Jaws of Death

Primal Fear | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 1999)
• Original Release Date: July 27, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nuclear Blast Americ
• ASIN: B00000JIR8
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,449 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Jaws Of Death

2. Final Embrace

3. Save A Prayer

4. Chuch Of Blood

5. Into The Future

6. Under Your Spell

7. Play To Kill

8. Nation In Fear

9. When The Night Comes

10. Fight To Survive

11. Hatred In My Soul

12. Kill The King

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Judas Priest clone? eh, maybe not..., February 8, 2007

By 

Thomas Anderson "Metal Head" (Harrisburg, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jaws of Death (Audio CD)

OK, first a little background on the formation of Primal Fear. From a German Power Metal band called Gamma Ray that spawned from the '80s band Helloween came Ralf Scheepers. Ralf Scheepers left Helloween to form Gamma Ray. He sang for Gamma Ray for their first four albums. By this time, Judas Priest was doing auditions for the replacement for Rob Halford. Ralf Scheepers tried out for the job. Didn't get it. Came in third. Of course, Tim "Ripper" Owens got it. Anyway, Ralf was determined to show the metal world that he had the pipes to replace Halford and formed Primal Fear. OK, got it? Good.

Well, Primal Fear's first debut 'self-titled' album was what some people thought that Judas Priest should have done instead of "Jugulator". Which may be true. It sounded very Judas "Painkiller" Priesty. But now with their second album "Jaws of Death", the band has expanded their sound which gives them a slightly more original sound. EDIT: Actually, after futher and closer listening, Primal Fear, at least with this album, sound like what early '80s Ozzy Ozbourne and Def Leppard would have sounded like had Rob Halford been the singer. You get guitar wails similar to what Rhandy Rhoads did and later what Zakk Wylde would do. You also get a bit of that High N' Dry and Pyromania guitar riff sound from Def Leppard. But mostly an Ozzy sound over-all with Halford on vocals, but updated to the new millenium's metal scene.

That said, if you like old school metal from the early to mid '80s especially Judas Priest and Ozzy, but can't really stomach Hammerfall's really, really old school sound, then Primal Fear is a great alternate choice.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Make it three and half...., October 16, 2001

By 

The Holy Ferret (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jaws of Death (Audio CD)

I must admit, after buying this shortly after Nuclear Fire I didn't like it that much. I found it much more lacking in melody and riffs than it's sequel.

However, upon listening to it more it's grown on me. It's not as good as it's sucessor, however it is more experimental and more than just a Judas Priest 'Painkiller' rip off which their first album certainly was.

Tracks like 'Under Your Spell' and 'When The Night Comes' slow down, but up the groove in the process and are really catchy. There is more experimentation with strings and other effects on the intro's as well. This classyness isn't true of every track though admitedly. But stand out 'Nuclear Fire' style metal tracks include 'Church Of Blood', 'Nation In Fear', 'Final Embrace' and 'Hatred In My Soul'.

You do have to let it grow on you, but it is more complicated than the straight ahead style of their first release. It's just some of the riffs let it down here and there. When you buy this, your buying it for five or six stand out tracks really, not the entire album (which is certainly case with their next album), but 'Under Your Spell' is one of their best songs though. Overall it's not as bad as people are making out, but you do have to let it grow on you.

(p.s. On a completely superficial note, the box it comes in is this really cool hardback digipack thing with lots of lovely reflecty bits on it so you could probably reclycle this and use it as some sort of reflective device, perhaps a mirror. That's if you are really unsatisfied with it that is. You shouldn't be though)

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars inferior to debut, unmemorable, December 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Jaws of Death (Audio CD)

i must be fickle. when primal fear's debut hit the streets it was such a relief after priest's 'jugulator' debacle. i was one of those voices who stated that "if you miss 'painkiller' era priest, you need to check out this band". well, i retract my statement. scheepers sounds hoarse and no better than tim owens (priest's replacement) on this effort. this disc has a flat, unengaging guitar sound that is common in metal today. you wouldn't even know these guys employed two guitarists! remember when it was possible to tell downing from tipton and gorham from robertson? remember when each track on an album was distinct from one another? consider "defenders of the faith," "powerslave," or "restless and wild" - can you confuse the various songs within these albums? since primal fear cites these efforts as inspiration, i am amazed at the sameness of their songwriting. i kept having to glance at the cd player to double-check what song i was hearing. bands ought to go back to writing 40 minute albums where every song is distinct and memorable. for many bands, just because you've got 65 minutes doesn't mean you ought to use every digitally processed moment of it for 'value'. dubious highlight of the disc is the cover of rainbow's 'kill the king' which can be found on the "holy dio" tribute album anyway. buy that instead, there's an even better version of the same song on it.