magnus Karlsson, along with drummer Michael Ehre, the band plow through eleven new hook laden power metal anthems that tick all the boxes for what you'd want on a Primal Fear album. From memorable sing along crushers like "Along Came the Devil", "I Am Alive", "Halo", and "Raise Your Fist" to slower, more symphonic fare such as "Hear Me Calling" (WHAT A CHORUS!), the epic prog-metal track "Infinity" and the acoustic based "I Will Be Gone", to the complex, metallic ballbusters "My Name is Fear" and "Afterlife", there's plenty of variety to sink your teeth into here. Scheepers kills it as always, his heavy metal shriek infiltrating the crushing "The Howl of the Banshee" and the juggernaut "The Lost & the Forgotten, once again showing why he is one of the best metal singers on the planet. The band of course are rock solid, with molten riffs at every corner, dazzling solos and screaming pinch harmonics providing a never ending supply of guitar firepower...it's Primal Fear after all!
In the end, no real surprises, but it's what we want from this band after all, heavy yet memorable songs, an overload of guitar crunch, and those incredible vocals. Chalk it up to another winner from Primal Fear.
Track Listing
1 - I Am Alive
2 - Along Came The Devil
3 - Halo
4 - Hear Me Calling
5 - The Lost & The Forgotten
6 - My Name Is Fear
7 - I Will Be Gone
8 - Raise Your Fists
9 - Howl Of The Banshee
10 - Afterlife
11 - Infinity
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