Label: Columbia Records
Release date: May 17, 1988
Producer: Tom Allom
Album length: 49:33
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 7.5/10
With a supersonic battle cry and a cannonade from the band’s entire artillery, “Ram It Down” announces a return to the roots within the first few moments. Ha, where’s all that polished synth-driven melodizing? It’s (almost!) gone. Priest are (almost!) “killer” again on “Ram It Down”. The sound of the whole band has been cranked up a few notches, and Judas Priest rage, torture their engines and, most importantly, sound shocking again like the seasoned old tomcats they are. In short, it’s a return to the roots, but in the same breath it holds on to some of the levers the band brought along with “Turbo” (1986).
What a fantastic soloing mix K.K. and Glenn serve up in the title track. To this day it’s one of the most finely honed guitar duels ever put on tape. It’s packed with great embellishments: razor-sharp guitar licks, witty tremolo dive-bombs, and solos that are a real finger-stretching workout. A song you devour with pleasure. It’s more proof of both guitarists’ constant growth in Heavy Metal. Glenn’s intro once again confirms that Judas Priest aren’t messing around anymore on “Ram It Down” — they’ve come back to hand every metal fanatic a fistful of dynamite. If you look back at Judas Priest’s older repertoire, “Ram It Down” was until then a real sonic explosion. Come And Get It is already downright dangerous, but the excellent bomb Hard As Iron drains the last drop of “healthy” reason, and Priest carry us straight off into a perfect heavy metal dream.
Track six is the excellent atmospheric drama Blood Red Skies. Here Priest use guitar synths very tastefully. They don’t spoil the sound picture; instead the “synths” now fill it out fantastically and create an incredible mood in the song. It’s a track full of pompous epicness, with singer Rob Halford at the center of the action, using his artful sixth sense. The song is a moving adventure, a real mix of anger, bitterness, longing and, at the heart of it, the burning fire of romantic passion. Heads up: you can hear “sampled” rhythm in the sound of Blood Red Skies. It’s also noticeable in the great cover of C. Berry’s Johnny B. Goode and in the rolling metal beast Monsters Of Rock. Quite a few drums are programmed. It’s an experiment the band had already tried on “Turbo”, but this time it goes hand in hand with a more glaringly distorted sound from both guitars. It was becoming obvious that Holland couldn’t handle some of the tasks, while the band wanted to develop ever more aggression and destructive speed. Plenty of songs on “Ram It Down” date back to the “Turbo” recording sessions. Columbia Records had turned down the band’s wish to release a double Turbo album (it would have been called “Turbo Twins”) and sell it at the price of a single album. So that material found a home on “Ram It Down”.
The bonus tracks on this remaster are live versions of Night Comes Down and Bloodstone. Live, Judas Priest are, as has been said countless times, flawless and, as always, steel of the noblest pedigree. The only frustrating thing is that live versions of songs from “Ram It Down” can’t be found on any official release by the band. Well, let’s hope they make up for that in the future.
“Ram It Down” as a whole doesn’t reach the level of “Screaming For Vengeance”, “Defenders Of The Faith” or “British Steel”, at least when it comes to consistency. Love Zone and Love You To Death are the weaker spots and struggle to hold their own next to the rest of the sonic material and the atmospheric drama of Blood Red Skies. On the other hand, there are tracks like Hard As Iron, I’m A Rocker, Heavy Metal and of course the title track, which are real wrecking balls. Still, it was getting more and more obvious that without a technically far more skilled drummer, Judas Priest would never be able to implement some of their musical ambitions on future releases.
That’s why “Ram It Down” is an album that leaves a lukewarm impression. It contains elements that are an artistic step up from past work, but on the other hand some of the levers (drum programming, added synthesizers, the production too) keep the beast from breaking every shackle and tearing loose from its chains. All of that arrived two years later with “Painkiller”.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Ram It Down
2. Heavy Metal
3. Love Zone
4. Come And Get It
5. Hard As Iron
6. Blood Red Skies
7. I’m A Rocker
8. Johnny B. Goode
9. Love You To Death
10. Monsters Of Rock
bonus tracks on the 2001 remastered reissue:
11. Night Comes Down (Live)
12. Bloodstone (Live)
Lineup:
Rob Halford – vocals
K.K. Downing – guitar
Glenn Tipton – guitar
Ian Hill – bass
Dave Holland – drums
