Prime Creation were formed in 2015 in Sweden and have since released several works aimed at fans of power and progressive metal. Their latest effort is “Souls of the Fallen”. Listening to the band’s fourth album proved to be a pleasant enough experience, but ultimately led to the conclusion that this is a fairly average release — one unlikely to truly excite fans of the genre. Prime Creation strongly recall Germany’s Brainstorm, with vocalist Esa Englund sounding remarkably similar to Andy B. Franck, while both the riffs and refrains clearly follow the Brainstorm school of songwriting. That is not necessarily a negative thing. On the contrary, Prime Creation embrace their influences and allow them to shape their sound naturally. Where the Swedish band could have delivered more, however, is in their compositional ideas, melodies, and rhythmic creativity, as these rarely rise above the expected or the merely decent. The album certainly opens on a strong note with “Galactic Rebirth”, “Ghosts” and “Blood Harvest”, but from that point onward there are too many mediocre moments and filler tracks. No one expected a masterpiece from Prime Creation, but something only slightly above average still feels underwhelming. It should be noted, though, that the guitar work is outstanding — especially the solos, which are excellent — while the production is genuinely powerful and polished. In the end, “Souls of the Fallen” is an album that will likely pass by without leaving much of an impression. Unless you are a die-hard Brainstorm fan desperately searching for bands operating in a similar style, there is little reason to spend too much time here.
♦ 6/10
Dimitris Zacharopoulos
