Frontiers
2007
1. Sign Of Fear
2. Face The Emptiness
3. Everytime It Rains
4. New Religion
5. Fighting The Darkness
6. Blood On Your Hands
7. The Curse Of Sharon
8. Too Much Time
9. Psycho
10. World On Fire
11. The Man
In the wake of Seven Seals I'd say there's a fair amount of anticipation out there to see what was next for the Primal Fear camp and I certainly was waiting for this one myself. Successful experimentation seems to be the general consensus for Seven Seals and that can be a hard thing to pull off. Any sound change always comes with the risk of alienating past fans. Now 7 albums deep I'd say Primal Fear has shown their longevity though as sticking around that long is something of an accomplishment in the metal scene. Not to mention that all Primal Fear's albums have been released within 1 or 2 years of each other. No problems so far with this songwriting well running dry.
New Religion picks up very much where Seven Seals left off as the melodic touches that album brought into the fold are in full effect. This new dimension to the band seems as powerful as on the last album to me and just offers a broader range within the band's sound, making for a more diverse and enjoyable ride. By no means has the Primal Fear of old been lost, the band has simply matured and expanded with excellent results. Everything from the most metal of shrieks and punishing guitar to piano and orchestration can be found contained within this disk and in this reviewers opinion they are done equally well.
I'd say the bottom line is everything this band has to offer can pretty much be found here. If it's blistering heaviness you want then you only need hear the punishing crunch guitar and blistering screams of songs like Sign Of Fear and Psycho. If it's swift, flowing energy with melodic touches that you want then look out for Face The Emptiness, Too Much Time, and World On Fire which come off as powerful and incredibly catchy. This album isn't done yet though as orchestration and incredible emotion drive songs like Everytime It Rains and Fighting The Darkness to the winners column as well. These were probably the biggest surprises of the album for me as I've never really thought of Ralf Scheepers as an emotive singer and more as a screamer. Ralf proves his range here though and I never would've thought it listening to their earlier albums. There have been ballad moments from the band before but never to this degree of success in my opinion. The play off between Ralf Scheepers and one Simone Simons of Epica on the track Everytime It Rains is particularly amazing to me as those two sound like they were made to sing together. The hardest part of reviewing this album for me was trying to pick out highlights when so many songs shine for different reasons.
Primal Fear have just done it again and I continue to be impressed with how this band builds on it's sound continually throughout it's already 7 album length catalogue. From a screaming sound heavily inspired by Judas Priest to more power metal speed sounding material to melodic and orchestrated elements this band has shown continual growth and I think it's safe to say that their sound is now entirely their own. Seven Seals blew me away and this album shows even more growth and drives their sound home. I would definitely recommend this to any fan of power metal and perhaps even beyond that. Basically, I think anyone reading this should give Primal Fear's New Religion a shot.
Highlights: Everytime It Rains, Face The Emptiness, Fighting The Darkness, Psycho, Sign Of Fear
Rating - 4.5/5
2. Face The Emptiness
3. Everytime It Rains
4. New Religion
5. Fighting The Darkness
6. Blood On Your Hands
7. The Curse Of Sharon
8. Too Much Time
9. Psycho
10. World On Fire
11. The Man
In the wake of Seven Seals I'd say there's a fair amount of anticipation out there to see what was next for the Primal Fear camp and I certainly was waiting for this one myself. Successful experimentation seems to be the general consensus for Seven Seals and that can be a hard thing to pull off. Any sound change always comes with the risk of alienating past fans. Now 7 albums deep I'd say Primal Fear has shown their longevity though as sticking around that long is something of an accomplishment in the metal scene. Not to mention that all Primal Fear's albums have been released within 1 or 2 years of each other. No problems so far with this songwriting well running dry.
New Religion picks up very much where Seven Seals left off as the melodic touches that album brought into the fold are in full effect. This new dimension to the band seems as powerful as on the last album to me and just offers a broader range within the band's sound, making for a more diverse and enjoyable ride. By no means has the Primal Fear of old been lost, the band has simply matured and expanded with excellent results. Everything from the most metal of shrieks and punishing guitar to piano and orchestration can be found contained within this disk and in this reviewers opinion they are done equally well.
I'd say the bottom line is everything this band has to offer can pretty much be found here. If it's blistering heaviness you want then you only need hear the punishing crunch guitar and blistering screams of songs like Sign Of Fear and Psycho. If it's swift, flowing energy with melodic touches that you want then look out for Face The Emptiness, Too Much Time, and World On Fire which come off as powerful and incredibly catchy. This album isn't done yet though as orchestration and incredible emotion drive songs like Everytime It Rains and Fighting The Darkness to the winners column as well. These were probably the biggest surprises of the album for me as I've never really thought of Ralf Scheepers as an emotive singer and more as a screamer. Ralf proves his range here though and I never would've thought it listening to their earlier albums. There have been ballad moments from the band before but never to this degree of success in my opinion. The play off between Ralf Scheepers and one Simone Simons of Epica on the track Everytime It Rains is particularly amazing to me as those two sound like they were made to sing together. The hardest part of reviewing this album for me was trying to pick out highlights when so many songs shine for different reasons.
Primal Fear have just done it again and I continue to be impressed with how this band builds on it's sound continually throughout it's already 7 album length catalogue. From a screaming sound heavily inspired by Judas Priest to more power metal speed sounding material to melodic and orchestrated elements this band has shown continual growth and I think it's safe to say that their sound is now entirely their own. Seven Seals blew me away and this album shows even more growth and drives their sound home. I would definitely recommend this to any fan of power metal and perhaps even beyond that. Basically, I think anyone reading this should give Primal Fear's New Religion a shot.
Highlights: Everytime It Rains, Face The Emptiness, Fighting The Darkness, Psycho, Sign Of Fear
Rating - 4.5/5
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