ROCKET REVIEW: JUDAS PRIEST – “Redeemer Of Souls” (CD)

JUDAS PRIEST returns in 2014 with their seventeenth studio album entitled “Redeemer Of Souls”. This collection of thirteen tracks was produced by Mike Exeter and founding guitarist Glenn Tipton. It’s the first record to not include guitarist K.K. Downing, another founding member, who retired from the band in 2011. Downing has been replaced with the impressive talent of Richie Faulkner, who is also credited as actually writing music on the album. Any fan of old school Priest is in for a treat, because this one finds the boys back at the top of their game after their previous lackluster release “Nostradamus” from 2008. Where that album sounded like boring elevator music, these new JP tunes are much more heavy and along the lines of the band’s early work on classics such as “Screaming For Vengeance” and “Painkiller”.

It all kicks off with the totally jamming first cut ‘Dragonaut’ that finds lead vocalist Rob Halford in superb form. “Welcome to my world of steel”, he sings. It’s simply amazing to me how a man in his 60’s can still perform at such a high level as if he was twenty years younger. This hard rocker also features some solid guitar shredding. This song just kicks ass all the way around. The title track is next and offers up some more slamming riffs and solos, followed by my personal favorite, ‘Halls of Valhalla’. This track kicks so much ass it’s ridiculous. Next up are the rocking cuts ‘Sword of Damocles’, ‘March of the Damned’ and ‘Down in Flames’. Of those three, probably ‘March’ is the the least impressive to me, but it still easily kicks ass all over anything that was on “Nostradamus”.

Up next the goddamn electric momentum continues with the tracks ‘Hell & Back’, the slowed down ‘Cold Blooded’, and all out crushing anthem ‘Metalizer’. Another one of my favorites comes in the form of track ten’s ‘Crossfire’, concluding with the haunting ‘Secrets of the Dead’, the hard charging ‘Battle Cry’ and the well written ‘Beginning of the End’. I feel old fans of this band will fall in love with them all over again after they hear “Redeemer Of Souls” and the newer generation of metal music lovers that give it a shot will come to learn what a great metal band JUDAS PRIEST still is today.

Rocket

ROCKET REVIEW:
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JUDAS PRIEST – “Redeemer Of Souls” (CD)
(Epic/Columbia/2014)

1. Dragonaut
2. Redeemer of Souls
3. Halls of Valhalla
4. Sword of Damocles
5. March of the Damned
6. Down in Flames
7. Hell & Back
8. Cold Blooded
9. Metalizer
10. Crossfire
11. Secrets of the Dead
12. Battle Cry
13. Beginning of the End

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