Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Primal Fear Rulebreaker Company: Frontiers Release: 2016 Genre: Power Reviewer: Eric Compton

Overall another gem from the Germans

The first single from 'Rulebreaker' was released about two months prior to the album's release. 'The End is Near' is as equally addictive as it is vindictive. The pulverizing rhythm guitar that is elevated by producer Jacob Hansen (Volbeat, Hatesphere) is eventually going to put this track near my “must play for days” list for 2016. It has already been in steady rotation alongside charging album opener “Angels of Mercy” and quickly puts this record near the top in terms of Primal Fear’s deep catalog (this is record ELEVEN). This entry is like ‘Delivering the Black’ and ‘Black Sun’ in terms of heavy devastation but still writing ‘Painkiller’ via ‘Stained Class’ melodies that we still want to compare to Priest almost twenty years after the band’s conception. This is the first of the band’s catalog to feature three guitarists – Alex Beyrodt (joined 2011), Magnus Karlsson (joined 2008) and returning member Tom Naumann (originally joined 1997, on and off again until 2015) which probably adds to the dynamic power persuasion the album has with the two aforementioned tracks as well as “At War with the World” and “Constant Heart”. Overall another gem from the Germans and one that shows they might be the best of the Teutonic bunch right now.