Primal Fear – Code Red

Written by on 21-10-2023 at 09:39.

Power metal from Germany! One of the better locations for this metal genre, in my humble opinion. After all, it is Germany where these legendary names originate: Gamma Ray, Helloween, Edguy and Blind Guardian. And for a slightly newer generation there are also Powerwolf, Mob Rules, Avantasia and many others. And what does that have in common with Primal Fear, you might ask? Singer Rolf Scheepers has also contributed to Gamma Ray, Helloween and Avantasia. They call that cross-pollination, right? Anyway, the band is back with the new album, called Code Red: a call to and a message about society.

Right with the opening track, Another Hero, it is clear what to expect. More of the same and that’s good. Fine guitar riffs, tasteful and good guitar solo’s, heavy drums and the impressive range of Ralf’s voice. The pace increases slightly with Bring That Noise and seeing through lies is the subject in Deep In The Night. Then a very clear title with contemporary news: Cancel Culture. It is the most intense song so far, instrumentally, with a wonderful drive. The screams that Ralf lets out here and there are also quite epic. The subsequent Play A Song is at times reminiscent of the approach of a Judas Priest song, something I can personally appreciate (Priest fan, here!). With The World Is On Fire we also get a slightly more heavy metal approach and we hear where the inspiration for the album title came from.

The second half of the album starts with Their Gods Have Failed and does so with a wonderful acoustic guitar ping at the beginning. Furthermore, this song turns out to be a spacious, epic seven minutes with a clear message. Steelmelter follows with a nice melodic guitar line that is followed by a nice rhythm section part. Raged By Pain, on the other hand, sounds a lot rougher. Ralf even makes his voice sound rougher in the verses here (Judas Priest meets Accept, anyone?). That doesn’t sound bad! Then the moment has arrived, the moment that every renowned power metal band must meet: the power ballad. The credit goes to the song Forever. Sweet, old-school, lighter-in-the-air-worthy: it has it all. As with many other records, the closing track (Fearless) is a kind of summary of what we have just heard.

An appeal to society seems to be a recurring theme in Ralf’s lyrics. It may be just me, but I think almost every song on this album is about contemporary changes in society (mainly focused on intolerance towards each other and being very quick to judge others, especially via social media). The pandemic is also discussed and how our society has dealt with it..

With Code Red, Primal Fear has a clear message to everyone: just act normal, then you’re crazy enough. The fact that the gentlemen do not agree with how things are going these days is also made very clear in the lyrics. Maybe a little too clear? Musically it is all solid, but not always exciting. The standouts are Cancel Culture, Their Gods Have Failed and (as far as I’m concerned)  Raged By Pain, but the rest of the songs don’t really stick.

Score:

75/100

Label:

Atomic Fire Records, 2023

Tracklisting:

  1. Another Hero
  2. Bring That Noise
  3. Deep in the Night
  4. Cancel Culture
  5. Play a Song
  6. The World Is on Fire
  7. Their Gods Have Failed
  8. Steelmelter
  9. Raged by Pain
  10. Forever
  11. Fearless

Line-up:

  • Ralf Scheepers – Vocals
  • Magnus Karlsson – Guitar
  • Alex Beyrodt – Guitar
  • Tom Naumann – Guitar
  • Mat Sinner – Bass, vocals
  • Michael Ehré – Drums

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