I went to see Primal Fear and Brainstorm on Friday 25th Sept at the Relentless Garage in Islington, London. Pretty neat venue, almost like a dance hall with a bar at the back and stage at the front.
Merchandise-wise I got a Primal Fear 16.6 shirt with the album cover and a Brainstorm Memorial Roots shirt, the album isn't due out til next month.
Overall there weren't many people there at all. I'd say about 120, if even that. Was good though, nice and intimate atmosphere with everyone being generally relaxed and there for a good headbanging time.
Brainstorm started off the show with a track from their new album called Forsake What I Believed, man this was one fucking heavy song. Brainstorm have a reputation for being one of the heaviest power metal bands around and live they are even heavier. There was a very good chugging riff to this and Andy B Franck's vocals absolutely powered through the venue. Awesome. They played a number of really good tracks from a range of their albums includings Highs Without Lows, The Worlds Are Coming Through (my fav), All Those Worlds, Shiva's Tears, Blind Suffering, How Do You Feel and Even Higher. Pretty damn good set all in all. Their guitar players and bassist were headbanging furiously throughout the set which was awesome. And Andy commanded the crowd with his towering presence, ghostly hallowed voice. Brainstorm totally killed. 10/10 I'd go see them again.
Primal Fear the main highlight were on good form. Matt Sinner, Randy Black and Ralf Scheepers are very established names in the German metal scene and have been around for a very long time. Primal Fear play a very good mix of thrash, speed, power and heavy metal very similar to Painkiller-era Judas Priest. There were plenty of good songs that they played on the night including Metal Forever, Hands of Time, Under the Radar, Killbound, Six Times Dead (16.6), Riding the Eagle, Nuclear Fire, Final Embrace, Fighting the Darkness (ugh) and Chainbreaker. Most disappointing thing for me was that they didn't play Smith & Wesson . The two guitarist had an excellent chemistry on stage and dual attacks non-stop, reminded me of Tipton and Downing. One awesome thing I noticed was that Ralf Scheepers has a giant Primal Fear tattoo on his left arm with the logo and the falcon and on the other arm just a large falcon emblem. Overall I'd have to give them 8/10 just for pure disappointment that Smith & Wesson wasn't played.
All in all though a great night.
Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:17 am by metalfutte
Subject: Primal Fear and Brainstorm Concert Review 
