For a great introduction to the power metal band Primal Fear, a good place to start is The History of Fear, a DVD set that focuses on the German band's powerful stage act during the 2001 & 2002 tours, which was the time the band really started to take off. There's plenty of content here to sink your teeth into, the main live set being the 2001 appearance at the famed Wacken Open Air Festival in front of thousands of screaming metal fans. As this is an outdoor festival, and filmed during the day, the picture clarity, and sound for that matter, is stellar, the band tearing through some of their best tracks from the early part of their career, including "Chainbreaker", "Angel In Black", "Running In the Dust", "Battalions of Hate", and "Nuclear Fire", among others, as the band was celebrating the release of their CD Nuclear Fire. New to the band at the time was guitarist Henny Wolter, fresh from Thunderhead, as he replaced Tom Naumann, who left the band in 2000. Wolter proved to be a great axe partner to founding guitarist Stafan Leibing, the two players making for a devastating team as they delivering crunchy riff and crunchy riff and plenty of blazing shred solos. Alongside bassist Mat Sinner and drummer Klaus Sperling, you also have the imposing figure of lead singer Ralf Scheepers, tall, muscled, freshly shaved head, and delivering his commanding, Rob Halford-meets-Michael Kiske styled vocal histrionics.
Next up is a set from the 2002 European tour supporting their CD Black Sun, and here we see tracks from that release working their way into the set as well as others not found on the Wacken gig. "Black Sun", "Tears of Rage", "Armageddon", and "Church of Blood" are all killer melodic power metal anthems, and performed here even heavier than their studio counterparts. Stay tuned during the closing medley for the band's version of the Judas Priest classic "Metal Gods".
Plenty of bonus material is available on this DVD, including a few video clips ("Armageddon" is especially well done), a Wacken report from 1999 when the band was first hitting the scene, and a full bootleg section of live clips from various countries and venues over the years. Funniest segment has to be the band talking about how they are big fans of professional wrestling, and each member picking a persona of a WWE wrestler, even going so far at one show to all be introduced as their favorite wrestler along to their theme music. Funny thing is, if you are familiar with the WWE, while watching this DVD you'll instantly realize that Scheepers bears a striking resemblance to former WWE wrestler Val Venus, and wouldn't you know it, during the segment I mentioned earlier the singer comes out to Val's entrance music..."Hello ladies!" It's a funny segment that wrestling fans will really get a kick out of.
Hopefully Primal Fear will one day release a sequel to this excellent DVD, covering the last 7 years of the band. With a new CD set for release, perhaps that's something the band might look into in the very near future.
Track Listing
Wacken Open Air 2001:
Introduction
Angel In Black
Batallions Of Hate
Nuclear Fire
Chainbreaker
Eye Of An Eagle
Running In The Dust
Silver & Gold
Primal Fear
Angel In Black (Reprise)
Black Sun Tour 10-2002:
Introduction
Chainbreaker
Black Sun
Church Of Blood
Mind Control
Under Your Spell
Fear
Tears Of Rage
Armageddon
Living For Metal
A Medley: One With The World-Born To Rock-Metal Gods
Bonus Features
Angel In Black (Video)
Armageddon (Video)
Metal Warrior (Video)
Report: Wacken 1999
The Bootleg Section
Bonus Audio CD: Official Live Bootleg
Primal Fear Live In Wacken 2001
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