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Herman Frank > The Devil Rides Out > Reviews
Herman Frank - The Devil Rides Out

Old Faithful. - 77%

Empyreal, December 20th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2016, CD, AFM Records

Herman Frank is such a reliable name in metal that you hardly have to second-guess whether you’ll like his new album The Devil Rides Out. It’s more of the same face-ripping, headbanging German metal he was known for ever since the old Accept days. There aren’t many surprises here, but the music’s function was never supposed to be innovation so much as simple refinement and razor-sharp precision.

I was a huge fan of this band’s debut Loyal To None, which was one of the most over the top and insane recitations of the typical Accept/Running Wild power/traditional metal, with every instrument on overdrive in a way that made Frank’s band sound original. Since then, his subsequent albums have ditched a bit of the overdrive factor, coming off as more conventional and rockish and less insane. That probably wasn’t the best idea, but you still get a pristine, crunchy guitar tone, raging rhythm section and aggressive, catchy vocal hooks - so it isn’t a loss. Rick Altzi’s gravelly, hoarse tone still doesn’t win me over the way his predecessor Jioti Parcharidis’ sharp wails did, but as Parcharidis likely isn’t coming back, Altzi will have to do.

This is a pretty solid fucking metal album. If it has a fault, there aren’t too many standout tracks. They’re fine while they’re on, but none of them particularly jump out as some of the best Frank has written. If anything, the band seems to have worked on the production even more than the songs sometimes - this is a seriously well-produced, professional sounding album, and everything sounds crystal clear and immediately aggressive. The songs, in comparison, are fine, but conventional and you’ve heard these ideas before. Standouts would have to be the anthemic riff-stomp “Ballhog Zone” and the careening “Thunder Of Madness” if I had to choose. This won’t blow you away, but it’s a good time to throw on in the car and crank up the volume. Get it if you like this style.

Competent, but Lacking - 70%

raoulduke25, February 15th, 2017
Written based on this version: 2016, CD, AFM Records (Digipak, Limited edition)

Herman Frank has been playing heavy metal longer than I've been alive. And considering I was born just after Stained Class was released, it's fair to say that he's been around the block longer than most people playing nowadays. His resume is massive – daunting even – and includes classic greats like Sinner, Victory, Hazzard, and of course the legendary Accept. Nobody can deny that the man knows his heavy metal, and this album is proof that he still has his chops. His familiarity with the classic sound and Rick Altzi's solid vocals would seem to be a perfect combination.

However, The Devil Rides Out – his third full-length solo album – presents a bit of a departure from his style on his previous two solo efforts. Now, I should probably point out that I think those first two albums set the bar pretty high in terms of what to expect, and that probably explains in large part why I walked away from this album a bit nonplussed. After hearing a lot of the ball-busting riffs that peppered his earlier works, I really was hoping for a lot more from this one.

From a purely musical standpoint, not much has changed, but the feel of this album is very different. For lack of a better word, it sounds more modern. True, it's a bit more cleaned up overall, but the main thing is that it just doesn't have the classic feel. I get the feeling that a lot more effort was put into the production and lot less effort was put into the composition. I say this because what we have here is a booming pastiche of unrestrained energy and drummers-gone-wild and yet somehow after hearing the album I had this palpable emptiness as if somebody had given me a rice cake soaked in Worcestershire sauce instead of the rare porterhouse I had actually ordered.

Take the album opener, for instance. “Running Back” is a massively heavy track, with some great guitar work, but the riffs are buried under a kick drum the size of Nebraska. The riffs are hard to pick out and the vocal hooks just kind of bounce off your back instead of burying themselves in your scalp. None of the tracks are bad, though. It's all quite competently executed by a professional who knows his craft. It's just that some of the songs have all the requisite parts but not the glue to hold them together cohesively. And this kind of feeling is what I got from most of the album.

To be fair, I should at least cover the places where he does it right though, and you can hear Frank at his best on “Ballhog Zone”, “License to Kill”, and “Run for Cover”. And if you’re asking yourself why I picked those songs and you suddenly notice that they all feature well-crafted riffs that dominate the soundscape whilst the percussionist is keeping the beat properly instead of unloading 180 kicks-per-minute, you just might have found your answer.

Originally written for The Metal Observer.