Satan's Luau

I guess I was planning to write something ... well, more like a rant ... about how I do not appreciate the ignorance shown by my superior at work ... and his irritating tendency to question the authoritativeness of my answers to his research questions ... see, the irony is, I'm the expert ... he's not --- and I don't know why he just can't go with my answer ... It's not like I'm trying to screw him over with wrong answers ... oh well, I don't get it

So the net result is ... I LISTEN TO MORE METAL ... LOTS OF METAL!!! ... which if you are one of the 2 readers of this blog ... is either really cool or leads you to believe that I am a really farquan boring person

Black Sun (2002): A

You may ask yourself --- So what's this picture about, anyways?
Who is that with Rob Halford ... is that Michael Bolton??? ha

If you will indulge me with a bit of wayback machine, let's go back to 1990 ... Judas Priest released "Painkiller" ... For all you familiar with the direction of Priest at the time, well, to put it bluntly they released two albums that were hella stinky

I think the thing that made the album such a return to form PLUS ... is that they added new drummer Scott Travis from Racer X (mini independent thrash band) ... his drumming alone is worth the price of admission ... just amazing work with the double bass and pounding gorilla style drumming

It's my opinion (and probably that of others) that Scott was the kick in the ass that Priest needed after the debacles that were "Turbo" and "Ram it Down"... Rob sounded his best since the Screaming/Defenders era --- and wouldn't sound that way again until his solo effort of 2001 Resurrection

Anyways, everything was just firching great about this album, even KK and Glenn 's work sounded primo uno greato ... its Priest saying Fokk Yes, we're metal, and dropping behind the "we rock, we are rocking, we sing about us rocking" cliches that got huger and huger after the success of British Steel

History now says that that was a FLASH IN THE PAN ... perhaps that last burst of light before the night comes down (could I resist, no..ha) ... Painkiller was in this lifetime JP fan's opinion ... the last great album from JP Rob or no Rob ... and
perhaps one of the unsaid reasons for Rob Halford leaving is that he knew that Priest was going downhill

Back to the present, or more like late last year ...

WHO IS PRIMAL FEAR? and does Richard Gere have anything to do with it

As far as I reckon, I am new to the band so cut me some slack ... this band is best known for sounding like JP ... in fact, that is the inevitable comparison, and I can't really say that I don't disagree with the comparison

Ok, the dude in the picture is Ralf, the vocalist for PF ... now back to the review

My initial impressions of hearing this album is ... these guys may be the NEW kings of power metal ... oh and another thing, ANOTHER great German metal band... these guys have taken the Painkiller sound and evolved it with elements of thrash and technical playing that is just AWESOME

So what do they sound like, in words ... Ralf has a range that is eerily Halfordish
... I would say that he is second to Rob in sounding like Rob, way the heck better than Tim "ripoff" Owens current lead of JP

But what stands out is the MUSICIANSHIP ... I haven't heard a power metal album sound so good since the mid-80s ... power chords, riffage, dueling harmonic solos, and some good ol fashioned headbanging tunes

You come away after listening to this thinking: Whoa, too derivative of the classic power metal sound of the 80s ... or go sh--, if JP ain't gonna sound like JP, why not have the boys in Primal Fear give us some really clucking good classic power metal --- if you're a critic, I suppose you'd say these guys do JP better than the current JP lineup

All the songs are just so damn cool ---
Out with the metal music theory again ... the formula here class is: great riff, great hook, mid tempo, wall of sound chorus, intricate guitar work, then the double guitar solo attack --- and do it nice and compact

Now I have read the reviews of others around the Net and most of them prefer "Nuclear Fire" which is the one before this one ... I don't have it, haven't listened to it at all ... so I have no idea

What I can say though is, Primal Fear has got the classic power metal sound down and has updated it with some elements of thrash and just pure technical mastery (this band is way the hell tight)

Ok, so why is it an A and not an A+? ... admittedly this is the perfect power metal album that my ears have been hungering for since Painkiller, that's 13 years now... and the BEST SOUNDING power metal album since the mid-80s, when we were blessed to have classics from JP, Maiden and Accept ... the album even has a POWER BALLAD (Track 10-Silence) that is just plain masterful

I suppose I could only give a perfect score if they were totally novel, new, and original sounding ... they are not ... but they are the new masters of power metal ... the classic Power Metal sound Lives, its been so long since I've been able to say that --- so good that it almost made me cry ... THAT DAMN GOOD

(Images (c) 2003 Primal Fear and Judas Priest)