Odds are you and Primal Fear have met before. Since their debut album in 1998, these gentlemen have been hammering out Judas Priest style metal with admirable consistency. Sure Seven Seals wandered into more bombastic pastures, and New Religion took a plunge into questionable waters, but 2009’s 16.6: Before the Devil Knows Your Dead showed a curbing of the band’s more experimental tendencies, and was a fine album all around. Well if that was a first step back towards the glorious days of Nuclear Fire and Black Sun, then Unbreakable is certainly another step in that direction. In my mind, it falls somewhere between Black Sun (though not nearly as fast overall) and Seven Seals (in terms of song structure, but not the bombastic atmosphere) in the style department, and firmly plants itself as a worthy effort from these veterans.

Not much needs to be said about the individuals. We all know what a vocal force Ralf Scheepers is, channeling Halford’s spirit into a sledgehammer that he uses to pound his vocal hooks into your head. The twin axe attack of Magnus Karlsson and Alex Beyrodt is as good as it has ever been, and the bottom end work of Matt Sinner and Randy Black holds things together nicely. Production has never been a question on a Primal Fear album, and this remains true here as well.

After a brief intro, Strike kicks things off right. A nice riff serves as the motor that leads us into an excellent chorus that is tinged with classic Priest. I want to state right now that while I understand the need for Primal Fear to establish an identity outside of the Judas Priest stereotypes (which I believe they have), their greatest strength is that they sound so much like classic Priest. Not a clone, but just the next band to carry that banner proudly into the future. Give Em Hell arrives next and doubles the momentum. Bad Guys Wear Black throttles back a bit, instead opting for the stadium rocker approach to solid effect. And Then There Was Silence is probably my favorite track on the album, and would have fit in perfectly on Black Sun (my favorite album of theirs). Metal Nation again slows things down, though this time with a more melodic atmosphere. The lyrics of this track deserve special attention, because while not everyone is going to “join the metal nation”, the message of fighting against conformity and doing what you believe in is more relevant today than it has ever been. The remaining tracks are each well done in their own right, with no tracks standing out as weak.

Unbreakable is Primal Fear doing what they do best, which is delivering pure Heavy Metal to their eager fans. It is certainly their best album since Seven Seals, and whether or not it tops that one is up for debate. Regardless, this purchase should be a done deal for anyone that favors the Judas Priest school of metal, and my horns are certainly in the air for this one.