Saturday, January 19, 2019

REVIEW : Herman Frank ---- Fight The Fear (AFM Records Release: 8 February 2019)

Herman Frank is a true metal soldier! From his early days with metal legends of ACCEPT to his VICTORY days but, also, with his solo works, Herman Frank stays true to his metal roots. With the first three albums "Loyal To None", "Right In The Guts" and "The Devils Ride Out", Frank delivered some excellent and metal-to-the-bone stuff, no doubt bout that. 


Nowadays, Herman Frank along with the very talented vocalist Rick Altzi, guitarist Heiko Schröder, former RAGE, drummer André Hilgers and JADED HEART bassist Michael Müller is back in business with his brand new opus with the title "Fight The Fear" that will see the light of day on February 8th. 

Herman says a few words about his new release : "Each of us plays an active part in our collaboration, and the result is a fantastic and highly constructive approach to our work." and he continues : "I feel that the vocalist should contribute the lyrics, because at the end of the day he’s the one who has to get them across to the audience and fill them with life. That’s the way I’ve been working with Rick since ‘Right In The Guts’ and the result speaks for itself."

So, the question is what do we expect from "Fight The Fear"? The answer is simple; pure, ass-kickin' and old-fashioned heavy metal stuff!! First of all, it would be useless to write about the guitar parts here. Herman Frank is an amazing guitar player, a true shredder!! Along with Heiko, he delivers some breathtaking, inspired and crazy solos that will leave you hungry for more! Secondly we have the "mighty" Rick Altzi (Masterplan, At Vance and Thunderstone just to name a few...) whose voice fits perfectly with Herman's music. Last but not least, I have to say that the rhythm section is tight as hell. 

The opener tune of "Until The End" is just pure melodic metal bliss with attitude and power. It's one of these songs that's made for headbanging!!! "Fear", the fast-paced and very Accept-esque "Sinners" and "Hitman" are all three solid metal music and they are among the highlights out of the new opus. The straight forward "Stay Down" includes a killer chorus line and a bad-ass groove while in "Don't Cross The Line" we are dealing with yet another gem out of "Fight The Fear". 

If you love bands such as DIO, Accept, Masterplan, JORN and Jaded Heart, then this album is just for you!!! A true metal record in a very old-fashioned way that the sure thing is that it will please every metal fan out there. And one last thing....play it on a maximum volume!!

Rating : 8,5/10

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