Primal Fear is a band that might have never existed if frontman Ralf Scheepers had beaten out Tim “Ripper” Owens for a spot with Judas Priest. I’m so happy he lost, because now he’s become a great musician with an awesome band. Primal Fear may not be the most original band in the power / heavy metal world, but they’re one of my favourites.

Of course, I was overjoyed to find out they were touring with Luna Mortis. Sadly, Luna Mortis broke up, but luckily, Havok hopped on board. After the usual beer, my friend and I went in, drunk some more at the Opera House’s crappy bar, and then went up front to wait for Valkyrie’s Cry.

In comes the local band, Valkyrie’s Cry. The guitarist was pretty much shredding his ass off all night and would come over to talk to us between songs. He was awesome. I thought the band had a lot of potential, but the live performance was sub-par for lack of stage presence. I don’t want to bash on a band, but seriously, the vocalist needs to show some life. He’s got a great voice when he’s in his mid-range, but needs to be a little more explosive with his actions. Still, it was a pretty good opener.

Next was Kobra And The Lotus, who were “local” openers of some sort. I think they’re actually from Calgary… Which is a little far from Toronto, if you’re not sure where it is. In any case, these guys (and girl) read up on how to put on a hard rock performance. A lot of leather, and lot of badass headbanging, and a Motorhead cover! It was hard to not have fun during their set, since they seemed to just give it their all. I’d definitely consider seeing them again, if they decide to come through in the future.

Primal Fear’s direct support, Havok, was due next. It was sort of weird, seeing a straight-forward thrash metal band on the bill with Primal Fear, but being a Havok fan, I didn’t mind. Havok, minus their lead guitarist, put on a fine show. In terms of energy and enthusiasm, it was second to none. Maybe third to none, since Primal Fear was awesome… But more on that later. Havok brought out their single a little early in their set, since I would’ve liked for them to close with Morbid Symmetry, but damnit it was an awesome song to hear live. They brought some life to what was a quiet crowd, up until that point, and got everyone pumped to finally see Primal Fear.

And well, we finally got to see Primal Fear! Ralf’s performance clothes were… Really tight-fitting, but really cool. Unfortunately, Magnus Karlsson wasn’t able to go out on the tour… Henny Wolter said something about Magnus having to take care of newly born twins in Sweden. In any case, Henny and Magnus’s replacement were more than amazing! Especially when Henny faced off against this unknown-to-me guitarist in a guitar battle. It was both funny and technically proficient, so it was great. They played several fan favourites that had the crowd banging their heads, raising their horns, and singing along as best as they could. A special guest vocalist – a woman who’s name I can’t remember at the time I’m writing this (EDITORS NOTE: It was Pamela Moore) – would come out and sing along with Ralf for several tracks that had female vocals. An especially amazing part of the night was when Primal Fear dedicated the epic Fighting The Darkness to the late, great Ronnie James Dio. In the end, it was an overall amazing performance by the band and also a performance that probably left a couple people touched by the Dio tribute. I think I heard a girl crying?

You can check out pics from this event by clicking here.
http://anothermetalblog.com/photo/primalfear/