Primal: Iron Age EP | A Good Time To Fight On
(NoLifeTilMetal Records – 2025)
Primal is impressive. It never ceases to amaze me album by album, although of course, this work that concerns us is not exactly a full-length but an EP, in a kind of journey through the band’s career so far summarized in just 7 tracks. Therefore, this work serves as a small sample of what Primal is, for those who have not yet approached the band’s stuff.
At this point, I am not saying anything new when I mention that Primal is embodied in traditional Metal with some references to Thrash Metal, with the different ingredients contributed by each of its members obviously. Precisely, this base formed by Glenn Rogers on guitars (ex Deliverance, Hirax, Heretic, among others), Cesar Ceregatti on bass (ex Steel Vengeance), Jorge Iacobellis on drums (ex TTM, Hirax, among others) and Alberto Zamarbide on vocals (ex V8 and Logos) shows firmness, accuracy and an own identity that has been forged over the years. A Heavy Metal dream team that is getting stronger and sounding like never before.
Apparently, with this EP titled Iron Age, Primal gains time between their previous release and what may come in the future, taking the opportunity to release two new songs. They are “Iron Age” and “Mirror”. The sound is infinitely superior to anything done before and one of the best I’ve heard lately. Powerful is the adjective I can think of to describe both songs. These are two sledgehammers of great quality, and I am not exaggerating when I say that they demonstrate Primal’s excellent state of health, and it is appreciated that we don’t have to wait for a next album to know both songs. On the one hand “Iron Age” has that Thrash Metal tinge that Primal always includes in their music, and on the other hand “Mirror” would not be out of place on a Logos album. Both songs are an excellent symptom of where Primal is today. With all that, the mix and the sound achieved yield a very positive balance.
As a sort of tour through Primal’s career, this EP adds five more songs. Among them, the Spanish version of “End Times”, which had only been released in the Argentine version of the album “Humachine”, and from this work they also include “Firefight”. From the first album “Wisdom” and “The Gates” were chosen to be included in this EP and the V8 cover “Cautivos Del Sistema” with Rudy Sarzo on bass, a track that had already been released in Primal’s first album.
Being an EP, we do not expect a remarkable physical edition since what we have in our hands is a digipack that does not contain a booklet but the information is transcribed in the same envelope that contains the CD, without the lyrics of the songs and with just a photo on the back cover. The cover seems to be a graphic mix between the covers of the two albums that Primal has, with the band’s logo tinted with the color of the second album. Simple, and we think it is fine. We already think it is very important that Primal keeps betting on the physical format, and not only on the fashion of releasing songs in digital format, and that is to be applauded.
With “Iron Age”, Primal shows once again its claws and its evolution through the years, which we can hear in each of the included tracks. We would have liked the inclusion of a live track, as to hear how the band sounds live, but surely that will be for later. Now it only remains for Primal to confirm their present with a great next album.
To get this EP, you can go to https://roxxrecords.com/
