In a new interview with Jovan Ristić of Altnote, PRIMAL FEAR bassist Mat Sinner discussed the band’s August 2024 split with guitarists Alex Beyrodt and Tom Naumann, drummer Michael Ehré and touring bassist Alex Jansen. Joining Sinner and Ralf Scheepers (vocals) in PRIMAL FEAR‘s current lineup are the band’s latest additions, Italian/Cuban sensation Thalìa Bellazecca (ANGUS MCSIX, ex-FROZEN CROWN) on guitar and André Hilgers (AXXIS, RAGE, SILENT FORCE, SINNER, BONFIRE) on drums. Also appearing with the group is Swedish guitarist Magnus Karlsson, who has been primarily a studio member of the band for much of the past decade but who has now rejoined PRIMAL FEAR‘s touring lineup.
Asked how he felt when Beyrodt, Naumann, Ehré and Jansen exited PRIMAL FEAR a year ago, Sinner said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Bad, because we played together for a long, long, long, long time. And there were some comments by one of the guitarists, which are ridiculous. They were very evil. And as I was feeling that I am able to come back full-time, [I] said, ‘Why should I make music with a guy who don’t wanna make music with [me]?’ It’s that easy. And the company, PRIMAL FEAR, belongs to me and Ralf. And I said, ‘I’ll only continue without this guy.’ So, we told him that we don’t want him anymore… And we fired him. And then the other guitarist, very close friend of mine since 30 years, he decided that his future is better with him and he left the band because he thought they can do his project, ‘Rock Meets Classic’, which was once my project, which they stole away from me. And, yeah, but we know that Magnus wants to play live for a longer time and we know how good he is. And the other guys didn’t want him to join the band live. It was always a fight. And me and Ralf was writing with [Magnus] most of the songs, so they were part-time jealous about that. And so we knew Magnus is back. André, the drummer, already played the last tour with PRIMAL FEAR. So that was not new. It was easy to decide. And the only position which was not clear at that moment was Thalìa. So for us it was done in seconds. It’s a sad story, but that’s life.”
Asked what it is like playing in a band with Thalìa, Mat said: “In the times of social media, it was everywhere that we were looking for a second guitarist. And we got a lot of interest and offers from very, very well-known guitarists from America, also from the U.K. and Europe. And we were thinking about what we were gonna do — go in the standard way, the usual way, and take one and everybody says, ‘Wow. This is cool. They have a new guitarist,’ or do we come up with something totally unexpected, a surprise? And I like surprises. And in the beginning I talked to Ralf, and for me it felt a little bit strange — a black girl with an afro and a left hand. And it was, like, ‘Wow.’ But then first I want to check, can she play the difficult PRIMAL FEAR parts? Sometimes the guitars are really more difficult [than] you think when you hear it. This harmony stuff, it’s not that easy. So she has to play that. And another, for me, super-important fact is does she fit in the band as a person? After the last trouble we had, I was really looking out not to make just the announcement or whatever. I have first to check everything, that I’m a hundred percent sure that it would be the right move. I don’t want to change again guitarists in six months or so. I need the feeling that this could be [a stable lineup] for longer time. So we checked her out, and she played well. She had to get in this band with four guys who are older than her. On the other side, it was not bad. If you see a PRIMAL FEAR concert, I think it’s still a shame that 70 percent of the audience are male; [it] could be more equal. [Laughs] But Thalìa, she looks good, she moves good. So it’s also nice for the male audience to watch young, impressive guitarists like Thalìa than to watch, for example, me all the time. [Laughs] Then our social media numbers were exploding. And I have to say that 99 percent of the comments were super positive. One percent [was] stupid idiots. You can’t change that. And that’s how you have to deal with social media these days. But it was part-time really rude, and mostly Americans. I don’t know why, but stupid — really stupid. Then we rehearsed [and] we recorded together for the new album. Everything went well, and she is a super nice person, a great talent and fits very well. We [had] long good talks with each other. So I’m looking forward that we play together for a longer time. You never know, but, hey, it’s cool. And we played three shows now together, and all the festivals went super cool and everybody’s happy. A good vibe in the band — very friendly, very peaceful, very creative. So everybody’s super happy at the moment.”
Sinner (a.k.a. Matthias Lasch),who also serves as PRIMAL FEAR‘s producer, reportedly suffered an extreme adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination in 2021 and received treatment for eight months at various hospitals. As a result of Sinner‘s health challenges, PRIMAL FEAR canceled all of its planned shows in 2021 and 2022, eventually recruiting Jansen as Mat‘s temporary replacement.
PRIMAL FEAR will release its new album, “Domination”, on September 5 via Reigning Phoenix Music. The LP was recorded in autumn 2024, produced by Sinner and co-produced by Scheepers as well as Karlsson. Rounded off by multiple PRIMAL FEAR mixing/mastering engineer Jacob Hansen at his own studios in Denmark, the album artwork was designed by Death.Milk.Designs.
Warming up at five select summer festivals, PRIMAL FEAR will return to the live front with its longest European tour since 2018. Reigning Phoenix Music labelmates ELEINE have been confirmed as special guests.
In August 2024, Beyrodt, Naumann, Ehré and Jansen announced their departures from PRIMAL FEAR, writing in a statement: “Dear fans and friends of PRIMAL FEAR, we unfortunately have to inform you today that Alex Beyrodt, Tom Naumann, Michael Ehré and Alex Jansen, who helped us on bass for the last two years, are no longer part of the band PRIMAL FEAR. Triggered by decisions within the band that we do not agree with, this step was anything but easy for us to take. We would like to make it clear that despite the differences of opinion, there was no argument or bad blood.
“We would like to thank you for the time we spent together, the numerous albums, the tours, shows and festivals that have taken us around the world together, and of course for the love of the fans. We wish Mat and Ralf all the best for the future!”
Formed by Sinner in 1997 as an outlet for Scheepers (who had left GAMMA RAY and was a rumored candidate for the then-open JUDAS PRIEST vocal spot, but was considering early retirement from metal),PRIMAL FEAR has emerged as one of the most consistent European metal bands, rarely straying from its core PRIEST-styled power metal sound.
PRIMAL FEAR 2025 is:
Ralf Scheepers – vocals
Mat Sinner – bass, vocals
Magnus Karlsson – guitars
Thalìa Bellazecca – guitars
André Hilgers – drums
Photo credit: Heiko Roith
