Judas Priest's Reviews

Jugulator

(Average Rating: 6.88 out of 10)

Not bad, but not Priest

(Rated this album with 6 out of 10)
Reviewed by punkviper from Western PA, USA

I actually liked this CD when it first came out, but boy does it get old fast. Judas Priest is my preferred metal band of all time, and the handful of hallmark albums they released (Stained Class, Hell Bent, British Steel, PoE, and Screaming) can stand toe to toe with ANY metal band that ever lived. But this... this CD is not Priest.

The music isn't bad, but it's painfully clear that Timmy sounds a LOT more like Layne Staley (Alice In Chains) than Rob Halford. And the music here is very chugga-chugga, pseudo 90's metal, sludgy, boring radio-rock-oriented stuff. By another name, this CD would not have been so bad, but as it has the (un)holy Judas Priest nameplate on it, the scrutiny is intense, and this one fails that test. While bookended by decent tunes, the meat of this one suffers from boredom and same-soundedness. Try to stay awake.

Yes, the last song, Cathedral Spires, is quality and deserves to be the only song off of this album NOT consigned to the dust bin of history. But if the Priest were thinking "comeback" with this one, they should be ashamed. Sure, aging metalheads will flock to any reformed version of the powerhouses of their youth, but at the same time that they listen to these tunes, they'll be humming "Hell Bent For Leather" in their heads. I highly doubt that anyone who wants to hear "a Judas Priest CD" will reach for this one.

(Go listen to Maiden's Brave New World. Now THAT is a comeback album!)

Buy this album on Amazon at $16.98