In this series of posts I'll discuss a random album in my collection I feel like talking about!
Primal Fear are a band I've liked for a few years now, but the only album I actually owned for a lot of that time was their self-titled debut from 1997. Like so many other bands I enjoy, it's hard to find a lot of their albums here in the UK, and I just never got around to picking up more. I decided to buy Domination when it dropped in September last year along with fellow German power metaller's Rage's 2025 album A New World Rising, just because I wanted something else - anything else - from both bands, as well as something brand new to add to the collection. When I wrote my 2025 wrap-up at the end of the last year, I actually ranked A New World Rising above Domination in my list of new albums that year, and how much I enjoyed them. Ask me again now though, and I'll put Primal Fear above Rage (I still enjoy that latest Rage album as much as I did last year, for the record).
See, Primal Fear came to my favourite local(ish) venue - KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton - in March this year, with Ronnie Romero supporting. Whenever it was I bought my ticket (maybe January), I gave Domination far more attention and played it far more in the space of 2 months than I did the year prior. It grew on me immensely, because in my 2025 wrap-up I effectively said that I enjoyed this album but had gripes with the production values regarding Ralf Scheepers' vocals. I felt like there was some sort of weird distortion, maybe even autotune, tampering going on. I couldn't put my finger on it. So I span it a few times last year, but it was kind of overshadowed by Rage's album. Obviously when you buy tickets to see a band live, you deliberately listen to whatever latest album they've put out as much as you can before the concert (well, I do anyway), and it was at that point any of the gripes I had with Domination before started to perish. This is one classy Germanic heavy/power metal album!
I'm not quite sure where my vocal department criticisms came from when I first heard the album last year. I don't really hear those strange issues with Ralf's voice whenever I listen to the CD anymore. And after seeing them live, I can honestly say that he sounds fantastic live. The guy is 61 now, but he was hitting the highs no problem at all during the concert. The guy is a hell of a presence on stage; he's built like a tank and clearly looks after himself physically - it only adds to the band's energy. Anyhow, it was a great show, one of my favourite live performances I've seen this year, and it's nice to have seen Scheepers on stage finally, because I was listening to those early Gamma Ray albums he sang on years before I got into Primal Fear.
One thing I have to say regarding Domination is that this is a perfect album to listen to in the gym. I mean, perfect. I lift weights 4 times a week and have done for years, and I also run a 5k outdoors on top of this once or twice a week when I can as well. I've lost count how many times I've listened to the album this year whilst exercising. Get yourself to the gym, stick hard-hitting traditional power metal numbers such as 'The Hunter', 'Destroyer', 'Crossfire' or the almost thrashy 'March Boy March' to see what I mean. Your testosterone will boost in seconds!! Songs like these are composed of kick-ass, no-nonsense metallic riffage and balanced perfectly with instantly memorable, catchy and highly vocally-focused choruses. You only have to listen to them once for them to be eternally engrained into your consciousness. The same goes for fist-pumping anthems like 'I Am the Primal Fear' (what a chorus this one has!!) and 'Heroes and Gods'! There are some great ballads scattered too - 'Tears of Fire' and 'Eden' are melodic and majestic, but there's still a hefty amount of muscle behind them, particularly in the stellar lead guitar work that is smattered throughout them. 'Eden' even features guest female vocals from Melissa Bonny from the symphonic band Ad Infinitum, and she and Ralf's vocal styles work very well together.
I don't dislike any track on here, even if some are slightly better than others - although I will say that the album's finale, 'A Tune I Won't Forget', is a bit of a snooze-fest, and completely inferior to 'Tears of Fire' and 'Eden' as far as ballads go. On the upside, mid-tempo 'The Dead Don't Die' sounds like a modern Saxon tune with Ralf on vocals instead of Biff Byford. Not a bad thing at all. The chorus to 'Scream' is almost too simplistic vocally, but it works so well as a workout song! And there is even a terrific, melodic instrumental on here called 'Hallucinations', which features some very pretty, tuneful lead guitars from long-time guitarist and songwriting contributor Magnus Karlsson. They wisely played this live as a sort of interval song, and it helped break-up the pace of the concert very well. Also, Domination's production is very clean and modern, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how you like your metal to sound. I don't have a problem with clean production depending on the band or genre. I think it works really well with a band like Primal Fear. I think it helps bring out Ralf's clean singing style, and I also think it benefits the guitars in terms of both riffs and solos, since the music is a nice mixture of heavy and melodic (as power metal should be). Bands like Judas Priest, Testament, Saxon etc. have all had clean, modern production jobs on their albums for a long time now, and it totally works for them too. Someone should tell Iron Maiden!
If I'd reviewed this album last year, I think I'd have scored it somewhere within mid 7/10 range. My scoring is, as you can see, much higher now. Seeing them live on the Domination tour has likely also boosted my opinion of this album, but as I said earlier, this is a PERFECT gym/running album for me. I honestly think it's tied with Glenn Hughes' Chosen (who I also saw live last year) as my favourite record of 2025 now. Some people will no doubt feel my rating is too high, especially after scoring Blood Incantation's critically acclaimed Absolute Elsewhere the same in my last post, but you have to understand that we all hear things differently!! I spend a lot of my free time training so the fact I've listened to it so many times in that setting now means I can only give it this level of praise. And I think thoroughly enjoying seeing a band live promoting the same album also adds a level of sentimentality, which no doubt affects my rating too. So it's an 8.9/10.
Unsurprisingly, I've added a few more Primal Fear albums to my collection over the course of the year - Unbreakable (2012), Rulebreaker (2016) and Apocalypse (2018). I think they're all really cool too.
Adam's rating: 8.9/10
See, Primal Fear came to my favourite local(ish) venue - KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton - in March this year, with Ronnie Romero supporting. Whenever it was I bought my ticket (maybe January), I gave Domination far more attention and played it far more in the space of 2 months than I did the year prior. It grew on me immensely, because in my 2025 wrap-up I effectively said that I enjoyed this album but had gripes with the production values regarding Ralf Scheepers' vocals. I felt like there was some sort of weird distortion, maybe even autotune, tampering going on. I couldn't put my finger on it. So I span it a few times last year, but it was kind of overshadowed by Rage's album. Obviously when you buy tickets to see a band live, you deliberately listen to whatever latest album they've put out as much as you can before the concert (well, I do anyway), and it was at that point any of the gripes I had with Domination before started to perish. This is one classy Germanic heavy/power metal album!
I'm not quite sure where my vocal department criticisms came from when I first heard the album last year. I don't really hear those strange issues with Ralf's voice whenever I listen to the CD anymore. And after seeing them live, I can honestly say that he sounds fantastic live. The guy is 61 now, but he was hitting the highs no problem at all during the concert. The guy is a hell of a presence on stage; he's built like a tank and clearly looks after himself physically - it only adds to the band's energy. Anyhow, it was a great show, one of my favourite live performances I've seen this year, and it's nice to have seen Scheepers on stage finally, because I was listening to those early Gamma Ray albums he sang on years before I got into Primal Fear.
One thing I have to say regarding Domination is that this is a perfect album to listen to in the gym. I mean, perfect. I lift weights 4 times a week and have done for years, and I also run a 5k outdoors on top of this once or twice a week when I can as well. I've lost count how many times I've listened to the album this year whilst exercising. Get yourself to the gym, stick hard-hitting traditional power metal numbers such as 'The Hunter', 'Destroyer', 'Crossfire' or the almost thrashy 'March Boy March' to see what I mean. Your testosterone will boost in seconds!! Songs like these are composed of kick-ass, no-nonsense metallic riffage and balanced perfectly with instantly memorable, catchy and highly vocally-focused choruses. You only have to listen to them once for them to be eternally engrained into your consciousness. The same goes for fist-pumping anthems like 'I Am the Primal Fear' (what a chorus this one has!!) and 'Heroes and Gods'! There are some great ballads scattered too - 'Tears of Fire' and 'Eden' are melodic and majestic, but there's still a hefty amount of muscle behind them, particularly in the stellar lead guitar work that is smattered throughout them. 'Eden' even features guest female vocals from Melissa Bonny from the symphonic band Ad Infinitum, and she and Ralf's vocal styles work very well together.
I don't dislike any track on here, even if some are slightly better than others - although I will say that the album's finale, 'A Tune I Won't Forget', is a bit of a snooze-fest, and completely inferior to 'Tears of Fire' and 'Eden' as far as ballads go. On the upside, mid-tempo 'The Dead Don't Die' sounds like a modern Saxon tune with Ralf on vocals instead of Biff Byford. Not a bad thing at all. The chorus to 'Scream' is almost too simplistic vocally, but it works so well as a workout song! And there is even a terrific, melodic instrumental on here called 'Hallucinations', which features some very pretty, tuneful lead guitars from long-time guitarist and songwriting contributor Magnus Karlsson. They wisely played this live as a sort of interval song, and it helped break-up the pace of the concert very well. Also, Domination's production is very clean and modern, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how you like your metal to sound. I don't have a problem with clean production depending on the band or genre. I think it works really well with a band like Primal Fear. I think it helps bring out Ralf's clean singing style, and I also think it benefits the guitars in terms of both riffs and solos, since the music is a nice mixture of heavy and melodic (as power metal should be). Bands like Judas Priest, Testament, Saxon etc. have all had clean, modern production jobs on their albums for a long time now, and it totally works for them too. Someone should tell Iron Maiden!
If I'd reviewed this album last year, I think I'd have scored it somewhere within mid 7/10 range. My scoring is, as you can see, much higher now. Seeing them live on the Domination tour has likely also boosted my opinion of this album, but as I said earlier, this is a PERFECT gym/running album for me. I honestly think it's tied with Glenn Hughes' Chosen (who I also saw live last year) as my favourite record of 2025 now. Some people will no doubt feel my rating is too high, especially after scoring Blood Incantation's critically acclaimed Absolute Elsewhere the same in my last post, but you have to understand that we all hear things differently!! I spend a lot of my free time training so the fact I've listened to it so many times in that setting now means I can only give it this level of praise. And I think thoroughly enjoying seeing a band live promoting the same album also adds a level of sentimentality, which no doubt affects my rating too. So it's an 8.9/10.
Unsurprisingly, I've added a few more Primal Fear albums to my collection over the course of the year - Unbreakable (2012), Rulebreaker (2016) and Apocalypse (2018). I think they're all really cool too.
Adam's rating: 8.9/10
