Frontiers
2014
1. King For A Day
2. Rebel Faction
3. When Death Comes Knocking
4. Alive And On Fire
5. Delivering The Black
6. Road To Asylum
7. One Night In December
8. Never Pray For Justice
9. Born With A Broken Heart
10. Inseminoid
Going into this new one from Primal Fear I'm not sure I had much of an expectation. Their last album, Unbreakable, was pretty forgettable. It really just kind of robbed me of any excitement going into this one. On the other hand, Primal Fear have only released one other album I didn't like in Devil's Ground so I was hoping for a rebound here. The last one was so bland I just really hoped the band wasn't running low on steam.
The good news is this album has way more fire than the last one. From the start the riffs have a lot more edge to them and the album sounds more aggressive than the band has in quite awhile. I liked the more melodic approach of New Religion and Seven Seals, but it's also cool to see the band showing that it hasn't forgotten it's roots. This is very upbeat and attacking material the likes of which I haven't really heard consistently from the band since Black Sun. In fact both the riffs and the guitar sound recall Nuclear Fire and even a bit of the early, even more obvious Priest worship of the first album. This is a pretty drastic step back for the band, but I guess they must have been tired of the more melodic rock geared experimentation they'd adopted on the often melodic rock/metal based label Frontiers. It's a welcome change in that it seems to have breathed some life back into Primal Fear's song. Primal Fear really don't let their foot off the gas much on this one and it's a pretty heavy experience. I think my only real gripe is that the album comes off as a bit overproduced at times for the material. The obnoxiously up front cymbal crashes in King For A Day are one example of the production being a bit distracting and the backing chanting in Rebel Faction that follow seem a bit unnecessary. This problem is most evident on the bloated epic One Night In December though with it's pompous piano, strings, and bell intro. The song isn't even that bad, but I'm not sure it needed the symphonic treatment. It just tries a little too hard to be epic and the length of this track is also not really necessary. The ballad Born With A Broken Heart is another one with a heavy handed melodic/symphonic approach, but in fairness this seems a little more appropriate in ballad form. My favorite tracks though really tend to be the ones that are more direct and just kick some ass. There's nothing fancy about songs like Alive And On Fire, Never Pray For Justice, or Road To Asylum but they have a good attacking approach with a touch of groove.
I can't help but thinking the album could have benefited from sounding just a little rawer and that Frontiers is maybe not the best label to be handling this sort of material. Despite any flaws in the sound though the songs are far better than on Unbreakable though and this is a certain improvement. This isn't a flawless album, but the riffs are there and keep the head moving. Overall, this isn't a quite a home run but it's a definite step up compared to the last release and I'll take it.
Highlights: Alive And On Fire, Never Pray For Justice, Road To Asylum
Rating - 3.5/5
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