Primal Fear
Slim’s, San Francisco, CA
June 5, 2010

By Dan Wall

Setlist: Final Embrace, Killbound, Nuclear Fire, Six Times Dead (16.6), Angel in Black, Seven Seals, Sign of Fear, Fighting the Darkness, Riding the Eagle, Battalions of Hate, Metal is Forever. Encore: Hands of Time, Chainbreaker. 85 minutes.

If Primal Fear existed in a parallel universe, like the one in the television show Fringe, the band would probably be one of the biggest acts in that world. Sold-out shows in huge arenas and best-selling albums would make Primal Fear household names, much like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, the band’s major influences, are. 

Unfortunately, back here in our world, the reality is that despite the band’s brilliance, it played a show last week in San Francisco that drew 250 paying customers at best. That’s how many people show up on the guest list when the band plays in Europe or South America, but for some reason, this type of music has never died in those areas. The U.S., unfortunately, is another story. 

There’s no need to rehash all of the problems with the music scene and concert business in the recession-torn, internet-driven and video game-influenced USA. The only way bands like Primal Fear are going to get known is at the street level, with shows, word-of-mouth and reviews on sites like this one, so let’s get on with it. 

For those who don’t know, Primal Fear is a German power metal band featuring Ralf Scheepers, the first singer in Gamma Ray, (and the runner-up to Ripper Owens as frontman for Judas Priest back in 1998). Matt Sinner, the bassist, has his own band, Sinner, which is also a great, underground metal band. The quintet has released eight records, but is currently on the road in the U.S. on a major tour for the first time (see paragraph above). The musical comparisons often begin and end with Priest-I like to refer to the group as “Judas Priest on steroids.” 

The band has been steadily building a career with a number of great releases, and the group’s latest album, 16.6-Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, continues that pattern. That’s not a surprise to those of us who listen regularly to this band, because its last two records, New Religion and Seven Seals, were both classics as well. On the band’s last three records, the group underwent a change in its musical and creative style by incorporating strings, keyboards and female vocals into its own traditional metal sound. Those changes, once looked at as a sell-out by the band, have actually matured the act to the point where it is often times recognized as the best power metal band in the world. 

Scheepers (he’s the tall, hulking bald guy in the photos) is the main component of this unit, as his vocals fuel virtually every song the band has ever done. His voice, a soaring, roaring, four-octave range instrument that is very often compared to Rob Halford’s, is simply the most glorious metal voice on the planet. Because he’s a bit younger than Halford, Bruce Dickinson and the rest of the metal legends out there (and the fact that he hasn’t toured every year for the past 30 years), the voice holds up onstage; he simply never hits a bum note. 

Musically, the band is powered by the big riffs of Henny Wolter and Alex Beyrodt (the Maiden comparisons are due to these two guys’ onstage relationship and ability to both play lead); the unbelievably powerful and inventive drums from Randy Black, the former-Annihilator drummer; the solid thump and back-up vocals of Sinner; and the soaring melodies and shout-it-out-loud choruses that mention the devil and 666 so many times that you may have to go to confession. But just when you think that all these guys know is an all-out metal assault, the boys roll out a haunting change-of-pace ballad called "Hands of Time," that is eerie and beautiful at the same time.  

The group is featuring vocalist Pamela Moore on this tour (you might know her from her work with Queensryche, and her resemblance to Doro). She aided Scheepers on both “Seven Seals” and “Fighting the Darkness” and helped flesh out those tunes to the point that they sounded as good as the recorded versions. Aside from those two songs, and the encore of “Hands of Time,” it was a full-out double-kick drum assault featuring the band’s best songs (“Final Embrace,” “Six Times Dead,” “Metal is Forever,” “Chainbreaker’) that fueled this superb performance that was unfortunately seen by so few. 

It all comes together in a song like “Riding the Eagle”-soaring Scheepers vocal, teutonic riff, mad solos, big time drums and bass and a melodic chorus that rattles around in the back of your skull-this is what Primal Fear does best, and is the reason so many consider the band the best at what they do. That’s great for fans like us, but not so good for those who haven’t heard of this great metal act. Maybe next year on Fringe, Primal Fear will become huge-on the other side, of course.