Primitai - Rise Up - Review

Primitai - Rise Up
I must admit I have been a bit disparaging towards this band in the past. I always had them as some kind of average meat and potatoes kind of metal band destined to forever remain playing the support band slots in and around London. To my utter amazement their new album has completely knocked me out with a haymaker Mike Tyson would have been proud of! What a great effort this album is, from the singing to the playing and production. Of course what has improved the most is the song writing which is now stellar I must say. This album deserves to gain Primitai a lot more attention and on to bigger tours because it really is that good.

Let's start by talking about each song:
Fortune Favours The Brave clatters out of the speakers with a strong heavy metal fist in the face. Immediately you are taken on a galloping ride with a stomping riff and a melodic hook in the chorus that grabs you and won't let you go. A great start but the best is yet to come.

Scream When You See Us, the lead video single completely blew me away when I saw the video on youtube. I didn't fully understand the vid though but the song is pure magic. More galloping trad metal with masterful solos and tasty riffs galore. But it's the vocals that make the song what it is, which is just a big old eargasm and nothing else. A glorious and powerful song indeed.

Title track Rise Again is up next and the pace is relentless and features perhaps the most melodic riffs on the whole album which reminds me of Maiden quite a bit. The main verse is powerful before it leads to a slower paced uplifting chorus made to be sung along with. The tempo and pace of the song are like the bible for writing classic heavy metal. All the elements are linked perfectly to create a great memorable song.

Pound For Pound is my favourite song on the album with it's truly thumping vocal performance and the catchiest chorus on the album by far and it has a lot of competition! The pace of the song is a touch less speedy and allows the song to build with it's groovy riffs and choppy flow and then that truly epic chorus thunders into view and the urge to sing along and belt it out is irresistible. This is like a fighting song to me as the lyrics say, if you wanna fight I'm here and ready. This song puts hairs on your chest and makes you feel 10 feet tall. Awesome!

Driven Wild is up next and picks up the pace again with a thumping Maidenesque beat and riff leading to a powerful and catchy chorus. Very catchy indeed and so far it's hard to pick holes in any of the tunes. This song reminds me a little of Fear of The Dark is some of the riffs. A brilliant song in the end. Five songs in and no duffers to be seen.

The Cannibal sees the guys go slightly epic on us with a slower pounding Manowarish tune which is actually quite welcome as everything has been pretty fast so far. You've gotta have a bit of variety on a great album and The Cannibal provides it. The vocal performance is again magnificent. Very melodic and epic sounding. A slower tune but still very melodic and epic. The quality never wanes it's all a bit of a shock really!

Holy Defender is another stomping anthem like track pretty similar to The Cannibal but with a stronger and more aggressive vocal performance. When it comes to melody it's still very strong though and we reach a powerful but less melodically pleasing chorus. I like the song but it's not a fave of mine I must say. I do like the backing vocals a lot though.

Blink Of An Eye as the title somewhat suggests picks up the pace again with galloping thumping riffs, with the expected powerful vocal delivery which leads to an ok chorus. This is perhaps my least fave song on the album but it's still good. The chorus is perhaps not as catchy as others. Musically it's of the same quality.

The Huntress gets things back on track with it's thumping great start riff and bouncy gallop and great wooaah backing vocals. The melodic elements return strong on this song with a wonderfully catchy chorus about wanting The Huntress to enter in to your life. What a cool and catchy song tune. Reminds me a little of Megadeth's She Wolf in vibe not music exactly. It has a rock flavour which I like a lot. The solos are very melodic as well and some of the best on the album.

Finally we have an epic balladesque slow churner to round off this brilliant album. A powerful song with strong emotional vocals and nice powerful backing vocals once again. In fact it must be said that the harmony backing vocals add so much to the songs throughout the album. This is a moody and lighter waving end to the album. Not normally a type of song I really enjoy much but Primitai make it sound very good indeed. This one reminds me a little bit of Iced Earth's emotional ballads mixed with Maiden's epic sensibilities, especially when the riffing picks up towards the middle and end of the song. An awe inspiring end indeed!

So there we have it. What can I say this album has all the ingredients I love in my music. I can hardly find any fault with it. Ok some of the songs are not as quite as good as my faves but that's just a personal opinion on song writing style. Well done to the Primitai guys. You deserve huge success with this release.