''Seven Seals'' is the sixth album by the German

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band Primal Fear, released on 15 October 2005. It is the first album with artwork which does not contain a scene depicting their bird-of-prey mascot, but instead a logo based upon it (a burning version of which is also seen on their next studio album '' New Religion''). It is also the first album recorded in Standard D Tuning. A music video was made for "Seven Seals".

Album concept

The album is about the battle between

Heaven Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...

and

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

and how

angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...

and

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, ...

will be affected by it. The song "Evil Spell" tries to explain that not all demons are evil creatures, but they "live under evil spells". The song "Seven Seals" is speaking of the

Seven Seals The Seven Seals of God from the Bible's Book of Revelation are the seven symbolic seals (, ''sphragida'') that secure the book or scroll that John of Patmos saw in an apocalyptic vision. The opening of the seals of the document occurs in Rev Ch ...

broken in the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

. The Fourth Seal is

The Pale Horse ''The Pale Horse'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1961,Chris Peers, Ralph Spurrier and Jamie Sturgeon. ''Collins Crime Club – A checklist of ...

whose rider is named Death "and Hell followed with Him".

Track listing

All songs written by

Mat Sinner Mat Sinner (born Matthias Lasch; 16 October 1964 in Stuttgart, West Germany) is a bassist, vocalist, and record producer from Stuttgart, Germany. Sinner has been involved in numerous bands and projects throughout his musical career. His main ...

, Stefan Leibing, Tom Naumann and

Ralf Scheepers Ralf Scheepers (born 5 February 1965) is the vocalist for the German heavy metal band Primal Fear. He has a relatively high-pitched tenor-esque singing voice and sometimes uses a shriek reminiscent of Judas Priest's Rob Halford, although it is ...

, except where noted.

Personnel

– lead vocal *

Stefan Leibing Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

– guitars, keyboards * Tom Naumann – guitars *

– bass guitar, backing vocal *

Randy Black Randy Black (born November 17, 1963) is a Canadian-born rock drummer known best for his stints as the drummer for Bif Naked, Annihilator, and Primal Fear. Although Black's actual acoustic drum configuration is not unique to the field of drummi ...

– drums Additional Musicians *Matz Ulmer – keyboards, string arrangements

Production

– producer *Charlie Bauerfeind – producer, engineering *Mike Cashin – mixing (additional) *Nikolai Wurk – engineering (additional) *Mike Fraser – mixing *Achim "Akeem" Köhler – mastering *Paul Silveira – engineering (additional) *Katja Piolka – photography, layout, design *Martin Häusler – cover art 2005 albums Concept albums Nuclear Blast albums {{2000s-power-metal-album-stub