Artist: Primal Fear
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: 1/23/01
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Title: Nuclear Fire Artist: Primal Fear Label: Nuclear Blast Release Date: 1/23/01 |
Judgment Committee Reviews | Rating |
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4 | ||
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4 | ||
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Abyss's Review:
Get ready for some fist-pumping, vocal straining, Stonehenge tromping power metal. Primal Fear bring their own spin to the genre, sounding a bit like Grim Reaper and older Helloween. Unfortunately, when it comes to the overall quality of this release, it doesn’t quite live up to those aforementioned bands.
"This song, with the exception of the vocals, would seem right at home on Invasion of Your Privacy, or Out of the Cellar." All of the ingredients are here. The shrill, almost painful, vocals; melodic guitars that are well played, but played out; and an aura of romantic imagery, from gauntlets to nuclear tragedy, combine to form an album that could very well have been made in the eighties. As I listen to this album, it becomes apparent that there are more influences to this album than just the modern power metal and old NWOBHM movements. While often subtle, this album also owes a bit to the Los Angeles Glam scene of the mid-eighties. Many fans of this band (and power metal in general) might have a real problem with that analogy, but it’s there. One needs to look only to the most blatant example, the song “Now or Never”. Metal or not, it is impossible to listen to the guitar riff and not think of Ratt. This song, with the exception of the vocals, would seem right at home on Invasion of Your Privacy, or Out of the Cellar. And while most in the metal realm consider this the worst of insults, it is by no means meant as such. Ratt was, by far, the best of the hair bands, and their older records stand up to litmus test of metal, no matter how far out of fashion they are.
So this is where Primal Fear are the most interesting. Allowing such (formerly) commercial influences to seep in makes this album stand out from amongst the rest. Ratt meets Helloween with the lyrical stylings of Grim Reaper can make this a pleasurable experience for the power metalhead who might be a little sick of hearing a lot of Maiden clones. Alas, I’m not as devoted as those chosen ones, and the songs on this album, for the most part, just sound a bit too labored and uninspired to drag me in. Definitely for fans of the genre only.
Death's Review:
This was my first experience with Primal Fear and, I must confess, I didn't quite know what to expect. Well actually, I thought I was in for another dose of solid but generally uninspired European power metal. What I got instead was a killer trad/thrash/power offering which caught me by surprise and lodged itself into my CD player for the better part of two weeks - no small feat for an album I fully expected to listen to the requisite minimum number of times in order to fashion a review before discarding.
So what does Primal Fear sound like, you ask? That's easy. Two words: JUDAS PRIEST. How about letting me add two more words, for a total of four, just to be even more specific: PAINKILLER ERA. Yes folks, if you liked Painkiller, and don't mind another band so totally and completely copping this sound, you'll love Primal Fear - well, you'll at least love Nuclear Fire.
"Two words: JUDAS PRIEST." Vocalist Ralf Scheepers, ex- of Gamma Ray, kicks serious ass, and, unfortunately for me, I'm only just now figuring this out. The dude is the ultimate Halford disciple, perhaps even more so than Ripper Owens. Maybe this was the dude who should have got the Priest gig. Anyway, he hits the highs and still sounds metal on the rough parts. Similar to vocalist Wade Black's performance on the latest Crimson Glory record, Scheepers alone makes this record worth listening to.
The songs are cool, although fairly cliched. Even if they come across as totally unoriginal, songs like "Living for Metal" at least have their metallic hearts in the right place. Which leads me to my score, and well, my rationale for it. I truly, genuinely like this record, and kind of want to give it a five. But how the hell can I give it five skulls when I know this is just warmed-over Priest table scraps? I do know this: take "Silent Screams" off of Halford's Resurrection, and I'd take Primal Fear's Nuclear Fire over that record any day. So that should be enough, right? The student outshining the master. Not quite. This is good stuff, but in the end it is still squarely four skull material.
"The student outshining the master."
Hel's Review:
The observant reader has already identified me as a die-hard pessimist. There are times when it serves me well, but as a general rule, I try very hard to not allow this aspect of my personality to color my reviews. This has been increasingly difficult lately, and I felt I must pause, take this moment to look around and breathe deeply, and realize once again that I will always over-emphasize the negative because it is ingrained into my personality.
"If you like Priest and you wish more bands sounded like them, boy oh boy, is this one for you." It was hard for me, when I first heard Primal Fear, to not dismiss them as purely derivative. You see, they sound soo much like Judas Priest... You'll hear it for yourself, and I will try not to waste much time continually reiterating the obvious. I will begin my attempt once I've said this: the vocals are perpetually reminiscent of Rob Halford and executed with admirable skill, and the guitarists clearly studied in the Priest school of soloing and graduated at the top of their class.
That the band members are talented in their own right (and not for just sounding like Priest clones) is a fact that cannot be disputed. There are elements of originality throughout the record that I found interesting and entertaining. I also found that they definitely have a cheesy streak. The song "Nuclear Fire" is an excellent example. Sure, the song's cool, but there's also a level on which I want to roll around on the floor laughing because it sounds so silly. "Living for Metal" is also in this vein, and while I admit I love a metal anthem too, I've never been able to take them too seriously, particularly when I listen closely to some of the lyrics, like the chorus here.
On the whole, this is a really good band. If you like Priest and you wish more bands sounded like them, boy oh boy, is this one for you. Really, any well-rounded metalhead will want to give this one a listen. Primal Fear is talented, passionate about metal, and they have recorded an entertaining album. What's not to like about that?
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