Primal Fear – "Domination"

Half album review, half lamentation of music's current state

27 years, 15 albums, and never veering from the path of pure, un-hip heavy fucking metal. You can rightly say that Primal Fear isn't exactly the most innovative band in the world, but you gotta hand it to 'em – they're damn productive, and above all, they're the real fucking deal.

To absolutely nobody's surprise whatsoever, this 15th platter of theirs sees them messing around with more of that same heavy fucking metal. And a joy it is. Opener "The Hunter" is downright triumphant. The chords and harmony lead are gigantic, and there's more than ample space in the soundscape for the copiously chopping axe rhythm and the perfectly lacerating wails of metal vocalist extraordinaire Ralf Scheepers.

And as that chorus hits, and Scheepers belts out, "IN THE NI-IIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT / I WILL COME FOR YOU!" with all the ferocity of a 50-foot blowtorch, you might feel yourself overpowered by that combination of ecstasy and slight disbelief by which any lady should be overpowered during sexual intercourse if you're doing it right, guys. The lyrics, melody, and tonal pitch here collectively lift everything from level 'Badass heavy metal' to level 'Badass, kickass, world-class, 99th percentile heavy motherfucking metal'.

Well, except for one thing… But I'll get back to that later.

To any decent human being's delight, this modus dominates huge parts of "Domination" (d-hurh). But of course, there's also uptempo stuff like "Far Away" that plays out like pure power metal á la the band's fine countrymen in Helloween, its melody landing right between the ears at second spin, tops. Shit, even the verse here is catchy, and that's not a given. But still, there's one thing that really annoys me… And I'll still get back to it later.

Apart from aforementioned opener, the album's ultimate cue would have to be midtempo fist-pumper "I Am the Primal Fear". Yes, the band Primal Fear went with that title, and they turned it into a tune that bangs more ass than Peter North on an all-inclusive month at the Playboy Mansion. That chorus rocks so hard it makes me wanna drink beer – and, full disclosure, at this final pre-review spin, that's exactly what I'm doing, because hooray for heavy metal. Well… Except for that one aforementioned element that's just too fucking annoying.

… What, you want me to just get into it already? Alright, then.

In short, it's the background vocals. More particularly, often during the choruses, the background vocals have this unnatural, constant, flat pitch to them. As if there is no natural human timbre in the choir voices. As if the band was using – wait for it – yes, fucking Auto-Tune. As much as it pains me to write, that's what it sounds like.

It's not exactly a secret that I am, mildly speaking, NOT a fan of the fatal further step towards commercialized, artificial music and away from genuine, human music that is Auto-Tune… But out of all the music genres in the world, I thought at least metal bands would have the integrity to not even consider defacing their life's work with cheap, pandering shit like that.

I'm in a defensive position because I've been bombarded with digital, plastic-y pseudo-music for too many fucking years now, and this is not a conducive state for that openness which is otherwise so crucial in listening to music.

This impression, then, taints my listening experience virtually all the way throughout the 1-hour album. Which, given its length, also loses a bit too much momentum past halfway. This is also due to the otherwise kickass "Heroes and Gods" that goes from an uptempo drive closer to thrash than regular heavy metal, and into yet another fucking hit single conveyor belt trope: The vi–IV–I–V chord progression! Yes, the one I talked about during my review of the latest album by Ghost, on which Tobias Forge uses this particular chord progression in no less than THREE different songs. And yes, now we're gonna have another little detour. Weee.

If you didn't read that review, the vi–IV–I–V progression (i.e., "six, four, one, five") is the series of four chords that's the basis for such '90s radio staples as "Save Tonight", "When I Come Around", "Self-Esteem", and "One of Us". But here, an actual heavy metal band not only uses it, but simply repeats those four chords with no riffing, details, or variations, superimposed by ONE correspondingly repeated line:

"GODDESSES AND PRINCESSES / HEROES AND GODS / GODDESSES AND PRINCESSES / HEROES AND GODS
GODDESSES AND PRINCESSES / HEROES AND GODS / GODDESSES AND PRINCESSES / HEROES AND GODS"

What, are you kidding me?? That supposed Auto-Tune notwithstanding, this was all going so well, and then you pull a cheap one? I mean, don't get me wrong, because it IS possible to use the vi–IV–I–V progression in a savoury way – shit, Iron Maiden did it on "The Talisman" from "The Final Frontier" (2010), and that was a helluva tune. But this is unambitious at best.

Anyway, it's not like we're down to rock bottom, or like things don't improve. "Eden" is perfectly gargantuan, the toms alone sounding like something that can be heard throughout the entire Grand Canyon. And the solo even has some cool blues phrasings. Also "Crossfire" is a firecely kickass heavy metal tune – pinched harmonics incorporated into the riff and all – and that one even manages to brazenly employ a neat little pop guitar theme in the chorus without compromising anything. See, it's not that I'm an old, bitter fart through-and-through. (Largely bitter, though.)

And then, violent super-thrasher "March Boy March" nearly scorches the slate entirely clean, Scheepers' vocals reaching a Bobby Blitz-esque chihuahua frenzy during the verse and being loveably shouty during the chorus. And, fuck me… During said chorus, it sounds like what I've heard as Auto-Tune all the way might simply be a synth effect latching on to the vocals in the mix, giving their natural glissando an unnatural, plastic-like tone. I've heard the album 5 or 6 times, and it's not until this final spin I'm noticing that.

But I can't tell, and I don't know. I don't know whether the right thing is to give the band the benefit of the doubt or to make an example of them by reducing my rating. At this point, I officially throw my hands up, say I don't know, and just fucking curse the overall direction music has taken in these last two bedevilled decades. I have read several other reviews of the album, and none other have mentioned anything about the background vocals sounding unnatural, so to make a decision, I will trust my metal journalist colleagues and give Primal Fear the benefit of the doubt on this one.

I am sincerely sorry for this whole sidetracking. But this cause is bigger than this little review here. Of this album, which – all else being equal – rocks.

However, I also know what I'm hearing – whatever it is. And I noticed that same aberration when reviewing the latest, and otherwise stupendous LP from the band's fine countrymen in Orden Ogan. Back then, I tried to ignore it, which succeeded enough that I didn't even mention it in my review. But after this one, I'm not so sure anymore. Apparently, there are prominent music engineers who will tell you that "Auto-Tune is used on nearly every record these days".

And so you see here, dear readers, not only the destructive effects of Auto-Tune on music – i.e., killing the human element and making listeners accustomed to artificial manipulation of our most personal instrument – but also the destructive side-effects: I don't know if I'm hearing ghosts, and I can't tell if I'm being paranoid, but I'm in a defensive position because I've been bombarded with digital, plastic-y pseudo-music for too many fucking years now, and this is not a conducive state for that openness which is otherwise so crucial in listening to music.

Yeah, actually listening. Unlike those shitheads who can't tell the difference between a human voice and a digital misrepresentation. And I guess now I've become one of those shitheads. Wonderful. Just what the world needed.

In doing a review of any album – and especially an otherwise good album like the one in question here – I should not have to derail myself so much as to spend half the fucking review lamenting the cultural state we're in. And if there had not existed auditive abominations like Auto-Tune, I wouldn't have had to. But here we fucking are.

Demand real music, people. Demand human music. Demand music played and sung by people who can actually play and sing. And if the musicians aren't even all that good at playing and singing, at least demand that they're genuine, which is more than you can say for anyone who, for whatever perverse reason, feel the need to manipulate their voice so it sounds like that fucking "Lil' Wayne" buffoon.

I am sincerely sorry for this whole sidetracking, people. But this cause is bigger than this little review here. Of this album, which – all else being equal – rocks. If you have the chance, go catch Primal Fear live, because – again, all else being equal –they fucking wail. And maybe things'll sound better live?

Benefit of the doubt.

Rating: 4.5 out of 6

Genre: Heavy metal
Release date: 5/9/2025 
Label: Reigning Phoenix
Producer: Mat Sinner + Ralf Scheepers + Magnus Karlsson