Review by Michael on February 2, 2026.

German deathers Slaughterday are back with their fifth full-length album. And because they are from Lower Saxony they don't play with good emotions like Saxon did with "Power And The Glory" but with some lowly sentiments which belong to a "Dread Emperor" (who would might have been meant with this image these days?).

Okay, that was not the best pun but for this the music turns out much better. Of course Slaughterday don't care to break out of their typical doom-death frame but with every single album they improved their style and added some more untypical stuff from that genre to their music.

On "Dread Emperor" you find a lot of classic Black Sabbath-riffs (which seem quite similar to their farewell album "13") like in "Obliteration Crusade". Hell, yeah, Autopsy did this already too but here it sounds more like the original.

Apart from this, the sick guitars in minor sound a lot like Iron Maiden had taken some drugs and would play their stuff half of an octave higher, just ugly and dissonant. It hurts in your ears, it feels uncomfortable and matches perfectly for this abomination.

But they don't offer that crazy stuff during the whole running time but are altering between that and some more crunchy, brutal death metal. Also this is nothing new for Bernd Reiners and Jens Finger but on "Dread Emperor" they have heaved their skills on a new level.

A good example for that is the title track. Here they play the usual doomy stuff but alone the introduction is epic, as it should be for an emperor who rides along his cheering masses. And the rest of the song spreads fear and terror with that dissonant, slow stuff.

My favorite track and probably one of the most straight-forward tracks is "Dethroned". Kicking off like some sort of Celtic Frost-worship (with that title not the biggest surprise) this one is a mid-tempo song with some cool catchy riffs and simple melodies that grip you by your balls instantly. This one is for sure the next live favorite of many Slaughterday fans. Fuck, yeah, that's almost death n'roll in some parts of the track.

As you can probably read, "Dread Emperor" has become a good album. And with the final track "Golem" the guys from the North Sea cover another German legend – Protector. It is always a double-edged sword to do a cover version but this one is really cool. Not too close to the original but you still know which song it is. Guest vocals by Martin Missy would have been cool here.

The last thing I would like to mention is the production. I don't know how often I've already mentioned Jörg Uken and his Soundlodge Studio but this guy is just amazing. The production is crunchy, super heavy and offers no point of criticism.

"Dread Emperor" is the first (early) highlight when it comes to death metal in 2026 and reinforces the status that Slaughterday has in the (German) death metal scene.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Tobias on March 13, 2001.

First off, I want to say that this was a fun album. If you’re a big power metal fan, you are going to want this one ASAP. The muscle-bound Ralf Scheeper comes across as… well, Rob Halford on crack… and steroids.

The music is flat out Judas Priest… but, it’s done really well! C’mon, there’s got to be something going right for a band if it can make me throw the devil horns in the air… in private!

While this is all great and fun, I have to say that there was just a little too much of Ralf’s high piched wails. There are few and far between moments when Ralf reflects some of those big ol’ biceps in his voice, which, no pun intended, are definitely his strongest points on the album.

Like I mentioned in my review of Narnia, retro styles can be great if you bring something new to the table. Like Narnia, this is where Primal Fear is lacking. If Judas Priest continues doing what they’re doing, that’s fine, ‘cause they did it first and they are Judas Priest, the speedy generals of power metal. However, if Primal Fear wants to follow in their footsteps, I would suggest adding some new flavor to the sound, more specifically, the vocals.

I think it would do razor-Ralf a lot of good to take some lessons from the legendary Phil Anselmo of Pantera or Clutch's Neil Fallon. Get some serious balls in there and flex those monster biceps!

Bottom Line: The bassist’s name is Mat Sinner. As a power metal fan, that’s a pretty good indicator that you need to pick this up! Devil Horns!

Rating: 7 of 10