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Only took ten years for Primal Fear to stop dicking around and get back to what they are good at. After the run of great albums that included near-classics like Nuclear Fire and Black Sun from back around the turn of the century, we've had a decade of crap albums while Matt Sinner kept trying to turn this band into something else. At last, that dark period seems to be over, because Delivering the Black is their best work since Devil's Ground.

This is Primal Fear all the way - chugging riffs, catchy choruses, and Ralf Scheepers sounding better than he has in years. The guitar tone won't stand up to their old days, but it's pretty good, the riffs are standard, with no real standouts, but they are metal riffs and not some groove shitpile. The leads are good, and the songwriting is the best they have had in years - this album sounds like it could have been the follow-up to Black Sun. Ralf sounds great, I think in large part because they let him sing and didn't bury his voice under a heap of effects. He's not as tracked-over as he used to be, and it's nice to hear a real voice and not fifty of them.

If you liked Primal Fear in their heyday from a decade back, then grab this, because it is pure throwback all the way. It doesn't have anything quite as good as "Angel in Black" or "Lightyears From Home", but it is a rock-solid album.