Don't say I never give you anything. Even if those things aren't what you want, I still give them to you.
With that, onto this review of Judas Priest's latest album!
I really wanted this album to be awesome.
With a cover like that, I wanted it to blow my fucking balls off with dynamic Metal anthems, blistering solos and riffs perfect for any headbanging air guitarist. Don't get me wrong, the album delivers those on most tracks...and yet my balls remain fully attached. The closest they came to flying out of my trousers in an explosion of Rock was after the album opener, Dragonaut.
The standard is set incredibly high with a thunderous powerhouse that could easily go toe to toe with any of Priest's heaviest songs to date. Not only does it deliver excellent riffs and vocal work from Glenn Tipton and Rob Halford respectively but it also proves that new guitarist Richie Faulkner (replacing K.K Downing who left in 2011) fits right into place with the Metal Gods.
Unfortunately, the standard is set a little too high as none of the other songs on the album come anywhere near it. The closest songs that recreate the level of intense energy and power are Down In Flames, which could've been written for "Point Of Entry" with its thumping rhythm and lyrics about "going down in a blaze of glory", Halls Of Valhalla, sporting a typical Power Metal intro on guitar followed by classic Priest, and Battle Cry, featuring some operatic vocals from Halford.
There are plenty of tracks that were good but failed to hook me in the way those four did. The familiar Judas Priest musical staples are all there, from Scott Travis' double bass pedal domination on Sword Of Damocles to the lyrics about some kind of tremendous juggernaut devastating everything in its path on Metalizer. To the band's credit, they still know how to write great music. If performed by any other band, March Of The Damned would sound like a knock-off of Sign Of The Crimson Storm - Riot. However, when combined with Halford's raspy growls and Tipton's raw chugging chords, the tune becomes their own.
There are also tracks that deviate from the sound you'd expect to hear on a Judas Priest album, such as Secrets Of The Dead which gets a bit progressive with synthesiser solos and Cold Blooded which feels like it'd be more at home on one of the more recent Iron Maiden albums. It probably comes down to taste with these songs, as I was completely indifferent to them despite knowing that they're not bad songs in the slightest.
Unfortunately, there are also tracks that felt like a chore to listen to all the way through. Beginning Of The End finishes the album on a wet and moody note, featuring Halford doing his Ozzy Osbourne impression to some soulful guitar playing until the drums kick in and turn the track into a power ballad. Yeah, because that's how you end a Metal album. A fucking power ballad.
So what's worse than a weak ending? How about a flat title track? Redeemer Of Souls feels very plain for a band of this calibre and certainly lacks the energy and ferocity I would expect from a title track on a Metal album, let alone the second song on the entire record. If anything, it sounds like it was performed by one of the many European Metal bands who have tried to be Judas Priest since the late 80's, galloping rhythm and all. It may follow the formula but it lacks the spark that makes the band stand out from all the others.
All in all, "Redeemer Of Souls" is a solid album. You've got track diversity with a comprehensive range from 'absolutely fucking awesome' to 'what in the shit is this doing on a Judas Priest album?' and there's not one weak link in the band. Sadly, this lacks the consistently passionate rage of "Painkiller" and the talented riffwork of "Screaming For Vengeance" which two out of three singles from the album promised, meaning there are few tracks I would ever want to listen to more than a couple of times.
I give it a 7/10 and would recommend it to fans of Judas Priest and modern Heavy Metal but not Metalheads who only know Priest for their signature tracks. I probably should've known this album wouldn't meet all my standards when I first heard Redeemer Of Souls months ago. After all, you can't judge a book by its cover but I guess you can judge an album by its title track.
* I'm not reviewing the Deluxe edition of this album with the five extra songs because personally, I don't see why they couldn't have included those tracks on the regular album instead of giving places like HMV an excuse to charge an extra tenner for it. I think one of the guitarists gave some piss-weak explanation about how they belong on their own disc but sadly, I'm not buying it...in every sense of the term.
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