Primal Fear is a German power metal institution formed in 1997 by Ralf Scheepers (vocals, ex-Gamma Ray) and Mat Sinner (bass and vocals, Sinner). Their debut album Primal Fear was released in 1998 and given the already well known skills of Scheepers and Sinner, the album was an instant success not only in Germany but also in other parts of Europe, Asia and South America. Primal Fear makes no no-sense power / traditional metal heavily influence by Judas Priest (specially the first albums). They have been a very consistent band not only in terms of being truthful to their sound but also in releasing good albums. In fact, you can count on a new album every other year and while none have beaten the first two records, the other 10 albums are all decent power metal bonanzas.
Now Metal Commando is the thirteenth studio album and, with Primal Fear, you again know what you are getting. Pure unapologetic borderline cheesy power metal. As a long time fan of the band, it's always a difficult album to review. While I really like the band and their discography, Metal Commando is more of the same. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it does get repetitive. You could play a game trying to match each song out of these 11 new tracks to a past Primal Fear song. The good news is that the songwriting (at least musically, I will talk about the lyrics later) is still top notch and most songs are heavy, full of hooks, big choruses, and three guitars hammering headbanging riffs. But the album is quite long, 11 songs in one hout of music, including the epic 13-min "Infinity" as closer.
The first two songs and singles are pure Primal Fear aggressiveness and speed: "I Am Alive" and "Along Came the Devil". "Halo" is a very melodic tune and reminded me of Ralf in Gamma Ray times. Another video single "Hear Me Calling" is a typical mid-tempo catchy tune. Overall the first half of the album goes very well. It also includes the fast and mean "Lost and Forgotten" and the vicious "My name is Fear". But then the ballad "I Will Be Gone" breaks the streak of heavy metal anthems and, despite a bright spot with "Afterlife", the album never fully recovers. The final act "Infinity" with 13+ minutes is their longest song yet, but unnecessarily long and not their best epic.
Then the lyrics. Usually they are not a big swing item in my reviews, but sometimes lyrics are so good that they make a positive difference and in other so bad that bother me. Unfortunately with Metal Commando is the latter. At moments, Primal Fear are just cheesy and kind of fun 'There ain’t nobody ever bringin' us down / We will rock forever more' but at others it is just too bad. A song about a writing a love ballad for example: 'Got a new tune from the boys to work on / On my headphone - finding melodies and words / While I'm thinking about you'.
The line-up with the exception of the drummer has been quite stable and features 3 guitarists.
Interestingly while Magnus Karlsson is a main song writer and records guitars on the studio, he is typically not on live performances and sometimes not in promo pics and videos. He is a very productive song writer and the 3-guitar chemistry with Alex Beyrodt and Tom Naumann is there. And what to say about Ralf Scheepers? He is certainly one of the best singers in this style and he is not loosing steam, quite the opposite Ralf showcases a peak performance with very aggressive vocals. Finally, the production is well done and clear, typical modern power metal production. As Matt Sinner is also the producer, his powerful galloping bass is not forgotten.
SCORE: 77/100
Genre: Power Metal
Released by Nuclear Blast on July 24th, 2020
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Rating System*
99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad
* slightly adapted on May 24th, 2020 due to statistical review
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