Artist: Halford
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2007
The opening of the first part of this sweeping retrospective collection from the famous “Metal God” screamer is a fairly surprising one, considering that outside Judas Priest, Halford never built up a body of work worth making a fuss about. His solo studio efforts swung wildly in quality, mostly because of far-too-obvious flirting with trends that did Rob Halford’s voice anything but favors. The real gem of the solo catalog, consistent from head to tail, is of course Rob’s first Halford album “Resurrection” (2000), which I like to call “Painkiller 2000” — the album Judas Priest should have released after “Painkiller“, and one that, in the hunt for that “Painkiller-ness”, leaves everything Judas Priest put out after the album “Painkiller” (1990) far behind. Alongside “Resurrection”, this compilation also pulls material from its deviant successor “Crucible” (2002). From “Crucible” we get two classic rowdy, “brighter” moments (Golgotha, Sun), plus two tracks, Crystal and Trial of Tears, that show “Crucible” as the darker, subtler, more personal and confessional follow-up to the steel-clad, old-school rattler “Resurrection”. On top of both Halford records, Rob also put the best moments of Fight on this compilation, taken of course from the album “War Of Words” (1992). That gives us a selection drawn from three albums whose songs sit together very comfortably. Thank goodness the man wisely decided to ignore the Two project — that moment when Trent Reznor scalped his metal with a “nine inch nail” — and the legendary singer thankfully turned down the rest of the Fight material too.
What’s especially tempting about this compilation are two brand-new tracks (the first in 4 years of solo-career hibernation), Forgotten Generation and Drop Out, which sound seriously promising and leave you with one conclusion: we can expect a new, red-hot, primal heavy metal kick in the pants from the Metal God after “Crucible”. Fans of this musician will be especially charmed by the version of Silent Screams, added here as a demo recording from 1999. Halford sings in a lower register than what we get on the original version of the album “Resurrection”. This impressive, previously unreleased take on Silent Screams has a really muffled, gloomy touch that doesn’t just give you goosebumps — it sends proper shivers down your spine.
The compilation is cleverly put together, considering that Halford hasn’t discovered a new planet in our solar system with it, yet it still manages to make the mouths of metal connoisseurs and everyone who swears by the classic heavy metal tradition water. Anyone who knows what elemental heavy metal singing means — or better, melodic all-out “screeching” in heavy metal’s most primal form — won’t hesitate much before adding this Halford compilation to their collection. This is the compilation of the founding father of metal screaming. A good part of the reason is the two brand-new tracks, which are interestingly much closer to the elemental “eighties” sound of Judas Priest than to what Judas Priest record today. Above all, there’ll be no more dithering among all the eager curious types once they pop the bonus DVD into the player, which gathers interesting glimpses from behind the scenes in the recording studios and dangerously spews metal arsenic and breathes fire (live recordings of Silent Screams and Never Satisfied). Never Satisfied is without doubt the most interesting musical moment on the DVD, since it reaches into the Judas Priest catalog (Judas Priest debut “Rocka Rolla” – 1974). It’s an extended version of the original. Naturally an ultra-revamped metal take, with Roy Z. (guitar, Bruce Dickinson, Tribe Of Gypsies) in the lineup on one of the two guitars on stage — and surprisingly, Roy Z. doesn’t come up with an especially inventive solo in the middle interlude. The DVD also includes a new video clip for the song Forgotten Generation, keeping it company are the furious Betrayal, the rolling metal assault Made In Hell and the lullaby-like acoustic ditty In The Morning.
Apparently the distribution of Halford’s material comes down to a business pact between Halford’s own label Metal God Entertainment and Frontiers Records, which the labeling on the DVD will convince you of. Honestly, it’s hardly worth mentioning. The main thing is that the man is clearly cooking up new material, which will hopefully come out as a new studio release under the Halford name. Judas Priest are about to put out an album too, but there Downing and Tipton do 90% of everything, so Rob can calmly focus on his own new solo heavy metal resurrection. Let’s just hope that this lovely, innocent tickling of the fans (and buying of time) with multi-part compilations like “Metal God Essencials Vol. 1” doesn’t drag on for too long.
Lineup
HALFORD
Rob Halford – vocals
Metal Mike Chlasciak – guitar
Pat Lachman – guitar
Roy Z. – guitar
Ray Riendeau – bass
Mike Davis – bass (tracks 11 & 12)
Bobby Jarzombek – drums
FIGHT
Rob Halford – vocals
Russ Parrish – guitar
Brian Tilse – guitar
Jay Jay – bass
Scott Travis – drums
Production
Roy Z.
Tracklist
1. Resurrection
2. Made In Hell
3. Screaming In the Dark
4. Golgotha
5. Silent Screams – 1999 Demo
6. Crystal
7. Into the Pit
8. Nailed To the Gun
9. Slow Down
10. Locked and Loaded
11. Forgotten Generation
12. Drop Out
13. War of Words
14. Sun
15. Trail Of Tears
16. Redemption European Mix
Album length: 72.56
BONUS DVD:
1. Resurrection
2. Live Insurrection
3. Made In Hell
4. Betrayal
5. In The Morning
6. Silent Screams
7. Never Satisfied
8. Forgotten Generation
