Domination

Domination is a 2025 work into which Primal Fear amply packs German heavy/power metal’s steel-like riffs and big choruses that powerfully stir the fighting spirit. The guitar chops thickly and powerfully, the drums advance without any mercy, and the songs, as the title suggests, give off an overwhelming pressure as if dominating the listener. A record showing that, even as veterans, its creative drive has not dimmed in the least. Ralf Scheepers’s high, strong vocals, even within that overwhelming power, never lose the melody, powerfully leading the listener into a combat stance over the heavy, powerful playing. By fast songs and heavy mid-tempo appearing in turn, it firmly keeps the whole album’s taut tension to the end. The sure playing of Mat Sinner and the others powerfully supports that world. A record you want to savor carefully — the sure intimidation the riffs’ powerful repetition generates and the vivid contrast of the view opening up at once in the choruses. A truly Primal Fear-like work that, excluding all needless hesitation, shows straight the unshakable strength of traditional metal. A powerful, engaging record that keeps sounding, in the present, the soul of German power metal.