HALFORD: Live in Anaheim - Original Soundtrack

Released July 2

Just shy of a year since Judas Priest's live statement A Touch of Evil, Halford has issued this "soundtrack" to the forthcoming DVD of the same name (due August). Unlike Priest's disappointingly brief set however, this one weighs in with a hefty 23 tracks and brings together cuts from the three metallic phases of his career. Recorded back in 2003, before he finally rejoined his famous band, Live in Anaheim sounds more like Judas Priest than Judas Priest then did, a searing, energetic, thoroughly metal concert powerhouse.

The strength of any live album relies on its track-listing. Iron Maiden's have repeated the same songs so often that most of them are redundant, but even though this is the second live release for a band that had only done two studio albums at the time, Halford comes up trumps here. True, some of the tracks were also on Live Insurrection and two featured on A Touch of Evil but there's also a rare concert reading of the awesome "Rapid Fire" and the Stained Class track "White Heat Red Hot" that Halford announces has never been played live before, along with "Never Satisfied", a deep album cut from Rocka Rolla!. The version of "Painkiller" that opens this release blows the one from last year right out of the water and "Diamonds and Rust" is fully metalised, totally dispensing with acoustics. The band, Roy Z, Metal Mike, Bob Jarzombek and Mike Davis, are superb and Halford is spectacular. Much has been said in recent years about Rob's decaying voice, but here it only partly lets him down once. After pushing himself to the limits of his range in "Resurrection", he sounds almost out of puff during "Made in Hell" only to recover nicely in time for the Gothically sinister "Golgotha" -- one of two tracks (along with "Heretic") that are repeated in alternative, "bonus" versions on disc two that aren't included on the DVD, and probably added mainly so the twin CDs aren't seriously lop-sided. Whether they are completely necessary or not, they don't subtract from the quality. Indeed it would be hard to be disappointed with this other than some minor quibble over the track-listing but without a serious dud on here you'd be hard pressed to argue even with that.

Live in Anaheim is a stunning, heavy-hitting metal show that is testament to Halford's experience and prowess. A seriously good live album.

CD 1:

1. Painkiller
2. Rapid Fire
3. Heretic
4. Resurrection
5. Made in Hell
6. Golgotha
7. Into the Pit
8. Light Comes Out of Black
9. White Heat, Red Hot
10. Never Satisfied
11. Breaking the Law
12. Hearts of Darkness
13. Handing Out Bullets

CD 2:

1. Diamonds and Rust
2. Hellion
3. Electric Eye
4. Riding on the Wind
5. Victim of Changes
6. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
7. Heretic (live in Japan)
8. Sun (live in Japan)
9. Golgotha (live in Japan)
10. One Will (live in Japan)

Rating: 85%

JUDAS PRIEST: A Touch of Evil: Live

Released: July 14

Judas Priest don’t have the catalogue of live albums that Iron Maiden has (but then, who does?), yet even so A Touch of Evil racks up their fifth, recorded over the course of their last two world tours. The most immediately noticeable aspect is the album’s brevity: while the other two live documents I've reviewed recently are double CDs clocking over ninety minutes, A Touch of Evil is barely an hour, and that’s with three songs longer than seven minutes apiece. The other thing is the track-listing, an unconventional collection of newer tracks and lesser-known older tunes like "Riding on the Wind" (it's from Screaming for Vengeance) that deliberately omits most of their best known songs. Priest deserve credit for this, because it would have been easy to go the Maiden route and just fill two CDs with hits we’ve all heard thousands of times (this is a band who have also never felt it necessary to do a "heritage" tour either, something else that would have been quite easy for them to do). Even better, while three of these tracks have been on live albums before, none of them were with Rob Halford's vocals. So what this lacks in playing time it makes up for in being essentially a rather unique set.

The great thing about this is that even without all the "hits", Judas Priest has still managed to fill this album with great songs, including some of their truly heaviest moments like "Between the Hammer and the Anvil" and particularly "Dissident Aggressor" which was, for its time, one of the most crushing songs ever. "Death" is arguably the only misfire here, an unweildy behemoth of a track that lacks the energy of "Riding on the Wind" that precedes it and the hooks of "Beyond the Realms of Death" that follows. It was one of the better songs on Nostradamus, true, but that's not saying a lot. Thankfully, the only other song from that album here is "Prophecy". "Painkiller" closes the set, and it's clear that Halford has some problems with his pitch here although most of the time he's great (better, it has to be said, than Dickinson on Flight 666, though to be fair Bruce still moves on stage like a guy half his age and Rob barely moves at all) and the rest of the band cannot be faulted.

A Touch of Evil is a pretty good offering as far as live albums go, especially as it does give some of Priest's lesser-known but still killer tracks an airing. The only realy criticism is that it's so short. Another disc with stuff like "Starbreaker" and "Rapid Fire" on it as well would have been ultra cool.

1. Judas Rising
2. Hellrider
3. Between the Hammer and the Anvil
4. Riding on the Wind
5. Death
6. Beyond the Realms of Death
7. Dissident Aggressor
8. A Touch of Evil
9. Eat Me Alive
10. Prophecy
11. Painkiller

Rating: 80%

JUDAS PRIEST: Nostradamus

Produced by Glenn Tipton and KK Downing

Released: 2008

I can hardly believe this was possible, but I was halfway through listening to this dinosaur of an album and I was struggling to find good things to say about it! How could this be so? I mean, this is Judas fucking Priest we're talking about here! It couldn't really be that bad, could it? So why do I feel cheated (and I shouldn't really, because I got this album for free)? Well, there's actually a few reasons, but perhaps the chief one is that, in attempting a concept album at the twilight of their career, Judas Priest has over-reached. Not content with just a concept album, the godfathers of metal had to go and make a massively overblown and pretentious one that's a staggering 103 minutes long. Even that would have been acceptable if it could engage you for that long, but Nostradamus simply doesn't do that.

Ignoring the power metal-like intro, we can skip to "Prophecy", which opens things in a suitably headbanging Priest fashion and things are going along all right until the "I am Nostradamus!" line almost made me burst into laughter. Still, it isn't a bad track even with the cheesy bits in the middle. After this however, the first half of Nostradamus is rather devoid of highlights. "War" sounds vaguely like a Wagnerian opera piece but doesn't really hold the listener's attention the way such a thing should apart from the grand orchestral section in the middle. The next track is equally unspectacular, plodding along at the same mid tempo. The pondering riff and Halford's sinister vocal give "Death" an appropriate feel, but it's at least two minutes too long and Tipton's jagged soloing comes in way too late. Indeed, guitar solos are pretty thin on the ground, something I thought I'd never say about a Judas Priest album. Then along comes "Persecution", and if you hadn't have had to wait 50 minutes for it you could almost forgive them. This one is classic Priest: catchy, fast and bone-crushing heavy metal. If only the rest of it could have been like this.

But it isn't, as part two opens with "Exiled", another track that just trundles along without reaching any heights, something that virtually the whole of the second CD is guilty of. "Alone" is the perfect embodiment of the entire volume: bloated. Halford hits some of the best notes he's hit in years on this one but the track just loses its way with an acoustic part in the middle for some reason that goes nowhere. "Visions" seems to drag on and on without end and "New Beginnings" is one of those overwrought ballads you usually find on a second-rate European power metal album. I couldn't even listen to it all the way through. To say by this time I was disappointed -- bored even -- would be a considerable understatement.

Then, as they always do, Judas Priest finds a way to redeem themselves. The title track starts out with a little operatic section before suddenly ripping your face off the way "Painkiller" did, and sounds rather like a reworking of that song in fact. "Future of Mankind" follows in much the same fashion, classic metal hammering with Downing and Tipton finally letting loose with some sorely-missed lead work. This is the longest track on the album but it seems like one of the shortest and again I find myself asking why all of Nostradamus couldn't have been like this.

With the fat trimmed off and a punchier production, Nostradamus could have been a really good album, but there's too many turgid tracks, too many pointless interludes that break the flow, and for an album supposedly about the life of Nostradamus, it doesn't actually tell you that much about him. Take tracks 1 to 5, plus "Persecution" and the last two songs on the second CD and you've got a decent Judas Priest album. Add the rest, and it's a huge, boring, unwieldly behemoth. Sad.

CD 1:

1. Dawn of Creation/Prophecy
2. Awakening/Revelation
3. The Four Horsemen/War
4. Pestilence and Plague
5. Death
6. Peace/Conquest
7. Lost Love
8. Persecution

CD 2:

1. Solitude/Exiled
2. Alone
3. Shadows in the Flame/Visions
4. Hope/New Beginnings
5. Calm Before the Storm/Nostradamus
6. Future of Mankind

Rating: 55%

JUDAS PRIEST - Interview with KK Downing

OK, this isn't a review. But you don't get to interview one of the founding fathers of heavy metal very often. This was recorded tonight, over the speaker-phone function of my mobile phone. The signal from the phone just about cooked the tape I was using so it hard to transcribe everything he said. I think I got most of it though.

ME: Thank you for taking the time tonight, KK. Let's get straight to it: a huge double concept album is something that people would probably expect more from Dream Theater or even Iron Maiden, nor Judas Priest. What brought about the decision to do this, and why Nostradamus?

KK Downing: Well we're a band that's been around for a long time and there's been times when we've been really, really popular. But no matter what you do you will always find people will find something to criticise you for. We've done a lot of records now and we've always tried for consistency. Even after our comeback record Angel of Retribution there was people saying, "Where can Judas Priest go next? Where can they go from here?" You're always in a no-win situation when you're in a popular band. Even a band like AC/DC... They're a great band, but they're always being accused of making the same record over and over. So when people were saying, "What can Judas Priest do next?" We were like, "Well, what can we do next? What can we fuckin' do next? Let's do a double CD, triple vinyl, forty-eight page colour booklet, something we've never done before. Let's just show 'em!"

ME: Are you looking forward to visiting Australia again?

KK: Absolutely mate! We had an absolute blast the first time we came down with Ripper, so you know we wanted to come down and do the full show with Rob because we just knew that we owed it to the fans that have been following us for so many years.

ME: I notice from the shows you've done so far that you're doing a lot of different songs from when you were here last. It's almost a totally different set.

KK: Yeah, but we'll have to change it a little bit before we even get to Australia, because with the internet and everything now people know what you're playing. So as the record progresses - it's only come out this week - we might change some of the songs we're playing off that as well. But it's going to be loads of fun, really. I've just heard today that the tickets are getting along really well there and it's not for some time yet.

ME: Now you guys are veterans of some pretty big shows. I hope you can indulge me for a second because this might seem a little strange for someone to ask after so long but you're the first person I've ever spoke to who played at Live Aid. What was that like for you?

KK: Haha. Well that was a long time ago! We were actually recording I think, um, the Turbo album. We weren’t that far away. We were in the Bahamas. It sounds very nice, but we were just stuck in the studio. You know what I mean? So we just jumped on a plane and went up to Philadelphia and played our set, it was really a great day. But that was one of the greatest memories I can bring to the forefront, for sure.

ME: Getting back to the present now, you’re probably playing the biggest rooms we’ve got here. I assume that means we are going to get the full Judas Priest treatment?

KK: Yeah well I don’t know if the supports have been booked yet, but it will be a full-on Judas Priest show. It costs us a bit when we have to fly, but when we get together as Judas Priest, full strength, we spend all our money on making our show the best it can be you know. It might cost us thousands of dollars just to fly to South America to play six shows, but that’s what we do when we get together as a group. And that’s what we’ll do when we come down there as well.

ME: You’re actually doing the tour with Max Cavalera’s band.

KK: Oh well, that will be a good night of intense metal then, that’s for sure. We’ve just done some shows with Max in Europe, so we got to meet them. We played with them and Iced Earth and Airbourne, a really great band from down there. We got to meet those guys so it will be good to catch up with them again.

ME: So what more can you tell me about Nostradamus and where Judas Priest is likely to go from here?

KK: Well I’ll say this for Judas Priest. Like I said before, people have liked us. We’ve always tried to be consistent but even when you are consistent people will think differently about each thing you do. Like with Painkiller, that album that everybody now thinks is supposedly so great. It took years for that record to get to where people think of it now. It entered the Billboard chart at something like 65… Nostradamus, not even the first week, at #11. You know what I mean? Angel of Retribution, our last album, went in at #13. Painkiller was way down there. So was British Steel and so was Screaming for Vengeance… So sometimes it can take a while for an album to get to that level. The Nostradamus album, it is different. They talk about people’s attention spans being very short these days. But people still sit down and read a good book, watch a good movie, so why not sit down and hear a good album? This album really means what it is. Try to listen to it from the beginning to the end, because it is a full documentation of the life of Nostradamus. He was a figure from 500 years ago who is still very much talked about today. When we delved into the history of Nostradamus… we’ve done loads and loads of mini-movies if you like about the Painkiller, Metallion, Electric Eye… all those fictional things. We just applied that to a real historical figure. He was an alchemist and a doctor who lost his family in the plague, and he predicted the death of the king at the time which is what he was persecuted for. He was persecuted by the Church and sanctioned, but he was also a doctor who wanted to help people and I think he looked into the future so he could find ways to help others. I’m sure there was other major figures I suppose, like Adolf Hitler or Mussolini… warmongering ones, that we could have looked at, but we wanted a peace-seeker, a knowledge seeker. And I think that we might have had a lot in common with him because he was always looking for things, searching for meaning. I think that if he was with us now, if he was to come out on tour with us, we would probably find a lot of common ground in the way we have been treated by people and what we have tried to attain.

ME: I’m glad you mentioned that, because I was going to ask if you could see a similarity between Judas Priest and the life of Nostradamus in the way you have been sanctioned and accused of Satanism and such things?

KK: Yeah. Well we often say you can’t do right by doing wrong. He tried to help but he still got into trouble. The whole story is interesting. I didn’t know anything about what Nostradamus was really about other than what you normally hear. But we didn’t really touch on any of his prophecies. It was about his life. We certainly couldn’t think of a more ideal person with such a wide interest to people. It’s a good story.

[Some label dude broke in then and told me my 15 minutes was up. I still wanted to ask KK about those cheesy early videos where they pulled bank robberies with their guitars and danced around playing guitars that were on fire, and stuff, but alas... no time]

ME: Well thanks KK, I have to wrap it up now. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us this evening.

KK: Thank you Brian. Thank for the support with the site and everything. Tell all the fans it’s been a long time, but Judas Priest is coming!

So there you go - JUDAS PRIEST IS COMING!

JUDAS PRIEST: Point of Entry

Produced by Tom Allom

Released: 1981

Some people would suggest that I review Judas Priest a bit too much on this blog, but I love heavy metal and if it weren't for Priest, metal wouldn't exist. It took me more years than it perhaps should have to appreciate this particular truth however because the first of their albums that I ever heard was this, and it didn't really leave me with a great impression. In the 25 or so years since then I've had plenty of time to re-evaluate both Point of Entry and Judas Priest, but even so this still ranks as one of their weakest albums.

As always, there are some great tracks on here. Priest never fails at this, which is why even their most hit-and-miss releases -- like this one -- are worthwhile. Sometimes their albums tend to sag toward the middle before a couple of great tracks pick things up again, but on Point of Entry this isn't the case: the last half of this is utterly forgettable, meaning that you will lose nothing by turning it off after "Solar Angels" except the experience of hearing Judas Priest at their blandest and most mediocre. Up until then, of course, this isn't too bad but still a long way from British Steel or even Screaming for Vengeance, the two albums this bridges. "Heading Out to the Highway" is awesome, as virtually every opening track this band writes is, and was still being used as a set opener the first and only time I saw them live. "Don't Go" is the obvious radio single (but not obvious enough for Australian radio programming, of course) and not too bad as such things go. Next is "Hot Rockin'", undeniably one of the most ridiculous of all Judas Priest songs but one so catchy and fun it's impossible to resist, including the guitar solo that sounds, as a friend of mine once remarked "like the speakers are going to blow". "Desert Plains" and "Solar Angels" are also rather cool, hinting at the band's earlier sound particularly in regards to the psychedelic feel and the latter has Rob Halford's best vocal of the whole album.

After this, Point of Entry is just a waste of time, with the rest of the material coming across as if it were just thrown together to make up the playing-time. For this reason, this probably isn't the ideal place to develop a real appreciation for the might of Judas Priest and still notches up the lowest score I have given them so far.

1. Heading Out to the Highway
2. Don't Go
3. Hot Rockin'
4. Turning Circles
5. Desert Plains
6. Solar Angels
7. You Say Yes
8. All the Way
9. Troubleshooter
10. On the Run

Rating: 60%

JUDAS PRIEST: Screaming for Vengeance

Produced by Tom Allom

Released: 1982

In 1982 Judas Priest was the biggest heavy metal band in the world, which is probably why their album from that year, Screaming for Vengeance, is held in such high regard. Two singles from British Steel helped smash America open for them and while the follow-up was lukewarm and forumlaic it kept them in the charts. It was their task on their ninth album to capitalise on the success they had achieved, and boy did they. Screaming for Vengeance came in the midst of a run of slick, commercial metal records for Judas Priest and this one brought home the bacon like nothing had before.

Yet in spite of the reverence held for this album, in hindsight Screaming for Vengeance has surprisingly few highlights. The 'Hellion/Electric Eye' double is a great beginning, a pure classic Priest mixture of melody and speed with a catchy hook that doesn't go away in a hurry. After this however, Screaming... just kind of trundles along. The next two tracks come and go without really leaping out and the obligatory FM radio track '(Take These) Chains' doesn't suck as much as some of the songs Priest wrote themselves but isn't exactly memorable either. 'Pain and Pleasure' is dreck of the worst order; for an album so highly regarded, the first half is almost a complete write-off. Then comes the good old Judas Priest one-two sucker punch. 'Screaming for Vengeance' sees the return of the inimitable melody/speed/hook thing that this band can do so well, followed up by 'You Got Another Thing Coming', perhaps the best of Priest's three big commercial hits (the other two, of course, are 'Living After Midnight' and 'Breaking the Law') even if it does sound a little dated today.

Indeed, the entire album hasn't aged well. Most of the tracks are just okay at best and there just isn't the timeless aura about it that earlier Priest releases still have even now. Screaming for Vengeance ends well with the last two songs showing more of Ian Hill's bass work than usual, but overall 26 years on it really doesn't live up to its reputation.

1. Hellion
2. Electric Eye
3. Riding on the Wind
4. Bloodstone
5. (Take These) Chains
6. Pain and Pleasure
7. Screaming for Vengeance
8. You've Got Another Thing Coming
9. Fever
10. Devil Child

Rating: 69%

JUDAS PRIEST: Killing Machine

Produced by Judas Priest and James Guthrie

Released: 1978

Killing Machine marked a change for Judas Priest as they turned toward a more commercial style. With American success looming, they toned down the demonic imagery of previous albums and the songwriting became far simpler and while they maintained their love for speed and continued to be heavier than anyone, Killing Machine is one of this great band's weaker moments. Originally released only eight months after the monumental Stained Class, there is definitely a feeling that this one was rushed through to capitalise on Judas Priest's US appearances with Led Zeppelin earlier in the year.

That isn't to say that this is a bad album, because Judas Priest simply don't make bad albums, and Killing Machine opens with the fury of "Delivering the Goods", a full-blooded scorcher that is only topped here by the godly "Hell Bent for Leather", the track that became this album's title song in the US. It should be perfectly clear after hearing tracks like this why Priest is metal's defining act: this is speed metal before there was a term for it. Elsewhere, "Killing Machine" and "Running Wild" are rather strong too while "Rock Forever" hints at the more anthemic tunes that would be sprinkled throughout this band's albums in the 80s. Most of the rest are take-it-or-leave-it: "Evil Fantasies" is reminiscent of their darker past but not as impressively done, "Evening Star" has a huge chorus but little else to make it memorable and the football chant "Take on the World" is like "United" from British Steel, but worse.

What lets this album down in the end is inconsistency, but what saves it, ironically, is that Killing Machine is the first album to display what would later be recognised as the band's classic sound, a sound that would keep them at the top of the metal pile for well over a decade.

1. Delivering the Goods
2. Rock Forever
3. Evening Star
4. Hell Bent for Leather
5. Take on the World
6. Burnin' Up
7. Killing Machine
8. Running Wild
9. Before the Dawn
10. Evil Fantasies

Rating: 65%

JUDAS PRIEST: British Steel

Produced by Tom Allom

Released: 1980

There are some who would suggest that this album is over-rated, but for mine, this remains the pinnacle of Judas Priest's commercial recording period. While the albums either side of this were so-so and below average, and later ones were fairly good, this is where the band's commercial aspirations all come together. This is the album that made Judas Priest into superstars, with volley after volley of fast and catchy songs that were heavy enough to keep the headbangers happy, but slick enough for American radio airplay. While it remains best known as the home of the big hits "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight", British Steel is much more than that, and almost every other song it contains is far superior to that pair of tunes.

British Steel begins with one of the fastest and most crushing tracks the band would ever write. "Rapid Fire" is about the best start to an album in recording history: an unmercifully heavy and speedy song for its time and a track so good that if it weren't for quality of the rest of the album it would have completely overwhelmed it. This sledgehammer-like opening was numbed when the Americans decided to release the album with "Breaking the Law" as the first song, but the remastered version has set all to rights again. "Metal Gods" is next, built on a stiff, staccato marching riff that sounds for all the world like an army of killer robots destroying humanity and then after the relatively lame "...Law" comes more savagery in the form of the appropriately named "Grinder". "United" is a pointless football chant that Priest was using to fill space on their albums back then and despite its legendary status "Living After Midnight" is the sort of light, throwaway metal that US hair bands would spew forth for the best part of the rest of the decade. "The Rage" is an angry track that has some nice bass work from Ian Hill, something that goes unnoticed most of the time and then "Steeler" winds up the album on the same speed metal note that "Rapid Fire" opens it. Perhaps it's because they're at the end of this album that these two tracks are so over-looked, but they both easily top almost everything that would come on the follow-up.

With British Steel, Judas Priest made an almost perfect commercial-flavoured metal album on only their second attempt, with most of the songs still standing the test of time. Had they failed here, they may well have never attained the god-like status that was to be theirs in the coming decade.

1. Rapid Fire


2. Metal Gods


3. Breaking the Law


4. Grinder


5. United


6. You Don't Have to be Old to be Wise


7. Living After Midnight


8. The Rage


9. Steeler

Rating: 96%

JUDAS PRIEST: Sad Wings of Destiny

Produced by Jeffrey Calvert, Max West and Judas Priest

Released: 1976

It's been said that Black Sabbath created metal, and Judas Priest made it heavy. This is how they did it. Sad Wings of Destiny is the first truly great heavy metal album, a savage and demonic piece of work that makes Sabbath look like hippies. 30 years on, it's difficult to image just what anyone could have made of this when it was first released, but it must have frightened the crap out of a lot of people.

Shortly after this came out, Priest signed to CBS and Gull whored Sad Wings of Destiny out to whomever wanted to license it. Most of those who did got the track listing arse-about, and CD versions invariably list "Prelude" as track 5 when it was originally the first song (my vinyl version from 1981 has the tracks listed correctly on the back of the sleeve but the label on the album itself has side 1 and 2 juxtaposed). I mention all this only because SWOD has more impact when the songs are listened to in the correct order. That is, with Glenn Tipton's eerie piano intro "Prelude" opening the way for the sinister "Tyrant" to redefine metal forever.

It is at this moment that metal became truly heavy. Not only that, but it also becomes fast, with a section near the end that can only be described as thrash, a term that wouldn't be used in a metal sense until after the turn of the following decade! With just one track, Judas Priest had already reinvented the musical style that their Birmingham compatriots Black Sabbath had unleashed six years before, but there's more to come: "Genocide" has to rank as perhaps the most vicious song ever conceived up to this point in time, rivalled only by "The Ripper" a few tracks later. True genre-defining stuff: outrageously heavy but stunningly melodic, and brooding with a sense of diabolical evil that even Ozzy and his mates had really only conjured once before, with their very first song. Not only that, but Rob Halford had the voice to carry it off and make it sound far more convincing. No atonal warbling here. Halford's vocals resonate with a dark malevolence as he sings of slaughter and tyranny, and his shriek in "The Ripper" remains blood-curdling to this day. Then, just when you think this album can't get any better, the unbeatable one-two whallop of "Dreamer Deceiver" and "Deceiver" come as two of the best songs ever to round out an album.

Judas Priest never quite sounded this way again, and after this album, neither did heavy metal. It would be almost five years before anything else came remotely close.

1. Prelude


2. Tyrant


3. Genocide


4. Epitaph


5. Island of Domination


6. Victim of Changes


7. The Ripper


8. Dreamer Deceiver


9. Deceiver

Rating: 94%