O well, nothing wrong with Priest influenced/type metal imo, especially when done well.
Here's my 2002 review of
Black Sun, which was certainly stylistically a change. (I was a bit hard on Resurrection(!) but in hindsight, I still think I expressed the good points of this particular Primal Fear record)
Primal Fear - Black Sun
Nuclear Blast - 2002
Review by Forostar.
Primal Fear shows what Priest could have done the last years, if the band wasn't influenced too much by Nu-metal bands. They also show what Rob Halford could have done with his latest effort "Resurrection". "Resurrection" has some great songs, but there are too many fillers to make it a high quality album. "Black Sun" Primal Fear's 4th album is something else. "Painkiller" / Halford -inspired metal.
13 tracks (the interesting intro included, which starts with innocent keyboard-bells and continues heavy, with bombasting drums accompanied by heavy low guitars). Then the album goes further with the first full-length track. A fast one, like the previous albums. The next song "Armageddon" is a mid-tempo song with a strong guitar-riff. The solos are very good, especially the second one. I wish I knew which guitar player is playing which solo, something I am always interested in."Revolution", also mid-tempo, reminds me a bit of Priest's "Heading Out To The Highway" and "You've Got Another Thing Coming". It has some cool guitar-powerchords, bridge, chorus and solo's. "Mind Control" has the perfect guitar harmony in the beginning, which returs later a couple of times."Magic Eye" contains calm melodic guitars and shows that Ralf can not only scream like Halford, but also that he can sing in a melodic way. The solo is very cool, with some mysteric synth in the background. "Mind Machine" 's beginning sounds quite a lot like Halfords' "Scream In The Dark", and also the singing is very much a la Halford. It's one of the most aggressive songs on the album and kicks pretty much ass. I think it would do very well live, also because of its variety (a nice tempo-change in the middle). "We Go Down" is the longest track (5.53). It's pretty different. It has an ominous intro, then soon bursting into heavy metal. The "intro" returns later in the song and gives some variety to the ever-hacking powerchords. The music and Ralf's words (or at least the way he pronounces them) remind me of the mid- piece of "Night Crawler" from the "Painkiller" album. That's not a bad thing, by the way.
One of the best songs is the last one. "Controlled" reminds me (again!) of aggressive Halford songs… well, maybe this is even more aggressive than any Halford song. Scything riffs and fast double bass drums. For the ones who know Mike Chlasciak (one of Halford's guitarists), he plays some solos on "Controlled" and "Fear". The album closes with the same innocent bells that are heard in the intro.
If you like the Judas Priest's "Painkiller" album, Halford's screams, and if you are disappointed with Priest's releases with Ripper, you should definitely try this album out.
