(Rated this album with 4 out of 10) Reviewed by
dragonboots
from PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Bar some welcome elements of melody here and there this is no further an advancement of Judas Priest's illustrious career than the 'Jugulator' release was. 'Machine Man' opens things and it is really good where tempo changes abound and I believe movement off the same chord occurs every now and then..it doesn't last long however. 'One on One' will give you the opportunity to go make a cup of tea, hopefully the kettle will take a while to boil and you'll miss the insipid lyrics of the next seven tunes which chug along with no highlights worthy of description. They are bland and high in the boredom inducing stakes much like the art work upon the cover. Lyrically there is nothing to say here its really cheesy cliches all round. Sounding like a soundtrack to a WWF telemovie seems to be the intent of this outing. A mini highlight in 'Subterfuge' and 'Metal Messiah' emerges at the tail end of the disc both co-written with Chris Tsangarides which clearly indicates that when an outside contribution is sought an enormous improvement can be seen. Is it a certain ego that has closed the door to such a creative process? Clearly these are the best tracks here (and even they are relatively weak) and they are pushed to the back, go figure. I honestly didn't think that after 'Jugulator' things could go any lower..infact they haven't, they just haven't got any better either. The time has come to pick up the phone. I think his name begins with an H. Start dialing now. Oh good the kettles boiled!
