No Life 'til Metal - CD Gallery

In 2014, after my friend Glenn Rogers left Heretic he started (or joined) a new band with his former Hirax drummer Jorge Iacobellis, as well as Wagner Vincenzi (guitars), Sandy K. Vasquez (bass) and vocalist Alberto Zamarbide. It took a few years for this album to finally make it's appearance, but finally in October 2016, it is here.

Primal is twelve songs of mostly straight-forward heavy metal peppered with fiery guitar solos and driven by a thundering rhythm section. The songs seem split equally between the more melodic heavy metal numbers and some aggressive, U.S. power metal style songs. Glenn Rogers style is apparent in some of these heavier songs such as "The Gate" and "Wisdom". It is especially apparent in "Wisdom" that Glenn had a big hand in the writing. The main riff of this song is reminiscent of his time in Hirax and especially the song "Hell on Earth" off of "New Age of Terror". (2004) The big difference, however, is in the clean, melodic singing style of Alberto, who ties the entire album together. Perhaps one of the best songs on the album is "Freedom" which is a dark ballad. Rather than being a sappy radio ballad, this song has a sound not unlike "Beyond the Realms of Death" (Judas Priest) or "Fade to Black" (Metallica). The song builds as it moves along gaining speed and momentum along the way. Overall Primal's debut is a solid, melodic heavy metal album with a vibrant modern production.

Unfortunately by the time the album was released and the band went off to tour for the album in South America, Glenn Rogers had split with the band forming his own band Final Decree. I'm curious what the band will sound like without Glenn since he was such a big part of their songwriting on their debut.