The phoenix from the ashes is a much-cited motif in cultural history. It seldom fits as well as it does with the triumphant return of PRIMAL FEAR. Only in this case, we have an eagle of steel rising from the ashes: Their new album »Code Red« -- which marks their 13th studio offering -- is both a rebirth and a hard-hitting metal lesson; it’s living proof of the healing power of music and the brotherhood behind the riffs. On »Code Red,« the German power-metal traditionalists deliver a new career best, which even puts 2020’s strong »Metal Commando« to shame. PRIMAL FEAR - risen from the dead!

»Code Red« is first and foremost a true reawakening for producer Mat Sinner. He fought his way back to the light bit by bit after a serious illness, recapturing his life, his passion with admirable stamina and iron willpower. “After my illness, this album was my musical way back to normality,” says Sinner. “»Code Red« was the first production I was able to participate in again. To me, it was a formative experience. I was overjoyed to be able to be creative with the guys in the studio again. It meant the world to me to make that album.”

You can hear it, of course. But mainly, you can feel it: PRIMAL FEAR are striking back - with bite, force and a defiant attitude that wants to say with a clenched fist: “Now more than ever!” Mat Sinner has wrestled with the Grim Reaper - and won! “I was already dead and got a second chance,” he says.

The reincarnation of »Code Red« tells the tale of cheating death and doesn’t even consider taking prisoners while doing so. Because if mastermind Mat Sinner has learned one thing over the past three years, it’s that everything is finite. And life is too damn short for bad music. Maybe he’s not yet where he used to be. But he will be. A tiny step each day. “For me, everything always has to go really fast, so this situation is simply terrible for me!” he laughs and with a healthy dose of gallows humour he adds: “But you just can’t win Formula 1 with a VW Beetle.”
Three years after their first top 10 success with »Metal Commando« and 25 years after their legendary debut »Primal Fear,« vocalist Ralf Scheepers, bassist/singer Mat Sinner, the triple guitar phalanx of Tom Naumann, Alex Beyrodt and Magnus Karlsson as well as drummer Michael Ehré are blasting us with a zeitgeisty manifesto that provides eleven essential arguments of why power metal will simply never go under. It’s advocates like PRIMAL FEAR who keep the flame alive.

»Code Red« was recorded in Kempten in the studio of their live mixing engineer: “Everything was tracked there except for the vocals, which Ralf recorded in his own studio once again. The whole process was harmonious and creative, it went wonderfully. Afterwards, as always, the thing went to Jacob Hansen in Denmark, who then tickled out another ten percent,” Sinner says. You have to know, however, that already the rough mixes were slapping so hard that any other band would have released them without thinking. But PRIMAL FEAR are not just any other band. “Those ten percents are important to us,” nods the band leader. “That’s PRIMAL FEAR.”

Sweeping over it all is Ralf Scheepers’ vocal hurricane: An impressive and soaring primal scream, a force of nature that gets stronger rather than weaker with age. “I actually think this is Ralf's best performance so far,” states Mat Sinner. “We mixed the vocals a bit louder especially for that reason.”
From first single, 'Another Hero,' a blasting trademark song with furious force and 'Painkiller' vibes, to an iconic riff thunderstorm that is 'Bring That Noise' or the epic Nordic anthem 'Their Gods Have Failed,' PRIMAL FEAR feed off both their own CV and a genre that they have decidedly helped to restore to its former glory. The heavy grooves of 'Deep In The Night' then lead directly into the merciless banging of 'Cancel Culture,' a pounding song about a serious subject. “There are countries where you just disappear if you speak your mind. These are intolerable conditions,” says Mat Sinner. “But I’m not backing down. I’ve always been a rebel, I don’t want to conform. And I don’t have to play in certain countries either. It’s that simple.”

The album title has a similarly topical background: “The whole world is going crazy!” Sinner exclaims. “More and more countries are ruled by despots, in the USA you can choose between an 80 and a 78-year-old. That takes me away. I can hardly watch the news anymore, everything seems to be heading in the wrong direction. And if one person pushes the wrong button, it’s all of us. That’s why it’s a code red,” says the mastermind. “Now is not the time to sing about rock’n’roll, girls and drinks.” He’s right, of course. But despite all the urgency of these topics, »Code Red« first and foremost remains a triumph of life over death - a power metal rebirth in a hailstorm of riffs!

Primal Fear is a German power metal band formed in 1997 by Ralf Scheepers (vocals, ex-Gamma Ray) and Mat Sinner (bass and vocals, Sinner). Sinner and Scheepers formed the band after Scheepers was not hired as Rob Halford's replacement in Judas Priest. Primal Fear was founded in October 1997 by singer Ralf Scheepers and Mat Sinner. Scheepers and Sinner have been constants in the heavy metal scene before the band was founded. Ralf Scheepers sang in the bands Tyran Pace, F.B.I.and the internationally successful band Gamma Ray. After a gig with his Judas Priest cover band Just Priest in which Mat Sinner and Tom Naumann helped out the idea arose to found Primal Fear. They signed a record deal with Nuclear Blast Records in late 1997. Their debut album Primal Fearwas released in February 1998 and entered the German LP charts at place 48 thus making it one of the highest chart entries of a debut album in German metal. The same year they toured with metal veterans Running Wild and HammerFall.