Primal Fear - Unbreakable review

Year : 2012
Genre : Power Metal
Label : Frontiers Records
Origin : Germany
Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Primal Fear's Unbreakable is your perfect way to open up a new year in skirted Puma sport shoes. The Photoshop covert art has a tremendous 1992 Amiga computer game vibe somewhat, at least in my mind. Unbreakable is fueled by oldschool enthusiasm rampant-unalloyed at the start line, as these German vets bring a good amount of quality power stimuli on a record that shows only minor irregularities in the OH!, so important department of ruthless cheesefestation Camambert efficiency.

Following a budget Casio orchestra epic - synonym : pinball machine soundtrack - intro, unbreakable starts out with definite highlight delivery "Strike", in which a hilarious sense of a blend of proper Megadeth and hefty Iron Maiden is unleashed on your receivers, and this attitude is maintained intact in the consecutive track, "Give 'Em Hell". From then on, the record has a mixture of decent tracks, a couple of - not more of - fillers, and you really need to look with intent eyes to sport a definite yawner, fortunately. And, according to my experience, if you are looking for boredom with intent eyes, then there isn't any. Read on to find out more about this fun power metal release.


The Unbreakable LP has a high expectation level it demands from itself, and, courtesy of a galore of quality paua metal parts to soak your ears into, the release, for the most part, satisfies those expectations in - sorry about "teh" following - quite satisfactory fashion. The exclusive moments of less integrity I perceive in the fabric of this baby always punishes through the sinister means of the the goodol' communist marching song vibe, but, the band almost sounds to notice how embarrassing the feeling in question can get at times, and they are hasty to wrap that feel up prior its dominance.

The delivery shows a multitude of well cultivated primordial behaviors, as it does and delivers every method and mood you ever wanted a power metal album to immerse you in : it rumbles with that pink latex thing, violating consensus with the concealed retina-silhouette of the highly power metallic evident testicle, and, when it chooses to put a leash on speed, its mid-tempo contributions, along with a set of larger than life power metal ballads, work quite well, too. Personally, I think power metal ballads are sucking out female zombie eyeballs and won't relent doing that, but, if your opinion differs greatly, then please share your top five power metal ballads in the comment section to the reading pleasure of the other visitors and yours, truly.

If you are a power metal fanatic-, OR enthusiast, then it is very unlikely that you will have any problem at all listening to this release, as it has absolutely ripe melodic moments while it respects /worships the unwritten rules of power metal compositional techniques. The less muscular tracks are still good enough to give your very best puzzled look to. When compared to the other pieces on the release, the track "Bad Guys Wear Black" is a pretty terrible song in my opinion, and probably the worst on the entire release. The next one, "And There Was Silence", has terribly mannered singing in the verse. If you can endure these moments, - which is not as hard as French kissing a cobra - then the release is pure gold for you. Enthusiastic, exigent, tame-but-diligent power metal that finds an Iron Maiden banging her head, and that says something.

Rating : 8.0 / 10

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Royal Hunt - Show Me How To Live review

Year : 2011
Genre : Progressive Metal Hard Rock
Label : Frontiers Records
Origin : Denmark
Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Denmark's Royal Hunt delivers its eleventh studio album to date. This band has been around since the late '90s, experiencing great success in Japan and Europe, primarily. The album marks the return of American lead vocalist D. C. Cooper who has been absent from the lineup for 13 years, while the band also claims that this particular release represents a conscious return to the "classic Royal Hunt sound".

The record starts out with an atmospheric fantasy battlefield ambient section drowning into a programmed pinball machine orchestra, and, when the actual music starts, the primer agenda emerges in great haste to outline its ambitious silhouettes. Luckily, as the rigorously tamed guitars join into the fray, the monumental pinball synths immediately gain a much more stable and relevant function of absorbing a healthy amount of the bare grit of the guitars, claiming the right to go with their new found partner to wherever they want to. The spin utilizes these hugely bloated synths with great keenness and inventive tendencies, and their beaten-but-not-defeated timber gives and gains all kinds of justices to-, and from the guitars that the band consciously collides them with. Their volumetric presence is so prominent in the mix that they emerge as equals to the guitars and claim focal role amidst the heft-related tools the record has at its disposal.

The resultant-, global character of the sound incorporates a special kind of Bertold Brechtian cartoon-gloom and a funny sense of self-parodistic hopelessness that did not yet decide to end its own suffering or laugh out loud at it instead, combined with a toy-classicism that seeks to emerge as utterly determined through the synthetizers, and I feel it is great fun even when it manages to do that, as well as when it is becoming an intentional parody of itself, because this always happens in a hilarious fashion. Thank God and Co., the record takes itself mad serious and looks more and more good while doing that, so, as the spin progresses, its relentlessness at INSISTING becomes especially likable. Read on to find out more about this sexy release.


As it quickly becomes evident, Royal Hunt has a superb sense for delivering legit, full musculature choruses. The way they sing "One! More! Daaaaaaaay!" in the opening track on top of a gently varied power chord, simply rules you and me and that guy and that, too, and invites the oh!, so delicious Abba metal to mind. As the LP progresses, it turns out that what you are getting is similar in its instinctive nature to an Yngwie Malmsteen album, but this similarity mainly boils down to a mutual tendency of relying on elegant, at heart simplistic classical compositional techniques. The solo releases of original neoclassical hypershredder Yngwie Malmsteen seek to bulldozer you proper into the wall like a Taurus demon who does not love you, while this particular release is not afraid to attempt to entertain with a tamer-, but similarly bombastic and unusual sound in nature. This special sonic alloy is the result of a combination of super-prominent, fluid synth-anatomy and the aggressive guitar work. If you give the ear thoroughly, you can hear how the guitars and the synths are playing different riffs that are flirting with each other, while both instruments are enjoying full administrative rights in the mere character of the sonic rhythm section.

After a tight opening track with a brilliant chorus, I personally feel that the second installment, "Another Man Down", while acceptable, does not pack the same high octane efficiency its direct predecessor spills on you. Consecutive track, "An Empty Shell" starts out as a rabid cinematic score that had enough of its own character and related limits and decided to go me(n)tal. A thrilling, relevant musical experience. A lush, wide, strong instrumental background compliments a verse structure that comes to you right from a particularly disturbing Tim Burton movie, then a strong pre-section of discomforting anticipation and unfolding drama reveals lurking hell that decides to break lose instead and simply does not capitulate until its flames managed to lick off all threads of hairs from your body. The track has a notable tendency to throw in truly impressive instrumental interludes with avid solo riposts traded between synth and solo guitar, and the fact that the performers do not venture into wankfest territory, appeals to the overall experience in extremely convincing fashion. Another superb track.

"Hard Rain's Coming" starts out with an Abba intro, and continues to thread along that superb direction. I especially like D. C. Cooper's content "ha! haaa!" at 0:41, with which he acknowledges the epic belt he just started off the fabric of the song with. This one is a mid-tempo metal ballad with a tremendous rumble and a flamboyant flow, and the chorus finds a way to go Abba instead going for the communist marching song mood, producing another home run. A decent guitar solo also is thrown into the fray to ride on top of phrygian chord structures - yes, I'm a fucking snob - that will make you sit on the edge of your seat if you are not banging your head(s) yet. (Have to be PC with the mutants, too.)

"Half Past Loneliness" is a definite highlight for me, this is what I call a kickass chorus, bitches! The chorus has the 101% Abba going on with a pop metal vibe that reeks irresistible sex appeal all the way through, especially with the backing vocals. My mom heard the song and immediately wanted it on her mp3 player, and expressed on-spot fandomism towards the creators. Pure late '70s brilliant vintage power-pop mounted on a relentless metal wartank, and I like it tremendously, and I think you need to check it out, too. The other part I consider pretty strong on the delivery, is the instrumental section of titular delivery "Show Me How To Live", as the Bertold Brechtian cartoon gloom and the Abba-like pop-determination masterfully clicks together herein.

This release is ripe and sexy all the way through, and has no weaknesses worth pointing a finger on. Strong for the most part, brilliant at certain spots, obtaining this Royal Hunt - Show Me How To Live LP should be your top priority if you want deeply melodic metal that has dignity, charming hooks, a decent amount of brilliant choruses and overall musical exigency.

Rating : 9.2 / 10

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Trillium - Alloy review

Year : 2011
Genre : Melodic Gothic Metal
Label : Frontiers Records
Origin : Germany
Rating : 6.6 / 10

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Germany's Trillium comes forth with a heavy duty mindhack attempt to reprogram your mind via rudimentary NLP skills, making you believe that you are about to be subjected to the treatment of American metalcore act Trivium, but : naaah, this is another band, fronted by local singer Lady Amanda Sommerville, and this here fresh LP, Alloy, is doing an acceptable job at fixing your myriad cravings and sentiments Gothic enough if and when they are not involving too serious things like blood and / or turning into a monster for the inherent fun of it.

The album sounds to be a mixed result, - metaphorically, too - and here is why : some songs are pretty tight, their numbers are numerous, but a healthy amount of the builds are enervated contributions at best, opening track Machine Gun - a terribly scant choice for an opener - comes to mind : "I'm a machine gun, and I'm never gonna quit, you are under fire." OK, I think I'm gonna cry. Oh Amanda. You are a Goth mistress for Nosferatu's sake, bite my neck instead, or at least spank me real good or something. Your ripe Goth arch-muse Amanda Sommerville is the main attraction here, making this delivery similar in character to the risk-free fairy tale metal calculatedly delivered by Netherlands' Within Temptation, but Magistratess Sommerville has a more pronounced affection for the dark side - haaaaa, phuuuuu, haaaaa, phuuuuu - than the singer Lady of Within Temptation whose name I have no clue nor interest about at the moment, but both of these Mistresses have solid pipes AND a consorting lack of truly defining vocal qualities, sipp!, sipp!. Amanda Sommerville also brings a brutal dose of Free Dominguez influence, as her head voice / whistle register exclusively finds melodies that Kidney Thieves' awesometicular Free Dominguez is the original creator / resonator of. There is music behind Amanda on this record, too. Guys, let's talk about the music.


Trillium's Alloy is accessible, Goth bubblegum metal with logically, mathematically engineered gloom and bijou-epicness written all over it, but, this is not the kind of gloom that emerges to kick your hideous ass to hell and back, it is more like a session with a comic book psychiatrist lady sitting in the armchair while you have a chance to secretly stare at her quality black stockings filled with quality legs, and the memory of the session remains of JUST that, as well. Musically, this is a decently produced / realized instant microwave metal spin, and it does not even want to be bombastic or intimidating while addressing its own charmingly limited-, but solidly delivered toy-cleaver qualities.

The album has maybe 3-4 potential songs - among 12 - with bigger emotional heft and sonic inventiveness in them, but there are tunes as well of the caliber a rabid metal maniac will dismiss in rampant bursts of yellow foam, outcrying a shameless display of radio friendly charlatanism, like during track number 6, called Mistaken. The chorus of the song is the textbook definition of "look!! a radio chorus, my favorite love!" In track 7, a male singer joins into the fray to reveal his capabilities at delivering epic metal with epic determination and the appropriate body posture I imagine - let alone the ambition that is enough to shatter the stratosphere infinite times - , and, while he is uhuh, uhuh, decent, I guess, - nowhere near the galaxy of Your Personal Doom God Butch Balich though - honestly he sounds like he needs urgent matters to take care of first, and it is very comforting to hear Amanda taking the lead back from time to time, in my opinion.

The most admirable attribute of this release is its length, - and I'm not talking ONLY about Amanda's sublimely realized legs right now - because the LP noticeably has diligent work and enthusiastic creative force behind it, yet never forget, that these resources were utilized exclusively to deliver you risk free pink bubblegum metal with radio friendly qualities for 56 minutes. With a keen affection placed on mid-tempo builds and prolonged verse/chorus structures in which Amanda can warm her pipes around safely in her dangerless comfort zone, this here is a kind, friendly German fairy tale metal delivery that is as easy and safe to listen to as it is to not to at all.

Rating : 6.6 / 10

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