Band:	Primal Fear
Album:	Devil's Ground
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	February 23, 2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Metal Is Forever
02. Suicide & Mania
03. Visions Of Fate
04. Sea Of Flames
05. The Healer
06. Sacred Illusion
07. In Metal
08. Soulchaser
09. Colony 13
10. Wings Of Desire
11. Heart Of A Brave
12. Devil's Ground
13. Die Young [Black Sabbath cover] [Special Edition bonus]
14. Metal Is Forever [Special Edition bonus]
15. The Healer [Special Edition bonus]

Primal Fear is back with the fifth studio album of their ascending career, and this time they going to prove the Metal community that they're more than a Judas Priest clone. Why the name Judas Priest keeps appearing everytime anyone mentions Primal Fear? Well, for starters the vocalist, Ralf Scheepers reminds me so much of Rob Halford that for moments is hard to tell who is who, other thing is that these guys are playing classic Heavy Metal, so comparisons always pop out.

But, as I was saying, this time Primal Fear is going to remove that Priest tag and demonstrate that they can make it without being compared to the mighty Priests, this time Primal Fear has taken the aggressive road, and damn! They do it damn well! The whole album is a riff-after-riff fest of wonderful melodies and amazing vocals, all toped by catchy choruses and fantastic musicianship.

As soon I got the album and checked out the tracklist I said to myself, "Oh no, Primal Fear has gone cheese" because some of the tracks include the word "Metal" in it, (is known to all our readers that I hate a band that plays Metal and mentions the word Metal in their lyrics), but as soon I pushed play and "Metal Is Forever" started to play I knew that this wasn't cheese at all, what a powerful song, excellent opener, despite the corny title.

But wait, the initial surprise was only toped by the second track "Suicide And Mania" another song, another killer! What a fantastic song, great tempo breaks and a catchy sing-along chorus that will stick in your mind for days!
"Visions Of Fate" and "Sea Of Flames" carry on the initial aggressiveness, then "The Healer" slows things down with a mid-tempo song with a lot of feeling and yet another catchy chorus.

I could go on describing every track, but I'll let the music let the talking, get this one, if you're fan of the band, you'll be blown out of your seat, if you're new to these guys, Devil's Ground is a great place to start lovin' them.

Another special mention for the cover art, I was never fan of their art and their trademark eagles in their prior works, but this time they really did their best effort finding the appropriate eagle cover, nice one!

At the end, you'll get excellent riffs melodic lines and powerful vocals, you can't go wrong when you put those elements together, trust me, get this one and prepare to enter the Devil's Ground.