Herman Frank: Fight the Fear (AFM, 2019)

Legendary German guitarist Herman Frank is back with a new solo album, his fourth to date, titled Fight the Fear. The former Accept (and current Victory) guitarist is joined once more by vocalist Rick Altzi (Masterplan, ex-Thunderstone), bassist Michael Muller (Jaded Heart), drummer Andre Hilgers (Silent Force).

Fight the Fear is very much the kind of hard-charging yet still melodic album we’ve come to expect from Herman Frank. It’s got that teutonic traditional metal approach, but there’s a good dose of power metal to these songs as well. This is Rick Altzi’s third album with Herman Frank, and they continue to make a great team, with Altzi’s gritty, powerful vocals providing just the right counterpoint to Frank’s relentless riffs and over the top (in the best possible way) solos.

Like the previous album (2016’s The Devil Rides Out), Fight the Fear is a no-frills, completely satisfying heavy metal album. You know what you’re going to get, and it’s not remotely disappointing. Early favorites are “Fear,” “Terror” and “Hatred” (sensing a theme here…), but “Wings of Destiny” and “Don’t Cross the Line” are also killer. You could argue that the album is a couple of songs too long given the lack of variety, but that’s a minor complaint.

Herman Frank has delivered another killer old school metal album that fans of his previous work in Accept, Victory and Moon’Doc are going to love. This is the kind of album that fans of traditional metal and heavier power metal bands like Saxon, UDO, Masterplan, Brainstorm and Judas Priest will want to get their hands on.