Judas Priest's Reviews
Turbo (Average Rating: 5.88 out of 10)
The synth experiment that brought them from fame to infamy (Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by
tkdmateo
from Manhattan, Kansas United States
Turbo. Judas Priest's tenth album. They had just come out of their most successful period in the band's career. Screaming For Vengeance(1982) became the band's best selling album with Defenders Of The Faith(1984) meeting the fans expectations, despite panning by the critics. Now we arrive to the 85-87 era: the period in rock/metal history where numerous hair bands popped up and other bands brought forth the heaviest usage of synthesizers the whole decade. Joining the bandwagon is the legendary Judas Priest, whose reputation was previously brought up by their trademark heavy sound and solid influence on popular metal. Well, as the linear notes say, they decided to push parameters of metal into unfamiliar territory. And that's exactly what they did.While experimenting with tons of synthesized guitars and sequencers, they managed to create enough songs to release as a double album. They were originally going to release a 2-disc set called "Twin Turbos" but their record company denied them, so they scrapped some of the songs and saved a few others to be released in the upcoming Ram It Down(1988) album. So instead, they just took their commercial radio-friendly tracks and created Turbo(1986). While they managed to gain some new fans through their two singles, the rest of the fans dropped their jaws in dismay at what their favorite band was now playing. The only song that still gets airplay off this album is its powerful title track, Turbo Lover. Despite the synthesizers, it manages to be dark and haunting, unlike the rest of this album. I dissagree with other reviewers who say that Turbo sounds purely like hair metal. For the first half or so, it resembles more along the lines of heavy pop/rock like Kenny Loggins's Danger Zone or anything else off of the Top Gun movie soundtrack that came out that same year. Out In The Cold is a powerful ballad, while Private Property, Locked In, Wild Nights Hot & Crazy Days, and Reckless are general rockers that fans may like or hate. The other three tracks are awful throwaways which could have made way for the much better album cut, Prisoner Of Your Eyes. All Fired Up is a good Freewheel Burning style song, but the live version of Locked In belongs in Priest...Live!(1987) Following the album, Priest had their biggest American tour and then returned to true heavy metal with Ram It Down(1988) and Painkiller(1990). Unfortunately Turbo's differenciation put a permanent scar in their reputation and to this day they have never fully recovered. Overall, I cannot recommend this album to first time Priest listeners because of its radical difference from the rest of the catalogue. But then again I can't recommend this to the hard-core Priest fans either. I guess if you have a soft spot (like me) for 80s power pop/rock and hair metal style music with layers upon layers of synthesizers then this might be for you. IF NOT THEN STAY AWAY. STAY FAR AWAY. THIS IS NOT SCREAMING, DEFENDERS, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT THEY HAVE DONE. At the very least listen to the title track. I give this album 3 stars for the album itself, and added an extra star for the great-quality extra tracks and the incredible remastering (this album seems to benefit the most from the volume boost), giving this an overall 4 star rating. If this album has two chief strengths, they are 1) the killer title track and 2)Showing the fans that they have the balls to try something new and different. Did they succeed in doing so? Yes. But do the fans like it? Not so much.
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