Judas Priest's Reviews
Rocka Rolla (Average Rating: 7.52 out of 10)
This is an album way ahead of its time (Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by
Der Kommissar
from america
Rocka Rolla is Judas Priest's first album, and, believe it or not, it came out way back in 1974! Iron Maiden wouldn't release their debut for another 6 years, and it would take Metallica another 9 years! So, these guys got a huge head start over most metal bands. An interesting fact is that there are two covers to this album. Some versions have a figure in armor laying out missiles, and others have a bottle cap that says "Rocka Rolla" on it, written in the Coca-Cola logo font. Because this was one of Priest two efforts on a different record label, it won't be getting the remaster treatment that all of the albums from Sin After Sin to Painkiller have gotten (those re-releases contain a bonus studio track and a bonus live version of a track from the album.) Now on to the album's music itself:-One For The Road: A hard, southern-type rocker that proves to be one of Priest's strongest early efforts, even if it seems a little out of place. A -Rocka Rolla: An excellent hard rocker, in which the verses have a sort of "Ted Nugent meets AC DC" feel. The chorus, however, is uniquely JP. A -Winter: A set of eerie noises, including wood being cut with a saw and a place crash fade into a slow-mid tempo hard rocker. An interesting piece of experimentation, but it fails to please like many other tracks do. C+ -Deep Freeze: Basically an even larger collection of eerie noises, like the ones that faded into the previous track. JP was kind of wasting its time doing this. D -Winter Retreat: A slower, more melodic tune that doesn't last very long. B -Cheater: AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME! The guitar riffs here have that classic Black Sabbath feel, and Halford's harmonica playing only adds to that feeling. I'm not to crazy about Sabbath, but JP pulls off this styling nicely. A+ -Never Satisfied: Mid tempo hard rocker in which Halford uses a more melodic voice tone. This venture pays off. A- -Run Of The Mill: This song begins with slow guitars, and soon Halford joins in. Between the verses there is a brief but heavy instrumental sequence, and before the song ends a longer instrumental appears. It's called Run Of The Mill but this track is anything but. A+ -Dying To Meet You: A softer tune in all aspects, here Halford's voice is similar to that of Jim Morrison's. Just when you think it's over, Halford and the boys come back with lighter hard rock that contains an awesome riff. A -Caviar And Meths: A slow, calm instrumental that just doesn't last too long. Not bad, but kind of a wasted opportunity. B -Diamonds And Rust: A cover song featuring both soft and hard instrument use, with Halford using a melodic voice tone all the while. A As I stated before, this was an album way ahead of its time. The only other metal band at the time who had really made an impact was Black Sabbath, and it was obvious these kinds had the potential to blow their competition out of the water. The only problem was they were still in an experimental state of their career. If they could find the perfect style to call their own, then they would be ready. Don't let my omitting one star let you think this is a bad album by any means. It's just that the band was still looking for a style. No JP collection is complete without this underrated gem.
Buy this album on Amazon at $10.99
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