Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Judas Priest
Label: Sony Music
Released: 2014
Runtime: 61:38
Rating: 4/5
Time flies. The fathers of the metal bible, who officially announced their final retirement after the Epitaph tour, have obviously changed their minds and decided to stretch their career out for one more studio album (and a new tour). Fair enough. Why retire at all? Truly a crazy thought.
In 2011, founding member and guitarist K.K. Downing left the band. His spot in the lineup was filled by young Richie Faulkner, who jumped over to Judas Priest from the backing band of Lauren Harris, daughter of the famous Steve Harris, boss and bassist of Iron Maiden. With Faulkner, Judas Priest properly toured the globe in 2011 and 2012, and the confident youngster convinced everyone that he’s worthy of filling K. K. Downing’s big shoes (even visually).
»Redeemer of Souls« is an album on which Judas Priest don’t experiment with their sound and style. That could be said of »Nostradmus«, which split the fan base all over again because of it, but you certainly can’t say it about »Angel Of Retribution«. In that respect »Reedemer of Souls« and »Angel of Retribution« are kindred spirits. Both were written first and foremost to suit what most of the band’s fans demand. Above all, »Redeemer of Souls« serves up a whole heap of anthemic Judas Priest assaults, with none of the detours into sonic experiments that earned the band a pile of outrage from fans in the past – this being a band that had always boldly explored new musical dimensions and horizons and, thanks to that, did a huge amount to popularize heavy metal through the eighties. »Redeemer of Souls« is not »Turbo«, not »Demolition«, but it is a kind of minestrone of classic Judas Priest material released on official studio records between 1974 and 1990. Modeled on the live set of Judas Priest’s last tour, Epitaph. Throw all the songs from that tour’s set into the melting pot and the result is a vivid minestrone, where in the »fragments« of such a puzzle you can discover now the stuff of the early Judas Priest era, soon after that the middle era, and so on. So we got a palette of 13 tracks that offer an interesting mutual deviance, while the album consistently holds onto the strictly recognizable stance of this pioneering band’s unique character. For instance, the intro to Cold Blooded can tug at the intro of The Sentinel, the title track rolls along on a rhythmic key comparable to the one used for the »Painkiller« classic Hell Patrol, only the melody is completely different, while the excellent closing ballad Beginning of the End evokes the feel of Prisoner of Your Eyes, a classic from the overlooked »Sreaming for Vengeance«. Songs with a more noticeable blues component will of course pull you back to the seventies (Hell & Back, Crossfire) and so on. The more you spin the album, the more meaningful parallels with the band’s past work you’ll manage to string together.
Opener Dragonaut immediately signals that this time Judas Priest simply stay put in the tried-and-true sphere of their metal bible. As expected, the track is a sped-up opener, a »shrapnel to the forehead, you lunatic!, but beyond the main riff it brings absolutely nothing special, with a fairly clichéd chorus melody. Certainly one of the least interesting and, in the same breath, most predictable songs on the album. That doesn’t go for the rest of the record, including the fast and otherwise excellent Halls of Valhala, Metalizer and, right before the end, Battle Cry, which make it clear that the album itself would have worked a lot more effectively out of the gate if Judas Priest had picked one or the other of them to open it. Dragonaut is a Painkiller-style tune, and even the outro solo in the »mid-eight« passage that brings the song back to the pre-chorus recalls part of the soloing in One Shot At Glory.
A noticeable dose of pomp and anthemic feel creeps into most of the new album’s tracks. Judas Priest already said at press conferences that they wanted to deliver an album meant first and foremost for their devoted fans. It’s precisely the songs, mostly set at a mid-tempo, that open up plenty of room for theatrical mood swings, driven first and foremost by the dominant melody of the famous vocal lines of the one and only Rob Halford (Cold Blooded, Secrets of the Dead, Sword of Democles). It’s no longer news that Rob Halford once again sticks to the middle vocal range, and his performance gains in darkness precisely because of that – something Judas Priest put to good use on »Nostradamus«, and Rob served up something similar on his solo studio effort »Made of Metal«. Halford climbs to the highest registers only a few times on the album. Such is the venomous »scream« in Halls of Valhalla, and also part of the chorus of Battle Cry.
Judas Priest remain detail freaks. Besides the heavy load of a whole sackful of catchy, marching anthems with huge charisma, which never bore for a second but keep thrilling with a ravenous build-up of moods with a »realness« effect, those same songs reach their atmospheric bloom in hugely melodic choruses full of the band’s typical drama. Once again Judas Priest paid lots of attention to crafting intro and outro guitar ornaments, as well as polished mid-eight passages, where Faulkner and Tipton of course also use transitional embellishments in the form of harmonies in thirds. This time around, Faulkner and Tipton capitalized on their vivid ideas for an optimal payoff. The young Faulkner, full of eagerness to prove himself, surely spurred the seasoned Tipton on, inspired, during the writing of the new material and later the recording. The creative chemistry between the two musicians is exceptional, and you really don’t miss K.K. in the lineup.
Regardless of the fact that »Redeemer of Souls« is an album where Judas Priest don’t test the untested, its enviable variety of ideas and arranging wit are hugely convincing. Although it lacks orchestral arrangements, as was the case with »Nostrdamus«, its doomy, black-drama-theater atmosphere, thanks to the production and songs mostly built on a mid-tempo, is comparable to its predecessor. At the same time, thanks to the lead guitar phrases, »Redeemer of Souls« evokes the feel of the band’s classic years. That famous stretch between 1974 and 1990.
The band’s excellent new album will demand more spins from you before you irreversibly befriend it, if not outright fall in love with it..The 13 tracks are drenched in an immensely infectious atmosphere, the bombast of the grand theater of doom in a recognizable way, a recipe known only to the one and only. Giants of metal and architects of its bible! The unique Judas Priest! The band’s claim that this album is meant first and foremost for its loyal fans couldn’t come across as more sincere than it does on »Redeemer of Souls«!
Lineup
Rob Halford – vocals
Glenn Tipton – guitar
Richie Faulkner – guitar
Ian Hill – bass
Scott Travis – drums
Production
Mike Exeter & Glenn Tipton
Tracklist
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 And Back
8. Cold Blooded
9. Metalizer
10. Crossfire
11. Secrets of the Dead
12. Battle Cry
13. Beginning of the End
