Primal Fear change lineup ahead of studio return

Primal Fear have made a number of changes to their lineup and confirmed their 11th album will be out in early 2016.

The German metal outfit have recruited UDO drummer Francesco Jovino to replace the outgoing Aquiles Priester. And founding guitarist Tom Naumann – who returned as a touring member a few years ago – is now a full-time member of the band again.

Priester only joined last year as a replacement for Randy Black who left over “irreconsilable differences.”

Recording of the follow-up to 2014’s Delivering The Black begins next month at Hansen Studio in Denmark, with the record expected on January 26 via Frontiers Music.

Primal Fear say: “To all Primal Fear and Aquiles Priester fans around the world. We knew it would be a hard mission for us, but we’ve given it a try and unfortunately, to combine our present obligations and our future endeavours, it has become impossible to have a cohesive band together.”

The lineup is completed by frontman Ralf Scheepers, bassist Mat Sinner and guitarists Magnus Karlsson and Alex Beyrodt. Primal Fear have a number of live dates scheduled for this year.

PRIMAL FEAR TOUR

Jul 17: Bang Your Head, Balinhen, Germany

Jul 25: Rock Fest, Barcelona, Spain

Aug 28: Neuborn Open Air, Worrstadt, Germany

Aug 29: Moscow Metal Meeting, Moscow, Russia

Oct 17: Heavy Metal Maniacs, Horn, Netherlands

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.