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Primal Fear is the epitome of consistency, releasing a new album of crunchy, Germanic power metal every couple of years since they formed in 1997. Code Red is their 14th album, and it is everything a Primal Fear fan could want and nothing they wouldn't. The good and the bad of that statement is intentional. On the good side, these guys are pros and know how to write a power metal song. "Another Hero" is the classic, up-tempo opener, "Bring the Noise" employs the kind of shouted backing vocals pioneered by Accept, "Steelmelter" is ass-kicking anthem about metal, etc. You get the picture. Scheepers sounds as good as ever with his prototypical metal voice and all the notes are in the right places. On the downside, there is nothing here you haven't heard before from Primal Fear. If a new band were to set out to write a Primal Fear album, it would sound like Code Red. I'm not saying they needed to bring in a death metal shouter or a banjo or anything like that but, as good as it is, and again it is good, it feels more like Primal Fear is treading water. That will work for some, but with 14 albums that all sound roughly the same, you start to wonder how many of them you really need. Still, if you dig their previous releases and bands like Helloween, U.D.O., etc., you'll have a hard time disliking Code Red.