Judas Priest's Reviews

Demolition

Not worthy of the Priest catalog

[YOU'LL NEVER MEET A GREATER PRIEST FAN THAN I, SO THAT'S WHY I'M BEING HARSH ON THIS REVIEW. I FEEL THAT THIS ALBUM DOES NOT DO PRIEST ANY JUSTICE.]

I made the mistake of buying this the instant it came out in stores. I've been a big fan of Priest for quite some time now. All of their albums so far have been very different from each other, but overall enjoyable throughout, with the exceptions of Jugulator and Rocka Rolla. From the hard edge sound of British Steel and the melodic stylings of Defenders of the Faith, to the electronic pulses of Turbo and scorching thrash riffs of Painkiller, Priest has always been able to deliver a unique sound with each oncoming album. This continued with the newer albums, but with strictly mediocre results. Demolition comes across as an improvement over Jugulator to a certain degree, but it's never quite up to par with any of the other albums. The songs themselves are a bit more calm now, but they still showcase Jugulator's modern-grungey nu-metal sound, VERY UNLIKE PRIEST. Tipton and K.K. do play guitar solo trade-offs, an essential piece that seemed to be completely missing from Jugulator. However, there's only a couple of them, and they end up sounding very uninspired. The greatest problem here is Ripper. It's not Ripper himself, as he'd be quite a good vocalist in other bands, but he just doesn't belong in Priest. Plus, the lyrics are so cheezy that I'm surprised that he can actually sing them with a straight face.

Ther are a few places that somewhat represent Priest of the past, such as the speedy 'Machine Man', or the haunting 'Bloodsuckers'. Even the ballad 'Close To You' and the rocker 'Feed On Me' are fairly decent. However, those four tracks alone do not make this disc worth purchasing, as the rest of it is pure junk. 'Metal Messiah' had promise for its incredible chorus, but the rap-metal style verses ruin it. About halfway through the disc, it becomes apparent that the real talent behind the songwriting was Rob Halford, as his career is currently far more promising than that of his former bandmates.

Overall, I'd say that Demolition is definitely not worth the price. It does rock in a couple of places (few and far between), but it's not a worthy addition to the priest discography. DON'T COME HERE EXPECTING ANOTHER DEFENDERS, STAINED CLASS, OR PAINKILLER. If you want to hear Ripper at his best, buy 98 Live Meltdown(1998) or Live In London(2003), and if you want to hear Halford again, buy anything else. Even though they still sound great live, AVOID ANY NEW STUDIO RECORDINGS. Want a Priest album that's melodic? Try Screaming For Vengeance or Defenders Of The Faith instead. Want something very heavy, but done extremely well? Try Painkiller instead. But even if you do like grunge/nu-metal rock, you will still find Demolition to be well below average. It's safe for me to say that my favorite metal band Judas Priest, though once an incredibly amazing band, is now officially dead. NOT RECOMMENDED.

Buy this album on Amazon at $17.98