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 Primal Fear- Devouring Lesser Pretenders In Its JawsSep 18, 2008
EEK! EEK! Do you hear that? It's the last sounds of poseur metal bands being snatched up by the talons of super power metal juggernaut Primal Fear as it makes mince meat out of those talentless hacks. Everything about Primal Fear is as honed and razor sharp as the metallized eagles that emblazon their cover art. Impossibly huge, unmistakably heavy metal guitar riffs, solos, and harmonic runs are only part of the beast. The sheer force of the bass and drum rhythm section provides shockwaves powerful enough to shake mountains and change the course of rivers. Ralf Scheepers puts a cherry atop the proceedings and propels the molten monster forward by his ferocious yet quite melodic vocals. He no doubt lives and breathes metal. Jaws Of Death is a fist-pumping, double metal-horned conception of complete devastation from start till ending with a cover of Rainbow's "Kill The King". This is the only version of "Kill The King" that is superior to the original. It seems like every metal band adds "King" to its repertoire sometime but only Primal Fear has enough guts to carry out the dirty deed with enough conviction and metal know-how to get the bloody job done. Jaws Of Death has no filler and no fluff. Bad To The Bone? Me thinks not. Bad to the talon is more apropos.-David J Newman 9/17/08
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Judas Priest clone? eh, maybe not...Feb 09, 2007
OK, first a little background on the formation of Primal Fear. From a German Power Metal band called Gamma Ray that spawned from the '80s band Helloween came Ralf Scheepers. Ralf Scheepers left Helloween to form Gamma Ray. He sang for Gamma Ray for their first four albums. By this time, Judas Priest was doing auditions for the replacement for Rob Halford. Ralf Scheepers tried out for the job. Didn't get it. Came in third. Of course, Tim "Ripper" Owens got it. Anyway, Ralf was determined to show the metal world that he had the pipes to replace Halford and formed Primal Fear. OK, got it? Good.
Well, Primal Fear's first debut 'self-titled' album was what some people thought that Judas Priest should have done instead of "Jugulator". Which may be true. It sounded very Judas "Painkiller" Priesty. But now with their second album "Jaws of Death", the band has expanded their sound which gives them a slightly more original sound. EDIT: Actually, after futher and closer listening, Primal Fear, at least with this album, sound like what early '80s Ozzy Ozbourne and Def Leppard would have sounded like had Rob Halford been the singer. You get guitar wails similar to what Rhandy Rhoads did and later what Zakk Wylde would do. You also get a bit of that High N' Dry and Pyromania guitar riff sound from Def Leppard. But mostly an Ozzy sound over-all with Halford on vocals, but updated to the new millenium's metal scene.
That said, if you like old school metal from the early to mid '80s especially Judas Priest and Ozzy, but can't really stomach Hammerfall's really, really old school sound, then Primal Fear is a great alternate choice.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Jaws of Death Explodes!!May 03, 2002
This piece of primar fear work is definitely their best effort...more driving riffs, and very catchy, yet not trendy choruses (save a prayer, church of blood) that even have harmony!!! Like three step harmony....not quite Alice In Chains "Dirt" harmony (the best metal harmony album ever), but pretty close. The combo, of slow, crunchy riffs (church of blood, When the night comes) and heavy, somewhat faster crunches (save a prayer) mixed with Ralf's kickin' vocals and backup harmonies, makes this definitely Primal Fear's best effort, and one of my favorite CD's (Have had it in my CD player for over a month straight, you know that's good). I have been listening to metal for almost 20 years and have only a handful of bands that I really look forward to hearing new music from (Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth, Priest,). But, this band is one of if not the best new straight ahead metal band without the stupid Alt Rock trendiness to come about in the last 5 years. The reason for this is due to the fact that they're from Europe where the metal has stayed pure when America metal turned into Alt Rock/watered down ... music. Primal Fear Kicks [bootie]..........Anyway, Jaws of Daeth really is good to listen to.Brian, Redding CA
Inferior to Nuclear Fire by a hair's breadth!Nov 10, 2001
When I bought the first Primal Fear album earlier this year I was impressed. A few months later I bought 'Nuclear Fire', which is in my oppinion the best metal release of the year. I bought this album's successor first because a review I read said that Nuclear Fire was superior. I bought this album recently and I think that this is ONLY JUST inferior to Nuclear Fire. I think the change in guitarist (Stefan Leibing's new guitaring partner is Henny Wolter, formerly of Thunderhead and still a member of Sinner) made this slight difference, although Ralf Scheepers new haircut may have resulted in increased airflow around his head, cooling his brain and increasing his songwriting ability. This album is truly excellent with some of the best songwriting and technical musicianship I have ever heard. This album and it's successor are in my oppinion among the classic albums of metal. If you like Nuclear Fire then this is an album you should own. I can thoroughly recommend it. Fans of Judas Priest's 'Painkiller' will also love this album. I cannot wait for the new album, being recorded at the moment, to come out next year. If Primal Fear can make improvements for the third album in a row then the new album will be astounding.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Make it three and half....Oct 16, 2001
I must admit, after buying this shortly after Nuclear Fire I didn't like it that much. I found it much more lacking in melody and riffs than it's sequel. However, upon listening to it more it's grown on me. It's not as good as it's sucessor, however it is more experimental and more than just a Judas Priest 'Painkiller' rip off which their first album certainly was. Tracks like 'Under Your Spell' and 'When The Night Comes' slow down, but up the groove in the process and are really catchy. There is more experimentation with strings and other effects on the intro's as well. This classyness isn't true of every track though admitedly. But stand out 'Nuclear Fire' style metal tracks include 'Church Of Blood', 'Nation In Fear', 'Final Embrace' and 'Hatred In My Soul'. You do have to let it grow on you, but it is more complicated than the straight ahead style of their first release. It's just some of the riffs let it down here and there. When you buy this, your buying it for five or six stand out tracks really, not the entire album (which is certainly case with their next album), but 'Under Your Spell' is one of their best songs though. Overall it's not as bad as people are making out, but you do have to let it grow on you. (p.s. On a completely superficial note, the box it comes in is this really cool hardback digipack thing with lots of lovely reflecty bits on it so you could probably reclycle this and use it as some sort of reflective device, perhaps a mirror. That's if you are really unsatisfied with it that is. You shouldn't be though)
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based on 13 reviews
