Off topic a little bit. Am I the only one who wishes Halford never came back and they had gone further down into a heavier sound like Jugulator?
Raises hand.
From a business point of view, the reunion needed to happen, but Jugulator was the freshest and one of the most exciting things the band have done. Demolition was good, but falls very short compared to Jugulator.
It seems since Rob returned, the KK and Glen almost seemed forced into writing more in the vein of older Priest. If you listen to Tipton's solo albums, you can hear what they did on Jugulator and Demolition was the directions they actually wanted to go.
I think the reunion affected the music and the creativity of the band. Nostradamus seemed like the band were still doing things differently, but it sounds forced. Jugulator and Demolition sound much more natural and free flowing.
I also wonder if this had anything to do with KK's departure.
Was there any bad blood between them and Ripper? I haven't dug into that for more info other than the press releases.
No. Ripper totally understood and accepted the situation. I'm sure going into it he knew that was going to happen one day. He said they were great friends and Ken and Glen handled the situation like real gentlemen and Priest looked after him on his departing.