release dates: 28TH FEBRUARY 2005 - UK & EUROPE
1ST MARCH 2005 USA

http://www.judaspriestonline.com/ 

preview - review  by Dimitris "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos____   

One of the most anticipated albums in the history of heavy metal is finally in our hands. The come back with the original line up of one of the pioneers of heavy metal. The mighty priest is back and let’s see if Rob’s return to the band leaded to an album as good as Painkiller, the last studio effort of the band with Rob back in 1990.

First of all I must say that the new album is more ‘back to the roots’ than a successor to Painkiller as most of us would expect. Just by doing this the band wins extra credit for surprising us like that. The album reviewed track by track:

1. Judas Rising – The song starts with the two lead guitars playing a solo in the way Victim Of Changes from the all time classic album Sad Wings Of Destiny starts and gives me the chills. What a brilliant way to start the song and the album. A short drum intro kicks in after the guitars and the main riff starts with Rob following. The bridge’s melody is totally classic priest and Rob shines in this moment and then he screams Judas is Rising. A huge smile is all across my face. The Priest is back! Excellent song!
2. Deal With The Devil – Classic Priest riff in the good old way. Bridge and chorus in the 80’s style of the band and if the guitars weren’t so heavy and had this clear production I would think that this song was pulled off an album of the band from the golden 80’s. A very good song but not excellent.
3. Revolution – The song that was chosen to be the single of the album. Many people say it was a bad idea and that it’s the worst track of the album. It really is weak but the old sounding style and the main riff which reminds the Killing Machine days give some point to the song and save it from being called crap. It’s just a good song.
4. Worth Fighting For – One of my personal favorite’s of the album. Chords that follow a drum rhythm and a different Rob singing in the first verses. He tries a different style of singing in this song. The song is very melodic and very old sounding once again. Very good chorus and an excellent guitar solo. Another excellent song for the album.
5. Demonizer – As if I thought the whole album would go on digging the band’s past, Demonizer reminds the Painkiller days a lot. When the main riff kicks in and the song sounds definitely like it was written for a successor to Painkiller I am not that satisfied. Apart from the main riff and the great guitar solo the song failed to impress me.
6. Wheels Of Fire – Another song in the 80’s style. Oh yes, that’s the way Judas Priest must sound. This song didn’t make an impression to me in the first listens but not I tend to listen it a lot and I love it. Great song!
7. Angel – The ballad of the album. We all know that when Rob Halford sings a ballad it can’t be a bad song. His voice has this special feeling that makes this nice melody into an awesome song. I really love this song and I place it among the best tunes of the album. Excellent.
8.  Hellrider – Another double guitar soloing intro and another Painkiller style song. This song could easily be in Painkiller not only because the song sounds exactly like it was written in that style but because quality wise it is in the standards of that album. There is also a killer guitar melody in the end of the song that gives me the chills. Excellent.
9. Eulogy – A very short song which is like an intermission between the next song and the rest of the album. A slow ballad with just acoustic guitar, keyboards and Rob’s voice. Very good.
10. Lochness – The 13 minute epic of the album and the best song of the album. From the dramatic intro to the main riff  and Rob’s vocal lines up to the chilling bridge and through the epic/majestic/awesome/jaw dropping chorus, this song is an all time classic. What we’ve got here is the best song the band has written in many years. The song is about the lochness monster as the title says and not any kind of metaphorically meaning. Despite the long duration of the song I have heard it many times on repeat, no need to comment it more. Just listen to this song and hail the mighty Judas Priest.

Concluding, I can say that I was happily surprised from Judas Priest’s new album. We were all waiting for Painkiller replica album and judging from the band’s previous 2 albums no one could expect an album as good as Angel Of Retribution. The album has its boring moments but most of it sounds incredibly well. Rob Halford’s solo career is evident on the album sound’s not only production wise (Roy Z produced it who was also guitar player of Rob’s solo albums) but it seems that Rob did lots of writing with the rest of the members. The grade doesn’t have much importance for an album like this, it’s worth is historical because we are talking about the come back album of Priest with Halford. This won’t make the grade higher just because of this, on the contrary it will throw much stricter judgment than the rest of the albums receive because when we deal with the original Judas Priest we expect much more. For this point of their career this album is very good with some brilliant moments. The Priest is back!

rating:   9/10

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