Primal Fear - The History Of Fear

*=Staff's pick	Chapter One – Wacken 2001* Chapter Two – Black Sun European Tour 2002* Chapter Three - Videoclips Chapter Four - Metal Warriors Report / Wacken 1999 Chapter Five - Bootleg Section

Genre	Heavy Metal	Ralf Scheepers	Vocals
Tracks	21	Henny Wolter	Guitar
Runningtime	150 Min.	Stefan Leibing	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Mat Sinner	Bass
Release	29 Sept. 2003	Klaus Sperling	Drums
Country	Germany	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Sinner, Judas Priest, Cage, Godiva

This is the release for you if you are in for a bombastic package of killer riffs, great singalong choruses and metal to the bone: the mighty German Metal Commando Primal Fear show that they are the prime of what this genre has to offer today.

The content of this releae is very good with not only one but two liveconcerts: the appearance on Wacken Open Air 2001 and the Black Sun show in Stuttgart/Germany 2002, a bootleg section with clips from throughout their career, videoclips as well as a bonus audio CD with official live bootlegs. The "history" aspect of Primal Fear still remains a bit veiled in secracy even after having seen this, as we don't get any interviews, very little footage from behind the scenes and that is a thing that feels a bit disappointing. But that is on the other hand absolutely all that I can complain about.

The concerts are killers, simply put, with the first from Wacken probably being the one with the best songs, and the Black Sun gig the one with best sound and the odd harder smasher like Armageddon, Church Of Blood and Mind Control. The sound is awesome and the tracklists are perfect with the Wacken concert containing more of the good, old classics like Chainbreaker, Batallions Of Hate, Final Embrace, Silver And Gold to name a few. The guys have fun on stage and it's hard to not say impossible to not be affected by the mood on stage. My girlfriend was studying me while watching this for the first time for a long time without me noticing anything, and after a while she said: "You look so happy while wathing that...". And that is exactly what I felt and still feel while watching this.

Scheepers voice is in good shape, even though his style of singing is not my favourite, mainman Mat is hammering away on the fat bass and the outstanding duo Wolter and Leibing is running the twin guitar show splendidly and crushing everything that comes in their way. I once saw the expression "Atomic dur riffs & leads duo" being used to describe them, and I am the first one to stand in line to back up on that. There is such power and still melody behind it that the word “guitar riff” almost gets a new definition. All accompanied by battering and fat drums by Klaus Sperling.

It is not original and innovating - Primal Fear has never intended to be that - and I can agree to certain extents that the Judas Priest syndrom sometimes are more than obvious, but this is it for me. This is classic, old school metal when it is at it's best. Primal Fear do it better than most of the bands of all time, and when they do it with class like on this dvd - just take a bow and accept the fat riffs. This is what turns me on, and when it comes in a great package like this I go over the top. One thing to notice is that even though Tom Naumann is listed as guitarist and are on all the pictures, Henny Wolter is playing guitar on both concerts.

Only one thing left to say: The dvd of the year, great value for the money and a big metalfist in your face. I have kept you long enough - now run out and buy it!

Production	Vocals	Compositions
9	7,5	8,5

Summary
8,5 chalices of 10 - Tommy