They were the architects of modern metal. On the cutting edge of rock in so many ways.
So, what happened when they were given the Septenary treatment?
Hell Bent for Leather: A+ (100)
Screaming for Vengeance: A+ (100)
Painkiller: A (97)
Sad Wings of Destiny: A (96)
Stained Class: A (94)
Point of Entry: B+ (88)
Sin After Sin: B+ (88)
Angel of Retribution: B+ (87)
British Steel: B- (82)
Defenders of the Faith: C (75)
Ram It Down: C (73)
Nostradamus: D+ (68)
Demolition: D (64)
Rocka Rolla: D- (61)
Turbo Lover: F (50)
Jugulator: F (50)
Complete Catalog: B- (80)
With Halford Only: B (83)
It's a shame that Those bottom three Halfords exist. Without them, this is a really solid metal band. But, really, those first 4 are brilliant.
Showing posts with label Judas Priest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judas Priest. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, May 22, 2009
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Nostradamus
The end is nigh. And it's sooooo boring......
Judas Priest - Nostradamus - 2008 (iTunes - Amazon)
I'm not sure what to make of this. The first track of Nostradamus, "Dawn of Creation", opens with strings, pianos, moody wind effects and then a keyboard track that reminds of the soundtrack for Halloween. But that's really just a 2.5 minute overture. When "Prophecy" starts you know you are in some kind of Heavy Metal...something.
"I am Nostradamus, do you believe?" Oh, this is turgid.
Why? I have to ask, why? Who needed a 2 hour rock opera concept album about Nostradamus???? From what I've read, this stuff's been covered already. And even if it hadn't, why now? Why so...pedestrian? And Why? So? Much?????
Ugh.
To be fair, some of the tracks aren't that bad. The lyrics to "Revelations" may be mediocre and on the nose, but the operatic, almost cinematic quality of the production sort of lifts it, while shoving, for some reason, Rob Halford's vocal as deep into the mix as possible and still render it recognizable.
With it's slight interludes that call to mind a pedestrian and pedantic church service of sadness and gloom, Priest really think their making great art here. And I admire them for the attempt.
Thing is, the last thing these guys were known for was wordsmithing and lyrics. It's gotta suck to be Halford in that respect. His voice is admirable and his writing talent has always been suspect. The sound, the fury, the dual guitar attack of Tipton and Downing, the voice and sheer will is what made Priest, is what carved their names into the marble of this musical movement. And, so to hear them attempt such heights and fail so defiantly is sad, comical and, sometimes, as on, say, "War", inspiring a bit. If it does sound a LOT like a Lord of the Rings soundtrack instead of a Metal album.
Except where the lyrics are in Italian and it's a full on Wagnerian Opera. Only in Italian. As on "Pestilence & Plague" What the hell am I listening to, again?
The entire first half seems to be devoted to Nossy's predictions. Now, I don't know about you, but when I predict something it's more along the lines of, "Hmm...I think the Mets are going to tank this year." But in the hands of Halford & Co. it's more like, "Besmirch me not, my lord! The grand Metropolitans of York of Newness shall be vanquished in a spasm of strangulation the likes of which ne'er seen lo these many moon! Oh, fie!"
Or something.
It's fully 45 minutes before anything remotely resembling Priest as we know them shows up in the last song of the firs Act (!!!), a track called Persecution. So, I guess, Nostro has been determined to be some kind of heretic and is going to be locked up. I guess. I don't know. I just see the end in sight...... (For the record, I don't know if this is something to be proud of, in awe of, or what, but the entire first act, all of it, is stitched together as one. long. track. Suck on that, Queen.
End Act One
Act Two (oh, jeez......)
Act Two opens with Nossy exiled.
Great. Got it.
Oh, wait, you need 7 minutes to get that point across, JP? Okay. I'll be back.
Oh, you DON'T really need 7 minutes, it only took you three. The other 4 are needless and sub-par instrumentation. Got it. How badly do you guys want to score the next Underworld Movie??
Only 40 minutes to go. The next 7 will be spent on a song titled, Alone. So, it's gonna take 7 minutes to convey how Nostradamus felt when he was exiled. All right.
While this is playing I'll say this: In the early 80's there was a mini-series on German Television called Berlin Alexanderplatz. It's a 14 part series by Fassbinder. We never saw it, my friends or I. But, whenever we experienced something that was inteminably boring and long we would create a new portmanteau for it. A dull lecture was "Berlin Alexanderlecture". A boring book could be "Berlin Alexandertome". A boring movie would be "Berlin Alexanderplatz". Gotcha!
So, now I can just call a boring book "Nostradabook".
I've decided that this entry should be the longest since I am making myself sit through a near-two irony free, humorless, quasi-concept album.
For you.
FOR YOU! So YOU don't have to do it.
Sure, you might think, one day, "hmmm...I wonder how that last Priest Album was. I mean, Angel of Retribution was pretty good. And I like good metal. I wonder...."
I do this for You! So you can know. So, you can enjoy every moment of your life and not lose an hour and a half that you will never get back!
Shit. Please, fucking end!
30 minutes to go.
Oh, this isn't bad. This Visions track. At least it's...I dunno...a song?
Then there's this elegiac hope message 20 minutes before the end and I'm thinking, "Why am I not drinking? Why am I sitting here when I could be laying in bed, next to my wife, sleeping?"
Ugh. 20 minutes to go. Feels like forever.
What?
It takes us til the penultimate song to get to some real rockin' metal? Nostradamus, the song, is a big thrash metal song that is at once ridiculous and, at the same time, should have just been one track on some other record that didn't include 1.5 hours of turgid, quasi epic balladry.
The album ends, as it probably must, with mankind moving forward but with the gift of Nostradamus's prophecies to guide us. (Props for ending in the proper french, Nossy's native tongue. The guys did their homework)
Okay.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Judas Priest.
Grade D+
A Side: Revelations, Nostradamus,
BlindSide: War, Persecution
DownSide: Sands of Time, Death
Judas Priest - Nostradamus - 2008 (iTunes - Amazon)
I'm not sure what to make of this. The first track of Nostradamus, "Dawn of Creation", opens with strings, pianos, moody wind effects and then a keyboard track that reminds of the soundtrack for Halloween. But that's really just a 2.5 minute overture. When "Prophecy" starts you know you are in some kind of Heavy Metal...something.
"I am Nostradamus, do you believe?" Oh, this is turgid.
Why? I have to ask, why? Who needed a 2 hour rock opera concept album about Nostradamus???? From what I've read, this stuff's been covered already. And even if it hadn't, why now? Why so...pedestrian? And Why? So? Much?????
Ugh.
To be fair, some of the tracks aren't that bad. The lyrics to "Revelations" may be mediocre and on the nose, but the operatic, almost cinematic quality of the production sort of lifts it, while shoving, for some reason, Rob Halford's vocal as deep into the mix as possible and still render it recognizable.
With it's slight interludes that call to mind a pedestrian and pedantic church service of sadness and gloom, Priest really think their making great art here. And I admire them for the attempt.
Thing is, the last thing these guys were known for was wordsmithing and lyrics. It's gotta suck to be Halford in that respect. His voice is admirable and his writing talent has always been suspect. The sound, the fury, the dual guitar attack of Tipton and Downing, the voice and sheer will is what made Priest, is what carved their names into the marble of this musical movement. And, so to hear them attempt such heights and fail so defiantly is sad, comical and, sometimes, as on, say, "War", inspiring a bit. If it does sound a LOT like a Lord of the Rings soundtrack instead of a Metal album.
Except where the lyrics are in Italian and it's a full on Wagnerian Opera. Only in Italian. As on "Pestilence & Plague" What the hell am I listening to, again?
The entire first half seems to be devoted to Nossy's predictions. Now, I don't know about you, but when I predict something it's more along the lines of, "Hmm...I think the Mets are going to tank this year." But in the hands of Halford & Co. it's more like, "Besmirch me not, my lord! The grand Metropolitans of York of Newness shall be vanquished in a spasm of strangulation the likes of which ne'er seen lo these many moon! Oh, fie!"
Or something.
It's fully 45 minutes before anything remotely resembling Priest as we know them shows up in the last song of the firs Act (!!!), a track called Persecution. So, I guess, Nostro has been determined to be some kind of heretic and is going to be locked up. I guess. I don't know. I just see the end in sight...... (For the record, I don't know if this is something to be proud of, in awe of, or what, but the entire first act, all of it, is stitched together as one. long. track. Suck on that, Queen.
End Act One
Act Two (oh, jeez......)
Act Two opens with Nossy exiled.
Great. Got it.
Oh, wait, you need 7 minutes to get that point across, JP? Okay. I'll be back.
Oh, you DON'T really need 7 minutes, it only took you three. The other 4 are needless and sub-par instrumentation. Got it. How badly do you guys want to score the next Underworld Movie??
Only 40 minutes to go. The next 7 will be spent on a song titled, Alone. So, it's gonna take 7 minutes to convey how Nostradamus felt when he was exiled. All right.
While this is playing I'll say this: In the early 80's there was a mini-series on German Television called Berlin Alexanderplatz. It's a 14 part series by Fassbinder. We never saw it, my friends or I. But, whenever we experienced something that was inteminably boring and long we would create a new portmanteau for it. A dull lecture was "Berlin Alexanderlecture". A boring book could be "Berlin Alexandertome". A boring movie would be "Berlin Alexanderplatz". Gotcha!
So, now I can just call a boring book "Nostradabook".
I've decided that this entry should be the longest since I am making myself sit through a near-two irony free, humorless, quasi-concept album.
For you.
FOR YOU! So YOU don't have to do it.
Sure, you might think, one day, "hmmm...I wonder how that last Priest Album was. I mean, Angel of Retribution was pretty good. And I like good metal. I wonder...."
I do this for You! So you can know. So, you can enjoy every moment of your life and not lose an hour and a half that you will never get back!
Shit. Please, fucking end!
30 minutes to go.
Oh, this isn't bad. This Visions track. At least it's...I dunno...a song?
Then there's this elegiac hope message 20 minutes before the end and I'm thinking, "Why am I not drinking? Why am I sitting here when I could be laying in bed, next to my wife, sleeping?"
Ugh. 20 minutes to go. Feels like forever.
What?
It takes us til the penultimate song to get to some real rockin' metal? Nostradamus, the song, is a big thrash metal song that is at once ridiculous and, at the same time, should have just been one track on some other record that didn't include 1.5 hours of turgid, quasi epic balladry.
The album ends, as it probably must, with mankind moving forward but with the gift of Nostradamus's prophecies to guide us. (Props for ending in the proper french, Nossy's native tongue. The guys did their homework)
Okay.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is Judas Priest.
Grade D+
A Side: Revelations, Nostradamus,
BlindSide: War, Persecution
DownSide: Sands of Time, Death
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution
21st Century Priest.
Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution - 2005 (iTunes - Amazon)
Well, this is more like it. From the opening harbinger of doom track Judas Rising, right through the next track Deal with the Devil, we know that we are back in familiar territory. I'm not sure who said, "Hey, remember when we wrote SONGS? Let's do that. Only they'll come in at under 5 minutes and they will sound like...I dunno...Priest?"
By the time we hit Revolution it's clear that, at the very least, the band is playing to its strengths, giving the people what they want and accepting the mantle of Metal Gods once again. Dalliances into RapCore and thrash be damned, Priest is Metal!
There's supposed to be some connection between the Angel on Sad Wings of Destiny and this record. Something about this being a second half to that record. Maybe. I don't know. Sounds like an attempt to cash in and prove that the "old Priest is back!".
There's even a metal ballad, Angel, followed by by the thrash metal, Hellrider, which could fit on most any post-apocalyptic soundtrack.
There are three things immediately noticeable on Angel of Retribution:
1. There are actual songs that keep the wrong excesses in check while playing up the right ones.
2. The band doesn't sound like they are a 10 tentacled beast with no direction.
and 3. Halford is back. I never went into the fact that Ripper Owens was the replacement for Rob on the last two Priest albums, I didn't think it was necessary to rehash what everyone knows. The difference is palpable. Ripper was a hired gun. Halford has a name and cache he brings to the game. He can turn down bad ideas.
Ripper couldn't. He was at the behest of the rest of the band's bad decisions.
Part of what makes this record work for me is that, minus the 14 minute opus about the Loch Ness Monster, this is a reasonably timed record: 41 minutes. Just enough to leave you sated and wanting for more.
If Rick Rubin was called in to produce Priest, I imagine that this is exactly the kind of record he would have come up with. Satisfying the fans of old, sounding fresh and relevant, never once pretending to be anything different than what they are:
Gods of Metal.
Grade B+
A Side: Revolution,, Judas Rising, Deal with the Devil
BlindSide: Hellrider
DownSide: Lochness. For so many reasons. first, it's 14 minutes long. Second, it SCREAMS Spinal Tap. Third, Here are the lyrics:
GREY MIST DRIFTS UPON THE WATER
THE MIRRORED SURFACE MOVES
AWAKENED OF THIS PRESCENCE
DISPELLING LEGENDS PROOF
A BEASTLY HEAD OF ONYX
WITH EYES SET COALS OF FIRE
IT'S LEATHERED HIDE
GLIDES GLISTENING
ASCENDS THE HEATHERED BRIAR
THIS LEGEND LIVES
THROUGH CENTURIES
EVOKING HISTORY'S MEMORIES
PREVAILING IN ETERNITIES ON AND ON AND ON
Chorus:
LOCHNESS CONFESS YOUR TERROR OF THE DEEP
LOCHNESS DISTRESS
MALINGERS WHAT YOU KEEP
LOCHNESS PROTECTS MONSTROSITY
LOCHNESS CONFESS TO ME
SOMEHOW IT HEEDS THE PIPER
FROM BATTLEMENTS THAT CALL
FROM SIDE TO SIDE IT PONDERS
IMPASSIONED IN THE SKULL
THIS HIGHLAND LAIR OF MYSTERY
RETAINS A LOST WORLD'S EMPATHY
RESILIANT TO DISCOVERY ON AND ON AND ON
THIS LEGEND LIVES
THROUGH CENTURIES
EVOKING HISTORY'S MEMORIES
PREVAILING IN ETERNITY
YOUR SECRET LIES SAFE WITH ME
THIS CREATURES PERIL FROM DECEASE
IMPLORES TO MANKIND FOR RELEASE
A LEGACY TO REST IN PEACE AND ON AND ON AND ON
I rest my case.
Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution - 2005 (iTunes - Amazon)
Well, this is more like it. From the opening harbinger of doom track Judas Rising, right through the next track Deal with the Devil, we know that we are back in familiar territory. I'm not sure who said, "Hey, remember when we wrote SONGS? Let's do that. Only they'll come in at under 5 minutes and they will sound like...I dunno...Priest?"
By the time we hit Revolution it's clear that, at the very least, the band is playing to its strengths, giving the people what they want and accepting the mantle of Metal Gods once again. Dalliances into RapCore and thrash be damned, Priest is Metal!
There's supposed to be some connection between the Angel on Sad Wings of Destiny and this record. Something about this being a second half to that record. Maybe. I don't know. Sounds like an attempt to cash in and prove that the "old Priest is back!".
There's even a metal ballad, Angel, followed by by the thrash metal, Hellrider, which could fit on most any post-apocalyptic soundtrack.
There are three things immediately noticeable on Angel of Retribution:
1. There are actual songs that keep the wrong excesses in check while playing up the right ones.
2. The band doesn't sound like they are a 10 tentacled beast with no direction.
and 3. Halford is back. I never went into the fact that Ripper Owens was the replacement for Rob on the last two Priest albums, I didn't think it was necessary to rehash what everyone knows. The difference is palpable. Ripper was a hired gun. Halford has a name and cache he brings to the game. He can turn down bad ideas.
Ripper couldn't. He was at the behest of the rest of the band's bad decisions.
Part of what makes this record work for me is that, minus the 14 minute opus about the Loch Ness Monster, this is a reasonably timed record: 41 minutes. Just enough to leave you sated and wanting for more.
If Rick Rubin was called in to produce Priest, I imagine that this is exactly the kind of record he would have come up with. Satisfying the fans of old, sounding fresh and relevant, never once pretending to be anything different than what they are:
Gods of Metal.
Grade B+
A Side: Revolution,, Judas Rising, Deal with the Devil
BlindSide: Hellrider
DownSide: Lochness. For so many reasons. first, it's 14 minutes long. Second, it SCREAMS Spinal Tap. Third, Here are the lyrics:
GREY MIST DRIFTS UPON THE WATER
THE MIRRORED SURFACE MOVES
AWAKENED OF THIS PRESCENCE
DISPELLING LEGENDS PROOF
A BEASTLY HEAD OF ONYX
WITH EYES SET COALS OF FIRE
IT'S LEATHERED HIDE
GLIDES GLISTENING
ASCENDS THE HEATHERED BRIAR
THIS LEGEND LIVES
THROUGH CENTURIES
EVOKING HISTORY'S MEMORIES
PREVAILING IN ETERNITIES ON AND ON AND ON
Chorus:
LOCHNESS CONFESS YOUR TERROR OF THE DEEP
LOCHNESS DISTRESS
MALINGERS WHAT YOU KEEP
LOCHNESS PROTECTS MONSTROSITY
LOCHNESS CONFESS TO ME
SOMEHOW IT HEEDS THE PIPER
FROM BATTLEMENTS THAT CALL
FROM SIDE TO SIDE IT PONDERS
IMPASSIONED IN THE SKULL
THIS HIGHLAND LAIR OF MYSTERY
RETAINS A LOST WORLD'S EMPATHY
RESILIANT TO DISCOVERY ON AND ON AND ON
THIS LEGEND LIVES
THROUGH CENTURIES
EVOKING HISTORY'S MEMORIES
PREVAILING IN ETERNITY
YOUR SECRET LIES SAFE WITH ME
THIS CREATURES PERIL FROM DECEASE
IMPLORES TO MANKIND FOR RELEASE
A LEGACY TO REST IN PEACE AND ON AND ON AND ON
I rest my case.
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Demolition
Rap? Judas Priest and....rap?????
Judas Priest - Demolition - 2001 (iTunes - Amazon)
Okay, yes. There is a nu-metal rapcore song on this album. It is the last. It's called Metal Messiah and it serves to remind me of a terrible time when it seemed that Limp Bizkit would never go away. When this was considered MUSIC.
Sadly, it's also one of the only tracks with a chorus that's catchy. It also proves just how generic this band that is calling itself Judas Priest has become.
Demolition is the kitchen sink album. Since the attempt at relevance on Jugulator was such a dismal failure the band obviously felt it was necessary to try EVERYTHING. So, there's a little Jugulator, a little rapcore, a little hair metal and a LOT of bad tracks.
This is not Priest. This is "generic metal band". The musicianship is fine. There are few "songs" to speak of. And the lyrics are a notch above elementary school.
And I'm serious about that.
This is also a dangerously LOOOOOONG record, clocking in at over an hour with no reason. After a while every song sounds exactly like the others.
This is a painful album to listen to, especially when doing a canon run like I am.
Grade D
A Side: Metal Machine, Subterfuge.
BlindSide: Lost & Found (The closest to glam metal this record gets. And not a bad track at that.)
DownSide: Cyberface & Metal Messiah (The Rap Song!)
Judas Priest - Demolition - 2001 (iTunes - Amazon)
Okay, yes. There is a nu-metal rapcore song on this album. It is the last. It's called Metal Messiah and it serves to remind me of a terrible time when it seemed that Limp Bizkit would never go away. When this was considered MUSIC.
Sadly, it's also one of the only tracks with a chorus that's catchy. It also proves just how generic this band that is calling itself Judas Priest has become.
Demolition is the kitchen sink album. Since the attempt at relevance on Jugulator was such a dismal failure the band obviously felt it was necessary to try EVERYTHING. So, there's a little Jugulator, a little rapcore, a little hair metal and a LOT of bad tracks.
This is not Priest. This is "generic metal band". The musicianship is fine. There are few "songs" to speak of. And the lyrics are a notch above elementary school.
And I'm serious about that.
This is also a dangerously LOOOOOONG record, clocking in at over an hour with no reason. After a while every song sounds exactly like the others.
This is a painful album to listen to, especially when doing a canon run like I am.
Grade D
A Side: Metal Machine, Subterfuge.
BlindSide: Lost & Found (The closest to glam metal this record gets. And not a bad track at that.)
DownSide: Cyberface & Metal Messiah (The Rap Song!)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Jugulator
Oh. No. Nonononono.
Judas Priest - Jugulator - 1997 (Not Available)
What the fuck were they thinking?
Okay. Let's get this out of the way. This is the record with "Ripper" Owens, you know, the guy that the movie Rock Star was ("NOT") based on? Halford is gone. And somehow he took all songwriting abilities with him.
There are no songs here. There are just a series of aggro-neu-metal riffing and slamming with an angry, screaming guy declaring that you are meat, or something.
This non stop attempt to be current fails on so many levels that its sad. Painful. Owens sounds like he's been directed to sound as much like Halford meets Hetfield as possible and sing some of the stupidest lyrics ever committed to plastic.
This is a terrible record. Not available on itunes OR Amazon. Even the import link is Out of Stock.
Consider yourself lucky.
Grade F
A Side:-----
BlindSide:
DownSide: Everything. This is a mess.
Judas Priest - Jugulator - 1997 (Not Available)
What the fuck were they thinking?
Okay. Let's get this out of the way. This is the record with "Ripper" Owens, you know, the guy that the movie Rock Star was ("NOT") based on? Halford is gone. And somehow he took all songwriting abilities with him.
There are no songs here. There are just a series of aggro-neu-metal riffing and slamming with an angry, screaming guy declaring that you are meat, or something.
This non stop attempt to be current fails on so many levels that its sad. Painful. Owens sounds like he's been directed to sound as much like Halford meets Hetfield as possible and sing some of the stupidest lyrics ever committed to plastic.
This is a terrible record. Not available on itunes OR Amazon. Even the import link is Out of Stock.
Consider yourself lucky.
Grade F
A Side:-----
BlindSide:
DownSide: Everything. This is a mess.
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Painkiller
Waitaminnit.
Judas Priest - Painkiller - 1990 (iTunes - Amazon)
I don't know what happened. I don't know how it came to be. I imagine that the new drummer, Scott Travis unleashed something but...
This album is great.
I mean it's scary great.
Halford is in full voice and the Tipton/Downing double guitar attack is augmented by the speed drumming of Travis.
Don't think hair metal. Think Ride the Lightning. Think Megadeth. Then watch these old hands leapfrog right over all that to create this masterpiece of metal.
This is more than just a headbanging collection of songs. This is a band that has set out to reinvent themselves AS themselves. They sweep aside just about every pretender to their thrown and prove themselves as relevant as Metallica in 1990.
There is a great trilogy of Priest records now. Hell Bent For Leather - Screaming for Vengeance - Painkiller.
It's that simple.
Grade A
A Side: Between the Hammer and the Anvil, Painkiller, Metal Meltdown.
BlindSide: Everything else.
DownSide: ------
Judas Priest - Painkiller - 1990 (iTunes - Amazon)
I don't know what happened. I don't know how it came to be. I imagine that the new drummer, Scott Travis unleashed something but...
This album is great.
I mean it's scary great.
Halford is in full voice and the Tipton/Downing double guitar attack is augmented by the speed drumming of Travis.
Don't think hair metal. Think Ride the Lightning. Think Megadeth. Then watch these old hands leapfrog right over all that to create this masterpiece of metal.
This is more than just a headbanging collection of songs. This is a band that has set out to reinvent themselves AS themselves. They sweep aside just about every pretender to their thrown and prove themselves as relevant as Metallica in 1990.
There is a great trilogy of Priest records now. Hell Bent For Leather - Screaming for Vengeance - Painkiller.
It's that simple.
Grade A
A Side: Between the Hammer and the Anvil, Painkiller, Metal Meltdown.
BlindSide: Everything else.
DownSide: ------
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Ram It Down
It's 1988. Metal is everywhere. And the fathers of the movement are rendering themselves anonymous in their quest for domination and relevance.
Judas Priest - Ram It Down - 1986 (iTunes - Amazon)
Now, I'm just confused.
Ram It Down is supposed to be the second half of Turbo. Everything I've read says that they were trying to release Turbo as a double album.
But Turbo sucks. It's interminable.
Ram It Down at least sounds like Priest. 80s Priest. By which I mean generic Priest. But, it's light years better than the synthesizer horror show that was Turbo.
Proof that Priest has run out of ideas? There is a track called "Heavy Metal". Need I say more? This would be like The Cars writing a song called, "New Wave." Or Boston recording a tune called "Classic Rock!"
Or...
You get the idea.
The first half of the album isn't horrible. It doesn't aspire to be anything more than an arena filling, banger-satisfying, play-it-LOUD album. And in that respect it succeeds.
The second half starts off with the epic Blood Red Skies. Harmless and not very inventive, it's classic mid-80s Priest. I could see myself blasting this on an open desert road. On my way to kill someone's grandmother. Or dog. And I mean that in a good way.
However.
Don't. Under ANY circumstances. Listen to their cover of Johnny B. Good. If you do then you're on your own. I can't help you. You've been warned.
While the name "Ram it Down" makes sense, I can't help but wonder if they wanted to name it after the sludge metal closing track, "Monsters of Rock". I have a soft spot in my heart for a band that writes a song with no irony. Especially a song that has already been rendered a parody of itself by Spinal Tap.
Ram It Down is not nearly as bad as you've heard. When it's good (Blood Red Skies, Hard as Iron, Ram It Down) it's really good. When it's not it's mediocre. It's not Turbo. Thank god.
Grade C
A Side: Ram It Down, Hard as Iron, Blood Red Skies
BlindSide: Love Zone,
DownSide: Heavy Metal, Johnny B. Goode.
Judas Priest - Ram It Down - 1986 (iTunes - Amazon)
Now, I'm just confused.
Ram It Down is supposed to be the second half of Turbo. Everything I've read says that they were trying to release Turbo as a double album.
But Turbo sucks. It's interminable.
Ram It Down at least sounds like Priest. 80s Priest. By which I mean generic Priest. But, it's light years better than the synthesizer horror show that was Turbo.
Proof that Priest has run out of ideas? There is a track called "Heavy Metal". Need I say more? This would be like The Cars writing a song called, "New Wave." Or Boston recording a tune called "Classic Rock!"
Or...
You get the idea.
The first half of the album isn't horrible. It doesn't aspire to be anything more than an arena filling, banger-satisfying, play-it-LOUD album. And in that respect it succeeds.
The second half starts off with the epic Blood Red Skies. Harmless and not very inventive, it's classic mid-80s Priest. I could see myself blasting this on an open desert road. On my way to kill someone's grandmother. Or dog. And I mean that in a good way.
However.
Don't. Under ANY circumstances. Listen to their cover of Johnny B. Good. If you do then you're on your own. I can't help you. You've been warned.
While the name "Ram it Down" makes sense, I can't help but wonder if they wanted to name it after the sludge metal closing track, "Monsters of Rock". I have a soft spot in my heart for a band that writes a song with no irony. Especially a song that has already been rendered a parody of itself by Spinal Tap.
Ram It Down is not nearly as bad as you've heard. When it's good (Blood Red Skies, Hard as Iron, Ram It Down) it's really good. When it's not it's mediocre. It's not Turbo. Thank god.
Grade C
A Side: Ram It Down, Hard as Iron, Blood Red Skies
BlindSide: Love Zone,
DownSide: Heavy Metal, Johnny B. Goode.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Turbo
Uh-oh.
Judas Priest - Turbo - 1986 (iTunes -Amazon)
Turbo Lover? Oh, dear.
Someone has run almost completely out of ideas or hung out with Freddie Mercury far too often.
Synthesizers? Who is this? Night Ranger? Loverboy?
It must have really sucked to be a Judas Priest fan in 1986. Can you imagine trying to defend this crap? While your younger brother or sister is cranking Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In you can't say anything because their songs are more fun than anything on this dreadful outing.
And now you're "Locked In" and, well, let's let Priest explain:
I can't stand the way you move it
You drive me crazy with that walk
You get me so excited
I tremble and I shake
When you make the moves you make
This band wrote Screaming for Vengeance? Electric Eye? Killing Machine?
Like I said, Oh, dear.
What should have been a screed against the PMRC, "Parental Guidance" ends up sounding like EVERY. OTHER. GLAM. METAL. BAND. It could have been recorded by Bulletboys, for god's sake.
This is just terrible. And sad.
Grade F
A Side: I will not list Turbo Lover here. I don't care that it was the single.
BlindSide: Rock You All Around the World
DownSide: Private Property, Hot for Love.
Judas Priest - Turbo - 1986 (iTunes -Amazon)
Turbo Lover? Oh, dear.
Someone has run almost completely out of ideas or hung out with Freddie Mercury far too often.
Synthesizers? Who is this? Night Ranger? Loverboy?
It must have really sucked to be a Judas Priest fan in 1986. Can you imagine trying to defend this crap? While your younger brother or sister is cranking Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In you can't say anything because their songs are more fun than anything on this dreadful outing.
And now you're "Locked In" and, well, let's let Priest explain:
I can't stand the way you move it
You drive me crazy with that walk
You get me so excited
I tremble and I shake
When you make the moves you make
This band wrote Screaming for Vengeance? Electric Eye? Killing Machine?
Like I said, Oh, dear.
What should have been a screed against the PMRC, "Parental Guidance" ends up sounding like EVERY. OTHER. GLAM. METAL. BAND. It could have been recorded by Bulletboys, for god's sake.
This is just terrible. And sad.
Grade F
A Side: I will not list Turbo Lover here. I don't care that it was the single.
BlindSide: Rock You All Around the World
DownSide: Private Property, Hot for Love.
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith
And the metal Gods roll along.....
Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith - 1984 (iTunes - Amazon)
I really feel like I should put about as much effort into this review as the band did into this record.
Mediocre.
There.
Okay, I'll put in a little more, after all, they showed up to the studio, right?
Talk about finding your formula and mining it for whatever it's worth. There is no ambition on this album. It's a bunch of musicians who know their job, know what they are supposed to do, do it with very little imagination and that's pretty much it.
Unlike it's predecessors, Screaming for Vengeance & Hell Bent for Leather, on this album Halford & Co. know that they are shamans, pied piers to the headbanging unwashed and they also know that those that make up their base will buy what they have, show up at concerts, get drunk in the parking lot, air guitar their asses off and blow the band.
Not a bad way to make a living and at the time, were I Priest fan I would have eaten it up. But it's 22 years later and my job here is to determine the value of this stuff for me, for you, for the world.
You don't need to hear this album.
You've heard it.
This sound, the Ratt/Def Leppard/Whitesnake/ad nauseam super big kick drum, extra echo sound, is, well, not dated as much as it's boring. I think it was kind of boring in 84, but now? I don't care.
This is by the numbers Priest.
It should be noted that the Nerf Herder tune, "Defending the Faith" which is ABOUT headbanging mullethead guitar hero rock star wannabes, is better than any track in this collection.
Grade C
A Side: nothing I can really recommend. Maybe Freewheel Burning
BlindSide: Rock Hard Ride Free,
DownSide: Eat Me Alive, Some Heads are Gonna Roll, Night Comes Down
Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith - 1984 (iTunes - Amazon)
I really feel like I should put about as much effort into this review as the band did into this record.
Mediocre.
There.
Okay, I'll put in a little more, after all, they showed up to the studio, right?
Talk about finding your formula and mining it for whatever it's worth. There is no ambition on this album. It's a bunch of musicians who know their job, know what they are supposed to do, do it with very little imagination and that's pretty much it.
Unlike it's predecessors, Screaming for Vengeance & Hell Bent for Leather, on this album Halford & Co. know that they are shamans, pied piers to the headbanging unwashed and they also know that those that make up their base will buy what they have, show up at concerts, get drunk in the parking lot, air guitar their asses off and blow the band.
Not a bad way to make a living and at the time, were I Priest fan I would have eaten it up. But it's 22 years later and my job here is to determine the value of this stuff for me, for you, for the world.
You don't need to hear this album.
You've heard it.
This sound, the Ratt/Def Leppard/Whitesnake/ad nauseam super big kick drum, extra echo sound, is, well, not dated as much as it's boring. I think it was kind of boring in 84, but now? I don't care.
This is by the numbers Priest.
It should be noted that the Nerf Herder tune, "Defending the Faith" which is ABOUT headbanging mullethead guitar hero rock star wannabes, is better than any track in this collection.
Grade C
A Side: nothing I can really recommend. Maybe Freewheel Burning
BlindSide: Rock Hard Ride Free,
DownSide: Eat Me Alive, Some Heads are Gonna Roll, Night Comes Down
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance
Priest ushers in the true age of metal. And millions of cans of final net will be sold before the decade is out.
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance - 1982 (iTunes - Amazon)
I would like to go back in time 25 years and kick the pretentious asshole that is my younger, teenage self, in the ass.
Why, you ask?
Because, the only reason, or the main reason that I poopoo-ed this album is because the title of the song, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" is an eggcorn. Oh, there wasn't a name for it. I only recently learned what it is, but it's right and it fits.
it's "You've got another THINK coming!" And that would also, lyrically, follow the logic of the song.
Oh, feh.
By being such a grammar priss I missed out on the most essential metal album of the 80s. Everything that came before was prelude to "Vengeance". All bands that came later were but pretenders to the throne or worshipped at this altar.
From the opening instrumental track, The Hellion, straight through to the very last note on Devil's Child, this is one taught, tense, paranoid, explosive, headbanging, devil-horn masterstroke.
What does it say that the biggest hit in their career, while catchy as fuck, is perhaps the weakest track on the album? It says that you should fire up the Rhapsody, Napster, or whatever you use to stream, or torrent, or better yet, just buy the damned thing.
As soon as I publish this I am logging on to Rock Band on my Wii and buying the album for game play. At least Electric Eye. Which is Breaking the Law times 1000 only more assured and terrifying.
The wall of monster sound on this record would be copied over and over all through the decade until it would almost be a cliche. But this is ground zero.
Damn. 17 year old Allen was an IDIOT.
Grade A+
A Side: Electric Eye, You've Got Another Thing Comin'
BlindSide: Riding on the Wind, Screaming for Vengeance
DownSide: There are no bad tracks on this record.
Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance - 1982 (iTunes - Amazon)
I would like to go back in time 25 years and kick the pretentious asshole that is my younger, teenage self, in the ass.
Why, you ask?
Because, the only reason, or the main reason that I poopoo-ed this album is because the title of the song, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" is an eggcorn. Oh, there wasn't a name for it. I only recently learned what it is, but it's right and it fits.
it's "You've got another THINK coming!" And that would also, lyrically, follow the logic of the song.
Oh, feh.
By being such a grammar priss I missed out on the most essential metal album of the 80s. Everything that came before was prelude to "Vengeance". All bands that came later were but pretenders to the throne or worshipped at this altar.
From the opening instrumental track, The Hellion, straight through to the very last note on Devil's Child, this is one taught, tense, paranoid, explosive, headbanging, devil-horn masterstroke.
What does it say that the biggest hit in their career, while catchy as fuck, is perhaps the weakest track on the album? It says that you should fire up the Rhapsody, Napster, or whatever you use to stream, or torrent, or better yet, just buy the damned thing.
As soon as I publish this I am logging on to Rock Band on my Wii and buying the album for game play. At least Electric Eye. Which is Breaking the Law times 1000 only more assured and terrifying.
The wall of monster sound on this record would be copied over and over all through the decade until it would almost be a cliche. But this is ground zero.
Damn. 17 year old Allen was an IDIOT.
Grade A+
A Side: Electric Eye, You've Got Another Thing Comin'
BlindSide: Riding on the Wind, Screaming for Vengeance
DownSide: There are no bad tracks on this record.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Point of Entry
Priest picks up where they left off...
Judas Priest - Point of Entry - 1981 (iTunes - Amazon)
With Point of Entry, Judas Priest takes everything they learned about how to make more radio friendly music on British Steel and meld that with the no-holds-barred sensibility of Hell Bent. The result?
The first three tracks on Point are prototypes for every hair metal band that was just around the corner. They screech, they blister, and are catchy as hell.
Then the album turns left with the glammy, power poppy Turning Circles. A turn I like, actually. I know this goes against the common accepted truths and wisdoms but I like Point of Entry more than British Steel. And I'm gonna fess up something here: I LOVE that big, arena filling wide, expansive sound. I love bombast and theater. So, having learned how to give the people what they crave on British Steel, all the band is really doing here is cranking up the Priest-juice.
A giant, dual-guitar fuelled track like Desert Plains is MADE for a listener like me. I want my ears to hurt after I listen to a big metal album. I didn't get that with Steel. I GET that with PoE.
It sounds like the band is having fun making this music. They get it. They know what is expected. But they are being forced to find new ways of doing it. On a track like You Say Yes, they channel Zeppelin ina way they haven't tried to since Rocka Rolla. And with much more success.
I know I'm being played. I'm part of the game. As long as they're giving me what I want, I'm in. And, on PoE, they do that. In spades.
Grade B+
A Side: Heading Out to the Highway, Don't Go, Hot Rockin'
BlindSide: Turning Circles, Solar Circles
DownSide: All the Way (just meandering as opposed to bad), (unlike) Troubleshooter (which is bad all over the place)
Judas Priest - Point of Entry - 1981 (iTunes - Amazon)
With Point of Entry, Judas Priest takes everything they learned about how to make more radio friendly music on British Steel and meld that with the no-holds-barred sensibility of Hell Bent. The result?
The first three tracks on Point are prototypes for every hair metal band that was just around the corner. They screech, they blister, and are catchy as hell.
Then the album turns left with the glammy, power poppy Turning Circles. A turn I like, actually. I know this goes against the common accepted truths and wisdoms but I like Point of Entry more than British Steel. And I'm gonna fess up something here: I LOVE that big, arena filling wide, expansive sound. I love bombast and theater. So, having learned how to give the people what they crave on British Steel, all the band is really doing here is cranking up the Priest-juice.
A giant, dual-guitar fuelled track like Desert Plains is MADE for a listener like me. I want my ears to hurt after I listen to a big metal album. I didn't get that with Steel. I GET that with PoE.
It sounds like the band is having fun making this music. They get it. They know what is expected. But they are being forced to find new ways of doing it. On a track like You Say Yes, they channel Zeppelin ina way they haven't tried to since Rocka Rolla. And with much more success.
I know I'm being played. I'm part of the game. As long as they're giving me what I want, I'm in. And, on PoE, they do that. In spades.
Grade B+
A Side: Heading Out to the Highway, Don't Go, Hot Rockin'
BlindSide: Turning Circles, Solar Circles
DownSide: All the Way (just meandering as opposed to bad), (unlike) Troubleshooter (which is bad all over the place)
listening Post: Judas Priest - British Steel
Judas Priest solidifies the formula and speaks to legions of mulletheads the world over....
Judas Priest - British Steel - 1980 (iTunes - Amazon)
I know, I know, this is the classic Priest album. This is the one that broke them wide. They hit #4 on the brit charts and cracked the top 40 here.
But, I don't really like it. Let me explain.
Hell Bent for Leather is a revelation. When you hear it, you will know what I'm talking about. British Steel is, well, formulaic.
The big guitar leads are there. The soaring vocals. The death and destruction lyrics. But it feels like they've discovered what will sell, made it more poppy and sold it to us.
The singles are fine but nothing groundbreaking. Breaking the Law? It's like a metal take on a punk tune.
You know what Living After Midnight is? A really good KISS song. Even the lead licks sound more like Frehley than Tipton.
Its as thought the band looked at Hell Bent and decided to just make that album but more generic. There's even an big chorus anthem, United, like the previous record's Take on the World.
It's a big letdown.
If you've heard Hell Bent for Leather, you don't need to hear British Steel. Blasphemy, I know. But I calls em as I hears em.
Grade B-
A Side: Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law
BlindSide: United
DownSide: Grinder. You don't have to be old to be wise.
Judas Priest - British Steel - 1980 (iTunes - Amazon)
I know, I know, this is the classic Priest album. This is the one that broke them wide. They hit #4 on the brit charts and cracked the top 40 here.
But, I don't really like it. Let me explain.
Hell Bent for Leather is a revelation. When you hear it, you will know what I'm talking about. British Steel is, well, formulaic.
The big guitar leads are there. The soaring vocals. The death and destruction lyrics. But it feels like they've discovered what will sell, made it more poppy and sold it to us.
The singles are fine but nothing groundbreaking. Breaking the Law? It's like a metal take on a punk tune.
You know what Living After Midnight is? A really good KISS song. Even the lead licks sound more like Frehley than Tipton.
Its as thought the band looked at Hell Bent and decided to just make that album but more generic. There's even an big chorus anthem, United, like the previous record's Take on the World.
It's a big letdown.
If you've heard Hell Bent for Leather, you don't need to hear British Steel. Blasphemy, I know. But I calls em as I hears em.
Grade B-
A Side: Living After Midnight, Breaking the Law
BlindSide: United
DownSide: Grinder. You don't have to be old to be wise.
Reflecting Pool: Green Day - Dookie
Consider this a different kind of Listening Post and more like a Reflections Column. With Reflecting Pool I will be going back through the catalog of bands that I love and have been following for years. I will try to be as impartial as possible, but I admit that I am biased. This is a little more loosey than the LPs.
With the new album released I realized that I hadn't heard any of Green Day's older material in years. There was a reason. It was my daughter's favorite band. From the time Dookie came out she was a 2 year old inveterate rocker. American Idiot was a family fave and we sang all the songs together.
Then Liz died and it was too hard to listen to Bille Joe and the Boys anymore. I tried to dip my toe with the Dean Grey, American Edit mashup and that was almost bearable.
The new album hit the digisphere last week. I bought it. It's great. Then I thought: You know what? It's okay. I think Liz would like that I still listen to Green Day.
We're not listening to 39 smoothed out blah blah or Kerplunk becuase this is a reflection more than an LP and I'm currently in the middle of a Judas Priest Listening Post. This is a matinee. An afternoon at the beach. This is 15 years with Green Day
Green Day - Dookie - 1994 (iTunes - Amazon)
Where were you in 1994?
I was sitting in the office of a ramshackle farmhouse in Lancaster, California. Amidst pot-bellied pigs, goats and horses. My connection to the world was through Prodigy. And my music came from the Columbia House record club.
I had to get the album not for me, but for my daughter who, at 15 months was obsessed with the song "Basket Case". Every time it would come on Alternative Nation, Liz would come running from wherever she was and start dancing like a maniac. So, we ordered the record and she and I would listen to it on my boombox. Only Liz would crank the shit out that thing. I mean, loud.
And when Billie Joe Armstrong sing, "Scream at me until my ears bleed", Liz would point to her ears and laugh.
Listening again to Dookie, 15 years later, I am struck by something that I missed. It's brilliant how, on the second album, Armstrong shows his songwriting prowess by embodying the mind of a serial killer with a bomb attacked to his back. Pure genius.
And then there's Chump. Chump with the 1+minute long outro that falls away leaving only a massive and recognizable bassline that is the basis for Longview.
These guys were playing in the classic rock, concept album, rock opera idiom long before they hit it big. They were "punk" because, well, punk is easier.
No leads in punk.
Lots of tude in punk.
Say what you want in punk.
You can be pissed in punk.
And everyone will accept you regardless of your sexuality because you're an outside and they are all outsiders. (Billie Joe as stated that he's bisexual, only I believe that he also said he never has been with a man....)
The guitarist can't play leads. I don't think there is a lead line until well into the album, three songs before its all over.
The drummer is heir to the Ginger Baker/Roger Taylor/John Bonham throne.
The bassist is rhythm in name only. THIS is where the leads are. In Mike Dirnt's hands.
These guys were a rock band from the start.
And this album is perfect. There is not a wasted note.
Grade A+
A Side: In descending Order:
Basket Case
Pulling Teeth
She
Burnout
She
In the End
Welcome to Paradise
Long View
Emenius Sleepus
Chump
When I Come Around
F.O.D.
Sassafrass Roots
All By Myself (Hidden Track)
DownSide: Are you kidding?
With the new album released I realized that I hadn't heard any of Green Day's older material in years. There was a reason. It was my daughter's favorite band. From the time Dookie came out she was a 2 year old inveterate rocker. American Idiot was a family fave and we sang all the songs together.
Then Liz died and it was too hard to listen to Bille Joe and the Boys anymore. I tried to dip my toe with the Dean Grey, American Edit mashup and that was almost bearable.
The new album hit the digisphere last week. I bought it. It's great. Then I thought: You know what? It's okay. I think Liz would like that I still listen to Green Day.
We're not listening to 39 smoothed out blah blah or Kerplunk becuase this is a reflection more than an LP and I'm currently in the middle of a Judas Priest Listening Post. This is a matinee. An afternoon at the beach. This is 15 years with Green Day
Green Day - Dookie - 1994 (iTunes - Amazon)
Where were you in 1994?
I was sitting in the office of a ramshackle farmhouse in Lancaster, California. Amidst pot-bellied pigs, goats and horses. My connection to the world was through Prodigy. And my music came from the Columbia House record club.
I had to get the album not for me, but for my daughter who, at 15 months was obsessed with the song "Basket Case". Every time it would come on Alternative Nation, Liz would come running from wherever she was and start dancing like a maniac. So, we ordered the record and she and I would listen to it on my boombox. Only Liz would crank the shit out that thing. I mean, loud.
And when Billie Joe Armstrong sing, "Scream at me until my ears bleed", Liz would point to her ears and laugh.
Listening again to Dookie, 15 years later, I am struck by something that I missed. It's brilliant how, on the second album, Armstrong shows his songwriting prowess by embodying the mind of a serial killer with a bomb attacked to his back. Pure genius.
And then there's Chump. Chump with the 1+minute long outro that falls away leaving only a massive and recognizable bassline that is the basis for Longview.
These guys were playing in the classic rock, concept album, rock opera idiom long before they hit it big. They were "punk" because, well, punk is easier.
No leads in punk.
Lots of tude in punk.
Say what you want in punk.
You can be pissed in punk.
And everyone will accept you regardless of your sexuality because you're an outside and they are all outsiders. (Billie Joe as stated that he's bisexual, only I believe that he also said he never has been with a man....)
The guitarist can't play leads. I don't think there is a lead line until well into the album, three songs before its all over.
The drummer is heir to the Ginger Baker/Roger Taylor/John Bonham throne.
The bassist is rhythm in name only. THIS is where the leads are. In Mike Dirnt's hands.
These guys were a rock band from the start.
And this album is perfect. There is not a wasted note.
Grade A+
A Side: In descending Order:
Basket Case
Pulling Teeth
She
Burnout
She
In the End
Welcome to Paradise
Long View
Emenius Sleepus
Chump
When I Come Around
F.O.D.
Sassafrass Roots
All By Myself (Hidden Track)
DownSide: Are you kidding?
Monday, May 18, 2009
listening Post: Judas Priest - Hell Bent for Leather
"Breaking the Law", "Another Thing Coming", that's just about the depth of my Judas Priest knowledge. Well, I know about the alleged backwards masking. I know that Halford is the leader of the metal/leather image. And gay. I now that the terrible move Rock Star was based on them. Sort of. And I know that a Halford imitator, named Ripper Owens took over when Rob left.
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Hell Bent for Leather - 1979 (Buy it)
Bingo.
You ever want an album to never end? But at the same time you can't wait for it to be over so you can tell everyone how great it is?
From the opening blasts of Delivering the Goods you KNOW that this is a different album than Priest has made, at the same time, it fulfills the promise of the last 4 records and boldly takes its place on the mount of metal.
THIS is what you want. This is what I've been waiting for for, what, over 3.5 hours of listening now?
This is relentless Power Rock.
It's tight, taut, determined and testosterony as hell. There is no room on this album for filagree and experimentation. These songs waste no time, each has a destiny and a destination and it's determined to grab you by the throat and drop you in your fucking place.
Just when you have caught your breath on a track like Hell Bent...the elegiac metal chorus and tribal drums of Take on the World kicks in and doesn't let up. It's about here that I realized that there hasn't been any morass or depression on this record. Take on the World is an Anthem. I want to stand in a room with 15000 other bangers and chant along.
Continuing the tradition of weird genius covers, Priest takes on an OOOOLD Fleetwood Mac prog rock tune, cranks up the Leather and kicks it's ass. If you just listen Green Manalishi, you will get this record. And, like a great drug, you will want more. And More. And more.
It should be noted that the ballad, "Before the Dawn" is the first time I can actually say that Priest has written a song that I could hear someone sing. It's actually pretty. And has a melody.
Not to be outdone, the sludge-metal of Evil Fantasies will probably have you thinking about Tap. But, Tap was still a few years away. This was still fresh. And core. The kind of giant sound that reaches into your skull and rips out your brain stem.
Hell Bent delivers.
(If you see this cover on the racks on an album called "Killing Machine" get it. That's the original pressing. CBS Stateside was afraid of the name. So, the band changed it. But, be warned, Manalishi is NOT on that release. Fuck it. Just go to the link.)
Grade A+
A Side: Hell Bent for Leather, Green Manalishi with the Two Pronged Crown)
BlindSide: Delivering the Goods, Rock Forever, Take on the World, Running Wild, Before the Dawn
DownSide: Are you kidding?
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Hell Bent for Leather - 1979 (Buy it)
Bingo.
You ever want an album to never end? But at the same time you can't wait for it to be over so you can tell everyone how great it is?
From the opening blasts of Delivering the Goods you KNOW that this is a different album than Priest has made, at the same time, it fulfills the promise of the last 4 records and boldly takes its place on the mount of metal.
THIS is what you want. This is what I've been waiting for for, what, over 3.5 hours of listening now?
This is relentless Power Rock.
It's tight, taut, determined and testosterony as hell. There is no room on this album for filagree and experimentation. These songs waste no time, each has a destiny and a destination and it's determined to grab you by the throat and drop you in your fucking place.
Just when you have caught your breath on a track like Hell Bent...the elegiac metal chorus and tribal drums of Take on the World kicks in and doesn't let up. It's about here that I realized that there hasn't been any morass or depression on this record. Take on the World is an Anthem. I want to stand in a room with 15000 other bangers and chant along.
Continuing the tradition of weird genius covers, Priest takes on an OOOOLD Fleetwood Mac prog rock tune, cranks up the Leather and kicks it's ass. If you just listen Green Manalishi, you will get this record. And, like a great drug, you will want more. And More. And more.
It should be noted that the ballad, "Before the Dawn" is the first time I can actually say that Priest has written a song that I could hear someone sing. It's actually pretty. And has a melody.
Not to be outdone, the sludge-metal of Evil Fantasies will probably have you thinking about Tap. But, Tap was still a few years away. This was still fresh. And core. The kind of giant sound that reaches into your skull and rips out your brain stem.
Hell Bent delivers.
(If you see this cover on the racks on an album called "Killing Machine" get it. That's the original pressing. CBS Stateside was afraid of the name. So, the band changed it. But, be warned, Manalishi is NOT on that release. Fuck it. Just go to the link.)
Grade A+
A Side: Hell Bent for Leather, Green Manalishi with the Two Pronged Crown)
BlindSide: Delivering the Goods, Rock Forever, Take on the World, Running Wild, Before the Dawn
DownSide: Are you kidding?
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Stained Class
"Breaking the Law", "Another Thing Coming", that's just about the depth of my Judas Priest knowledge. Well, I know about the alleged backwards masking. I know that Halford is the leader of the metal/leather image. And gay. I now that the terrible move Rock Star was based on them. Sort of. And I know that a Halford imitator, named Ripper Owens took over when Rob left.
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Stained Class - 1978 (Buy It)
Are you looking for speed metal's ground zero? Because, unless I am mistaken, Stained Class is it. The themes, mostly about death or the harbingers of doom, are almost second place to the sheer fire that is the music. All that mid-70s mysticism and prog has given way to straight ahead blistering metal. If you don't find yourself playing Heavy Metal Parking Lot or air guitaring on Invader, I can't do nothing for ya, man.
Funny that, as blistering as this album is, the song that caused all that ruckus with the lawsuit was a cover of a Spooky Tooth song, Better by You, Better than Me.
Alas. Legacies are a hard thing to live down. This record is better than the mess caused in it's name.
Grade A
A Side: Better by You Better than Me, Exciter, Invader
BlindSide: Stained Class, Beyond the Realms of Death
DownSide: Saints in Hell
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Stained Class - 1978 (Buy It)
Are you looking for speed metal's ground zero? Because, unless I am mistaken, Stained Class is it. The themes, mostly about death or the harbingers of doom, are almost second place to the sheer fire that is the music. All that mid-70s mysticism and prog has given way to straight ahead blistering metal. If you don't find yourself playing Heavy Metal Parking Lot or air guitaring on Invader, I can't do nothing for ya, man.
Funny that, as blistering as this album is, the song that caused all that ruckus with the lawsuit was a cover of a Spooky Tooth song, Better by You, Better than Me.
Alas. Legacies are a hard thing to live down. This record is better than the mess caused in it's name.
Grade A
A Side: Better by You Better than Me, Exciter, Invader
BlindSide: Stained Class, Beyond the Realms of Death
DownSide: Saints in Hell
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Sin After Sin
"Breaking the Law", "Another Thing Coming", that's just about the depth of my Judas Priest knowledge. Well, I know about the alleged backwards masking. I know that Halford is the leader of the metal/leather image. And gay. I now that the terrible move Rock Star was based on them. Sort of. And I know that a Halford imitator, named Ripper Owens took over when Rob left.
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Sin After Sin - 1977 (Buy it)
On their first major label release after parting ways with Gull, Judas Priest uses all the tools at their disposal to launch a full on assault on the headphones of disaffected teenagers the world over.
The bombastic guitars, heavy timpani, massive vocals of the opening track "Sinner" certainly take the lessons learned on Sad Wings of Destiny and builds on it.
Immediately following that with "Diamonds and Rust" is a masterstroke. A Joan Baez song! The first thing I noticed was the melody and how perfect the song sits in Halford's throat. It's a risk and it pays off in spades.
From there, the album settles into a rhythm: screeching metal, power ballad (that doesn't really work but ends side 1 in a traditonally 70s mellow way), and rawk.
Side 2 picks up with the anthemic Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest which is a brilliant speed metal, goth rock piece.
It's all pretty standard Priest Metal after that.
Grade B+
A Side: Sinner, Diamonds and Rust
BlindSide:Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest
DownSide: Last Rose of Summer
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny
"Breaking the Law", "Another Thing Coming", that's just about the depth of my Judas Priest knowledge. Well, I know about the alleged backwards masking. I know that Halford is the leader of the metal/leather image. And gay. I now that the terrible move Rock Star was based on them. Sort of. And I know that a Halford imitator, named Ripper Owens took over when Rob left.
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny - 1976 (Buy it)
Well. This is different.
What we're gonna do is review this the way it was originally released in vinyl because, weirdly, all reissues on CD by Gull Records has put all the songs on Side B at the head of the record. And the second half is the first half of the album which makes no sense since there is a song on the A side called "Prelude" and one would THINK that would be a clue as to the order.
Oh, well, fuck Gull records.
This album is everything the predecessor was not. It's ambitious, aggressive and energetic. And you can tell from the end of the first full track, Tyrant, that these boys are loaded for bear. (Black Mountain may worship at the feet of all thing 70s metal but their "Tyrant" has nothing on this one.)
Downing and Tipton's dual power guitar assault is as forward thinking as one can imagine.
The ominous apocalyptic metal-mythology Priest would be associated with has it's forebearance in songs like Genocide and Victim of Change. But, Epitaph suggests that someone was listening to a LOT of Queen. Because it owes ALL of it's harmonies and overdubbing (and erstwhile piano) to Freddie and the boys.
Halford's tenor and timbre is like a 3rd lead guitar as cutting knife.If I have any complaint it's that Rob can sing. That's obvious. What they don't seem able to do is write melodies. They try. On Dream Deceiver, for instance. (One of the few real melodiies to be found) Hellfire and guitars and rawk are the stars here, anyway. Although Halford shows what he's capable of.
Priest was, to me, more about the crisp and sharp razor's edge, less about the sludge that their kin, Sabbath had laid claim to. Maybe that makes them more Power Rock than METAL in the long run, but I don't care. Nor should anyone else.
The band is flexing it's muscles here. I look forward to the rest of this decade's offerings.
Grade A
A Side: The Ripper, Deceiver
BlindSide: Tyrant, Genocide, Epitaph, Island of Domination
DownSide: Dream Deceiver
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny - 1976 (Buy it)
Well. This is different.
What we're gonna do is review this the way it was originally released in vinyl because, weirdly, all reissues on CD by Gull Records has put all the songs on Side B at the head of the record. And the second half is the first half of the album which makes no sense since there is a song on the A side called "Prelude" and one would THINK that would be a clue as to the order.
Oh, well, fuck Gull records.
This album is everything the predecessor was not. It's ambitious, aggressive and energetic. And you can tell from the end of the first full track, Tyrant, that these boys are loaded for bear. (Black Mountain may worship at the feet of all thing 70s metal but their "Tyrant" has nothing on this one.)
Downing and Tipton's dual power guitar assault is as forward thinking as one can imagine.
The ominous apocalyptic metal-mythology Priest would be associated with has it's forebearance in songs like Genocide and Victim of Change. But, Epitaph suggests that someone was listening to a LOT of Queen. Because it owes ALL of it's harmonies and overdubbing (and erstwhile piano) to Freddie and the boys.
Halford's tenor and timbre is like a 3rd lead guitar as cutting knife.If I have any complaint it's that Rob can sing. That's obvious. What they don't seem able to do is write melodies. They try. On Dream Deceiver, for instance. (One of the few real melodiies to be found) Hellfire and guitars and rawk are the stars here, anyway. Although Halford shows what he's capable of.
Priest was, to me, more about the crisp and sharp razor's edge, less about the sludge that their kin, Sabbath had laid claim to. Maybe that makes them more Power Rock than METAL in the long run, but I don't care. Nor should anyone else.
The band is flexing it's muscles here. I look forward to the rest of this decade's offerings.
Grade A
A Side: The Ripper, Deceiver
BlindSide: Tyrant, Genocide, Epitaph, Island of Domination
DownSide: Dream Deceiver
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Listening Post: Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla
"Breaking the Law", "Another Thing Coming", that's just about the depth of my Judas Priest knowledge. Well, I know about the alleged backwards masking. I know that Halford is the leader of the metal/leather image. And gay. I now that the terrible move Rock Star was based on them. Sort of. And I know that a Halford imitator, named Ripper Owens took over when Rob left.
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla - 1974 (buy it)
One day someone really needs to explore British Rock of the early-mid 70s and write about it. Tull, Queen, Priest, it's all so, sludgy and overdone. And I mean that in a good way.
Priest's debut seems to take every opportunity to create a metal/pop/rock hit and turn left. Like the Anti-Sweet.
The suite that follows Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat is a prog rock, overblown, semi instrumental template for Spinal Tap with it's heavy handed attempt at grandiosity, but the band just isn't up to it yet. It's obvious on this, their debut, that they haven't found their sound yet. They clearly are in love with Jimmy Page and Sabbath but worshipping at that altar at that time isn't so unique.
It should be noted that "Run of the Mill", the 8+ minute near-jazz-prog odyssey is SOOO run of the mill I wanted to pour water on my keyboard and short circuit the motherboard rather than let it continue.
I didn't.
But I can't WAIT to delete THAT track.
This album remains a curio that not even the curious will enjoy.
Grade D-
A Side: Rocka Rolla (if ya gotta pick one.....)
BlindSide: Winter, Diamonds & Rust (It sounds like something Brian May might have written in 74, or the progenitor of Maiden.
DownSide: Winter Retreat, Cheater, Run of the Mill, Dying to Meet You
So. In summary. I know more ABOUT the band then their music. Let's change that.
Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla - 1974 (buy it)
One day someone really needs to explore British Rock of the early-mid 70s and write about it. Tull, Queen, Priest, it's all so, sludgy and overdone. And I mean that in a good way.
Priest's debut seems to take every opportunity to create a metal/pop/rock hit and turn left. Like the Anti-Sweet.
The suite that follows Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat is a prog rock, overblown, semi instrumental template for Spinal Tap with it's heavy handed attempt at grandiosity, but the band just isn't up to it yet. It's obvious on this, their debut, that they haven't found their sound yet. They clearly are in love with Jimmy Page and Sabbath but worshipping at that altar at that time isn't so unique.
It should be noted that "Run of the Mill", the 8+ minute near-jazz-prog odyssey is SOOO run of the mill I wanted to pour water on my keyboard and short circuit the motherboard rather than let it continue.
I didn't.
But I can't WAIT to delete THAT track.
This album remains a curio that not even the curious will enjoy.
Grade D-
A Side: Rocka Rolla (if ya gotta pick one.....)
BlindSide: Winter, Diamonds & Rust (It sounds like something Brian May might have written in 74, or the progenitor of Maiden.
DownSide: Winter Retreat, Cheater, Run of the Mill, Dying to Meet You
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