Artist: Primal Fear 
   Title: Live In The USA
   Label: Frontiers Records  

Last year Primal Fear released their album '16.6 (Before The Devil Knows Your Dead)', an album that still is on constant play both in the office and on my MP3 player. Now the band have released their ‘Live In The USA’ CD and DVD on the world, just to show how good this band are live as well as in the studio.

I haven’t been given the DVD to review just CD portion but after listening to this CD several times, the DVD is going to be on my Christmas wish list for sure.

The band are a titanic force live and this is shown on this live CD in spades.  The DVD is entitled '16.6 - All Over The World', while the live CD is titled 'Live In The USA', because the live CD was recorded in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles during the last tour, that the the band did across the ocean.

The CD opens up with the intro and title of last years tremendous album ‘Before The Devil Knows You're Dead’, before rampaging into the fantastic ’Under The Radar’ from the same album, with Ralph Scheepers in fine voice from the off, joined by Mat Sinner, Randy Black, Henny Wolter and Alex Beyrodt, all delivering the goods musically.

It's full steam ahead with ‘Battalions Of Hate’ from the bands self-titled debut release, again a powerful metal assault that comes with the name Primal Fear.

There is no slowing down for the band as they rip into ‘Killbound’, again from the tremendous opus '16.6'.  I thought that album was superb and the songs fantastic, but live they are taken that bit further and Schweeps delivers even more power in the live arena.

The band roll back the years to 2001 and their 'Nuclear Fire' album for the title track.  Another all guns blazing metal assault with Wolter and Beyrodt firing out the licks.

My personal favourite from '16.6 Before The Devil Knows Your Dead' is 'Six Times Dead (16.6)', again a great studio track that sounds like alive it will just blow you away.  When I reviewed said album I regarded this as one of the best Metal songs I’d heard in a while and I still stick to this.   Its big meaty bass lines and chunky guitars are true blue collar metal at its very best.

There is no rest bite as the torrent of metal continues with ‘Angel In Black’ and the fantastic ‘Sign Of Fear’, before bringing it down a touch with the simply magnificent ‘Fighting The Darkness’.  A track that once again shows why Scheepers in one of the best, if not the best, modern day metal vocalists around.

Another favourite track of mine of '16.6' has to be the storming metal rampage that is ‘Riding The Eagle’, then it's old school in your face metal as Henny Wolter and Beyrodt burn up the fret board once more, firing on all cylinders in a twin guitar assault, while Mat Sinner and Randy Black power out a massive back beat, with the icing on the cake as always the phenomenal vocal prowess of Scheepers.

Well many metal bands over the years have had an anthem, Manowar’s 'All Men Play On Ten’, Judas Priest’s ‘Breaking The Law' and now Primal Fear have their own in ‘Metal Is Forever’.  Again a metal rampage that rocks big style.  Melodic metal at its finest.

It's back to '16.6' for the sublime ‘Hands Of Time’, again the band show their more gentle Melodic Metal side,  simply put it's another stunning track from the absolutely stunning '16.6' album.

The album closes with a classic from the bands self titled debut album ‘Chainbreaker’, a real ball busting metal attack which rounds off a great live album, that just fuels the fire in me to see this band live and in the flesh, but for now I’ll have to settle for the CD and hope the DVD will soon be in my hands so I can make the visuals in my mind that come from listening to the CD a reality, even if it just on the small screen.

To round up, this is a massive massive live album, one of the best for years, a must for all metal fans.

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