After a highly successful tour with fellow metal-meisters HammerFall, the band has returned to the studio and is finishing up the follow-up to the self-titled debut.  Entitled Jaws of Death, the record has an awful lot to live up to and should be available in June the world over.

Bassist and producer Mat Sinner was kind enough to take a few minutes to update us on the band and their plans for '99...

What made you decide to join Primal Fear in the beginning?
I've known Ralf now for 15 years. We live in the same town. Ralf had a show scheduled with his Judas Priest coverband "Just Priest" and he nedded a guitarist and a bassist.  He asked me and Tom to help out and in the end it was a fantastic show. After Ralf didn't get the job with Priest, we decided to write some songs together. It worked out great and we eneded up sending the tape to Japan. They offered us a big deal and Primal Fear was born.

How do you split your time between Primal Fear and Sinner?
I try, but in the end I had to make compromises, I hate [to say]. Sinner's new album The Nature of Evil was very successful, too, in Europe and we had a lot of timing problems.  In the end, we could only play a tour with Deep Purple, which was fantastic, but not enough for a chart-album.

How would you describe the differences between the two bands?
Primal Fear is real Heavy Metal, straight and powerful. Sinner's songs have no boundaries. Even if they're ten minutes long - it is o.k.  We use a lot of keyboards and orchesteral parts with Sinner. The main differences are the singers.

As someone who has lived through all the ups and downs of the music  business in the 80s and 90s, how do you feel about the current climate for heavy metal?
In Eruope, Metal came back two years ago from the underground and now we have a lot of young people in the audiences back. It's great, I hope it will last for some more years and on the other side is that Japan is going down, 'cause of their economic problems.

It seems like a lot of good metal bands are coming from Europe these  days and few bands have the resources to tour the States.  Will we see  Primal Fear on tour here someday?
If the conditions are o.k., we will be there and show the metal fans how strong Primal Fear are on stage.

The production on the Primal Fear album is absolutely killer.  What techniques do you employ in the studio?
You need good songs, experienced and motivated musicans and then you can come up with a sound like this. There are no special secrets.

I noticed that the song-writing was credited to the entire band.  What  is the process for putting together a Primal Fear song?
One of us writes the basis song at home. Every one of us has his own home- studio. Then he brings the tape to our practice room and we just play the song. When everybody in the band can play the song, we start to modify.

Do you have a personal fave track from the album?
"Tears of Rage." On stage, I like "Chainbreaker," "Silver & Gold" and "Running in the Dust."

Seems like the album got a lot of rave reviews.  Were you at all  surprised by the reaction to the record?
Absolutely. We just play a tour and wait [to see] what will happen. In the end we played three tours and most of the huge european outdoor festivals in the summer. It was like a dream came true.

How have the sales been for Primal Fear?
We sold a little more than 100.000 copies worldwide now.

Moving on to the new album, how did you decide on the title Jaws of  Death?  Is there a special meaning behind the title?
It fits perfect to the new cover artwork and is a storyline in one of the new tracks.

Can you describe some of the themes covered on the new album, lyrically?
It's just like a red line between the first and the second album. Metal themes all around.

According to your web page, you are in the middle of recording the new  album right now (February).  Can you give us an idea of how things are  progressing?
We are very satisfied with the songwriting. The people who like our fist one will love the new one. It's pure heavy metal energy!

It also states that you will relocate to Morrisound Studios in Florida  next month to finish the record - why?
'cause in Germany we're still freezing. We want to see something new, new influences, etc. The band worked so hard for the last 12 months, that we can give something back and Morrisound is definitetly a metal studio.

Will there be any special guests on the new record?
At the moment there are no plans.  We added Stefan Leibing as the second guitarist to our line up and all the guys in the band are very enthusiastic about the outcome so far.  I think, we don't need any namedropping here.

How did the European tour go?
Fantastic, every night was sold-out and the fans were going crazy. The south-european states are the heaviest.

Did you play any new or non-album tracks during your set?
We played Sinner's "Used to the Truth" and "Born to Rock," GammRay's "One With the World," Judas Priest's "Grinder," Black Sabbath's "Neon Knights" and Rainbow's "Kill the King."

Do you find that you and Ralf get a lot of the attention, due to your  past work, or is Primal Fear pretty well recognized now as its own entity?
It was helpful for the start in Europe and Japan to come up with two well known names in the Metal Scene, but now Primal Fear is a force of its own.

"Speed King" was a cool choice for a cover.  What made you decide to go  with a Deep Purple track?  Were there any others in the running?
No - I had this idea, that Ralf's voice fits well to the track and we can speed up the song. I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Speaking of covers, how did you guys decide which songs to do for the  Accept and Dio tributes?
We've chosen "Breaker" and "Kill the king" -  they really fit well to PF !

Who are some contemporary bands that you find particularly impressive
 or inspiring?
From the old bands I like, STP and Alice in Chains, the newer band I like are for example Athenaeum, Filter, Rob Zombie, Hootie & the Blowfish - but only songs ... and some more!

Outside of music, do you have any particular hobbies or interests?
Soccer, Wrestling, Spanish seafood, Internet and some more.

What is your long-term vision for Primal Fear?
We dedicate the new album to the metal fans of the world - as long as they want to hear Primal Fear - we will be rocking !