• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

1999's Fear was the much anticipated follow up to Paradox, the album that would turn out to be the only classic Royal Hunt had in them. DC Cooper was gone and John West was in, meaning keyboardist/songwriter Andre Andersen had to write for a new voice once again.

This gets off to a weird start with the ten minute opening title track, a song that takes a long while to get going before we even hear any guitar, and even then it is buried so far back in the mix you almost forget it's there. Then there's the heinous misuse of John West for the first few vocal segments as he whispers and croons away, but once the pace picks up, we're sailing onto the green and soon the album launches into what you'd expect from any Royal Hunt album; catchy choruses, theatrical backing vocals, lots of keys, and a rocking neo-classical swagger.

Songs like 'Faces Of War' and 'Voices' are worth a listen, being the better examples of West's first contributions to the Hunt, but on the whole, Fear is far more hard rock based than Paradox was, despite the production sounding almost identical. Not a terrible album by any means, quite enjoyable once and a while, just an oddity in Royal Hunt's discography.