Third album in for German Metal maestros 'Primal Fear' and they show no signs of letting up, with one of their heaviest and most uncompromising releases to date. The formula has changed little since their debut and 'Nuclear Fire' is no exception as they continue with their molten 'Priest' influenced Euro Power Metal. The only line-up change here sees axe-master 'Tom Naumann' sitting this one out, only to be replaced by 'Sinner' colleague 'Henny Wolter'.

Opening the album in stunning form is the blistering 'Angel in Black', the warlike intro gives way to a sublime pulsating Power Metal gem, 'Ralf Scheepers' delivers with near god like qualities, while 'Mat Sinner' and 'Klaus Sperling' offer up some glorious rhythm work and don't even get me started on the fret work- wow! The quality continues with the 'Priest' influenced 'Kiss of Death' and despite the intro sounding a little too similar to 'Hell Patrol' is a powerful rocker, not as frenetic as the opener but still very effective. The tempo is increased once again for the scorching Speed Metal of 'Back from Hell', 'Scheepers' screams out the verses in classic 'Halford' style, while the twin guitarist serve up a healthy platter of shredding. The pace falls for the Power Balladsy 'Now or Never', the opening mystical intro works nicely, but on a whole I'm not convinced the vocals really suit this style of song, overlooking this, it's nicely penned and executed. Back on track is the pulsating 'Fight the Fire', which features riffing not too dissimilar from 'Metallica' or 'Iced Earth', the chorus goes right for the throat while the fret work is nothing short of top notch. Slightly more reminiscent of 'Sinner' and just as effective as their best, is the grooving 'Eye of an Eagle', as with the previous cut the chorus is just superb, with lyrics that are inspiring and overall another winner. The tempo falls for the passionately performed but slightly predictable ballad 'Bleed for Me', while the title track is yet another jewel, that balances a more melodic epic Power Metal approach with their usual blistering best, whilst the neo-classical guitar solos are just sublime. Continuing in the 'Judas Priest' vein is 'Red Rain', a more straight-forward Metal song, lyrically pretty decent and although the kind of song that gets overlooked is yet another piece of class. The penmanship is taken up a notch with the melodic 'Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove', a slight departure for 'Primal Fear', but boy does this work well, great melody throughout and plenty of tempo changes and layered vocals to keep the interest- masterful! 'Fire on the Horizon' sees them back in familiar territory and while not an album highlight, still strong and comes complete with a good urgent tempo and a frighteningly fast guitar solo. The album bows out with the more anthemic 'Living for Metal' a good solid dose of the aforementioned, but at times 'Scheepers' sounds a little shrilly.

Personally I'm not too keen on the ballads, but this is one hell of an album, I've rated in 88%, but could quite happily have rated it even higher- if you like Power Metal buy this now!