Year: 2020
Total Time: 57:21
Label: Nuclear Blast

One would say that fortunately JUDAS PRIEST’s collaboration with Ralph Scheepers did not thrive in that infamous audition back in 1997. For the simple reason that soon after PRIMAL FEAR was born, the personal musical vehicle of the former singer of legendary Power Metallers GAMMA RAY Ralf Scheepers and the other important personality of German POWER METAL, bassist Mat Sinner of SINNER. With their magnus opus, “Unbreakable” (2012) PRIMAL FEAR has been holding steadily since then as a commando of METAL music as the title of the album aptly states.

The vocals remain unchanged (albeit somewhat more nasal) and recognizable in order to deliberately remind us of the influences of JUDAS PRIEST and ACCEPT but also the good old days of the first albums of the singer’s old teammates. The orchestration is once again quite compact and the lyrical theme is classically pompous, allegorical and metaphorical, describing fantastic stories of battles and wars inside and outside earth. One would say that PRIMAL FEAR stubbornly refuse to change their style in the last 20 years and follow their usual safe path, and why not anyway? After all, they know how to do it well and they do it with great success if we consider the fact that someone recognizes them almost immediately because of their characteristic playing.

So “Metal Commando”, a fresh well-crafted and representative album of Teutonic metal with several (almost the whole album) highlight moments such as: “I Am Alive”, “Along Came the Devil”, “Hear Me Calling”, “The Lost & The Forgotten”, “Raise Your Fists “,”Afterlife” the beautiful and tender ballad “I Will Be Gone” as well as the lyrical – epic 13 minute epilogue “Infinity”. An album clearly intended for “metal commandos” – fans of this genre and more!

Rating: 7,5/10
Editor: Nikos Mathiopoulos
Related Link: PRIMAL FEAR – Official Page