Word: metallism
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It’s been a decade since Rob Halford left 80s metal icons Judas Priest amidst controversy over his sexual orientation—his bandmates were not comfortable with the idea of a homosexual frontman. So, they picked up Jack “Ripper” Owens, lead vocalist for Priest’s most prominent cover band and tried to recreate the magic—they have yet to fully succeed...
...technical skill, this is not an album chock-full of either memorable hooks or more than a few moments that inspire the same emotion as Priest classics like “Breakin’ the Law.” The album’s final track, “Metal Messiah,” shows, however, that Priest still contain the elements for fist-pumping arena action. The most up-tempo song on the album, it blasts open from the outset with a chugging and brutal riff, soon layered with the second guitar ringing out sustained harmonic notes. It quickly...
Overall, the record is entertaining, but it is not a new standard in metal or the beginning of any new chapter for the one-time kings of leather and chain. In “Devil Digger” Ripper asks the question, “Who wants to grow old?,” before repeating again and again, “I don’t want to fade away / I don’t want to fade away.” With their long-established and steady fan-base, Priest’s disappearance is not imminent, but with...
...unique funk/chunk distortion and timbre are evident, the lack of gratuitous pitch harmonic riffing, Wylde’s trademark, reveals one fact some may find disturbing—that the songs were written by committee. Mixer Tim Palmer (who has worked with pop-rock stars U2 and death metal mainstays Sepultura among others) and producer Marti Frederickson (the vocalist for the fictional band Stillwater in “Almost Famous,” and a contributor in works from Aerosmith and others) joined Osbornes’s tour guitarist Joe Holmes as co-writers on the bulk of the album?...
While Osborne’s distinct stuttering in some recent interviews illustrates the wear and tear of his glory/gory days, the thundering riffs and catchy melodies of “Down to Earth” show that he is still the most marketable and accessible man in metal. As usual, Osborne leaves the rest of the world wondering, “How long can he keep this...