Black Sun

Well, a bit more than a year after the incredible Nuclear Fire, Primal Fear are back with another album called Black Sun. I was really eager to listen to it and really I feared that Primal Fear wouldn't be able to keep up the level set with the previous album. A few seconds after the first songs immediately put my fears at rest. Primal Fear strikes back with again a hell of an album. So, the recipe hasn't changed much, Gammaray (or Helloween if you prefer) meets Judas Priest with incredible vocals ! Black Sun is yet a bit more melodic than its predecessor and I was very surprised to find some amazing choruses in the vein of songs like Silver And Gold from their debut album. The riffs and guitar solos are really impressive, very melodic and furiously fast on some songs. The main thing to notice is the vocals. We all know Ralf is a hell of a singer, but on Black Sun, Ralf has gone berserk, his vocals are absolutely amazing !!! He's without any doubts whatsoever one of the best (if not the best) metal singers in the world ! I can tell you one thing, the biggest mistake the Priests did was not to hire him when Halford left the band. What a mistake my friends. But I'm very glad it happened the way it is, cause Primal Fear music is more melodic and suits me more than Judas Priest (even more without Halford). And although I find that Halford is a damn great singer (I'm gonna get shot at) : to me Ralf is singing much better. On the song Magin Eye, Ralf will deliver a new facet of his vocals, reminding me DC Cooper during the verses (so much that I first wondered if this wasn't a duet :)). What a song ! As per the album itself, there are some incredible songs like Black Sun, Lightyears From Home, Mind Control, Magin Eye or Mind Machine will hunt you even in your dreams. All songs are killers except maybe a couple of tracks that have a "filler" kind of feel. The melodies are simply majestic, the riffs are square and powerful and the solos are so damn melodic that I struggle to understand some of them. But like I said, the gift, the perfect element of this album is the vocals ! Also a nice surprise are the drums, especially on the song Mind Machine, where the drums are striking at (at least) lightspeed . So in the end I wonder which one was best, Black Sun or Nuclear Fire, and I think that both have their strength and that they are about the same level, but with this edit promo it's too soon to tell. Nuclear Fire is more varied, when this Black Sun is more melodic and contains even better vocals than ever before. So I won't say which one is best, but I can tell you that both albums are atomic bombs, one delivering constant effort in a good variety of songs and the other being more melodic and displaying a few incredible songs that are one step on top of everything the band ever did (both instrumental and vocals). We've received an edit promo, which means the songs are faded out after 3 minutes, which is not only very frustrating, but on some song, the fade out is really badly done (for example when a solo starts !!!). So it's not that easy to review an album when we don't get the full versions of the songs. Like for the previous albums we've reviewed this way, I may change the quote by a few points up or down when the full album is released. If you're into Heavy Metal then you simply can't miss that release. Yet another atomic release from one of the best ever German Heavy Metal band. Now the question is, can it get better than this ? In any case Primal Fear confirms that they're the new metal gods of Heavy Metal and this Black Sun is for sure a buy-or-die Heavy Metal release. Well done guys, truly well done.