I respect and appreciate in a great degree the talent and capabilities of Primal Fear’s singer, Ralf Scheepers. Truth be told here, he is one of the best metal singers that keeps on delivering the goods and retaining his voice in excellent form. The fact that he decided to release a solo album, not only was quite intriguing to me but also aroused some eyebrows as to what Scheepers wanted to put into this musical endeavor of his that he simply couldn’t do so in a regular Primal Fear record. After all, isn’t it the primal motive behind the concept of a solo album?
However, the result is more or less sonically the same as with any Primal Fear album but it’s also inferior –in regards with the level of compositions-, with childish lyrics and a mediocre production. If I wanted to listen to something similar to Primal Fear, I’d put on a Primal Fear (or how about a Judas Priest) album. It doesn’t really make any difference that Kai Hansen and Tim “Ripper” Owens make a special guest appearance here or Scheepers does an excellent rendition of “Before The Dawn”…the ship is sinking big time. Let’s wait for the new Fear record…
Highlight: The only oasis on the album is a remarkable acoustic song called “Compassion” that closes the album on a different note…if only, the rest of the bunch would be of the same caliber…
