THE Judas Priest thread - v. new album and tour in 2024

[jjrock88]

I'm a big Bruce fan, he has an awesome voice, BUT compared to others like Rage or Halford, his range doesn't quite match up to theirs.

Does anyone else agree that Sad Wings of Destiny is really one of Priests best albums? I've been listening to Priest a lot lately, and there's something in that album that their other stuff is lacking. It has more depth than, say, Screaming For Vengeance. The most popular Priest albums are my least favorites, not all but a lot.

They're best albums are: Sad Wings, Jugulator, Angel of Retribution, and Redeemer of Souls.

Sad Wings of Destiny is my favourite Priest album, hands down. It made my Top 50 Albums List, I had it at #26. Fantastic album. Victim of Changes and Dreamer Deceiver are as good as it gets.

I also agree that Angel of Retribution is a brilliant album, very good indeed. I think I'm going to spin it right now. Sadly can't agree about Redeemer of Souls, not a fan of that one.

You all probably know my opinion on Nostradamus so I'll just be silent on that matter.

Good call on Dreamer Deceiver.  As awesome as Priest is, they never seem to get enough credit when it comes to their power ballads.  Dreamer Deceiver is definitely right near the top.  Beyond the Realms of Death, Before the Dawn, Here Comes the Tears, Take These Chains, Out in the Cold, Blood Red Skies, Touch of Evil and Night Comes Down are also spectacular

[Evermind]

I mostly love all the songs you mentioned, but I'd like to single out Beyond the Realms of Death out of these. The solo on this one is just magnificent.

[jjrock88]

I mostly love all the songs you mentioned, but I'd like to single out Beyond the Realms of Death out of these. The solo on this one is just magnificent.

one of the best ever

[Stadler]

Good call on Dreamer Deceiver.  As awesome as Priest is, they never seem to get enough credit when it comes to their power ballads.  Dreamer Deceiver is definitely right near the top.  Beyond the Realms of Death, Before the Dawn, Here Comes the Tears, Take These Chains, Out in the Cold, Blood Red Skies, Touch of Evil and Night Comes Down are also spectacular

Last Rose of Summer for me.  LOVE that song.  Top ten Priest song for me.

[wolfking]

I mostly love all the songs you mentioned, but I'd like to single out Beyond the Realms of Death out of these. The solo on this one is just magnificent.

Glenn's is possibly the best ever.  One of anyway.

Speaking of Priest ballads and top 10.  A top 10 massively underrated Priest song for me that Jason did mention up there is Here Come the Tears, I fucking love that song.

[jjrock88]

I mostly love all the songs you mentioned, but I'd like to single out Beyond the Realms of Death out of these. The solo on this one is just magnificent.

Glenn's is possibly the best ever.  One of anyway.

Speaking of Priest ballads and top 10.  A top 10 massively underrated Priest song for me that Jason did mention up there is Here Come the Tears, I fucking love that song.

The best part of Here Comes the Tears is that its not only a fantastic song, but it leads into one of the most kick ass songs of all time.  Priest or any other band-  Dissident Aggressor!!!

[wolfking]

Yeah man, absolutely, works so well together, absolute perfection.  Sin After Sin on a whole is so underrated.

[jjrock88]

Yeah man, absolutely, works so well together, absolute perfection.  Sin After Sin on a whole is so underrated.

Big time.  Also going back to power ballads from Priest, Last Rose of Summer from Sin after Sin is a beautiful tune.

[wolfking]

Yeah man, absolutely, works so well together, absolute perfection.  Sin After Sin on a whole is so underrated.

Big time.  Also going back to power ballads from Priest, Last Rose of Summer from Sin after Sin is a beautiful tune.

Something different for sure, but yeah a real nice piece.

[KevShmev]

Does anyone else agree that Sad Wings of Destiny is really one of Priests best albums? I've been listening to Priest a lot lately, and there's something in that album that their other stuff is lacking. It has more depth than, say, Screaming For Vengeance. The most popular Priest albums are my least favorites, not all but a lot.

They're best albums are: Sad Wings, Jugulator, Angel of Retribution, and Redeemer of Souls.

I agree that Sad Wings is one of their best, but those others you mentioned are certainly not (although I do like 3-4 songs on Angel of Retribution a lot). 

[Dream Team]

I'm a big Bruce fan, he has an awesome voice, BUT compared to others like Rage or Halford, his range doesn't quite match up to theirs.

Does anyone else agree that Sad Wings of Destiny is really one of Priests best albums? I've been listening to Priest a lot lately, and there's something in that album that their other stuff is lacking. It has more depth than, say, Screaming For Vengeance. The most popular Priest albums are my least favorites, not all but a lot.

They're best albums are: Sad Wings, Jugulator, Angel of Retribution, and Redeemer of Souls.

Yeah, that's hardly a controversial opinion re: SWoD. Between all critics and fans it probably averages out to #1.

[bl5150]

I love the Sad Wings art (and have a tee ) but my love of Priest really begins at British Steel.

[Mosh]

Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I don't count the Ripper albums.

Neither do Priest.

Sad Wings is awesome, but I listened to it back to back with Sin After Sin and the latter was without a doubt the better album. Sad Wings is a WDADU -> I&W level jump in quality for Priest, but they're still refining their sound a bit. Sin After Sin is the pinnacle of 70s Priest.

For me, the holy trinity (taking one from each decade) is Sin After Sin, Screaming For Vengeance, and Painkiller.

[jammindude]

Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I don't count the Ripper albums.

Neither do Priest.

Totally a shame.   Demolition is a mess, but Jugulator is just AMAZING.  Cathedral Spires is possibly the greatest JP album closer of all time.   And Live Meltdown by itself is reason enough to legitimize the Ripper-era.    I'm an old school JP fan....but Live Meltdown is my favorite Priest Live album.

[Mosh]

I'm with you there, 98 Live Meltdown is awesome and Jugulator has great tunes. I remember when they announced the Eptitaph tour they said they would play a song from every album, they ended up playing a song from every album except the two with Ripper. It's a shame they were willing to give Rocka Rolla some play time but not Jugulator, which is a far superior album and I'd love to hear Rob's take on some of those songs.

[jjrock88]

98 Live Meltdown is my favorite live album ever, by any band

[Stadler]

Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I don't count the Ripper albums.

Neither do Priest.

Totally a shame.   Demolition is a mess, but Jugulator is just AMAZING.  Cathedral Spires is possibly the greatest JP album closer of all time.   And Live Meltdown by itself is reason enough to legitimize the Ripper-era.    I'm an old school JP fan....but Live Meltdown is my favorite Priest Live album.

But therein is the Priest problem.   Now, I'm a huge Maiden fan (first concert ever was Maiden opening for Priest in '82) and compared to them, Priest just comes off a little cartoony.   The "Metal God".  "Jugulator".  What the fuck is a "Jugulator"?  Booby fondler?   I like Priest - have all their albums except the Ripper ones - but it's a little over the top for me, and despite some great tunes, drops them a notch for me. 

[jammindude]

Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I don't count the Ripper albums.

Neither do Priest.

Totally a shame.   Demolition is a mess, but Jugulator is just AMAZING.  Cathedral Spires is possibly the greatest JP album closer of all time.   And Live Meltdown by itself is reason enough to legitimize the Ripper-era.    I'm an old school JP fan....but Live Meltdown is my favorite Priest Live album.

But therein is the Priest problem.   Now, I'm a huge Maiden fan (first concert ever was Maiden opening for Priest in '82) and compared to them, Priest just comes off a little cartoony.   The "Metal God".  "Jugulator".  What the fuck is a "Jugulator"?  Booby fondler?   I like Priest - have all their albums except the Ripper ones - but it's a little over the top for me, and despite some great tunes, drops them a notch for me.

Oh come on! How is the Jugulator any different than the Hellion from SFV? Or the character on the front of DOTF? Or the Painkiller? All classic Halford albums...all NO DIFFERENT than the Jugulator.

[Mosh]

Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I don't count the Ripper albums.

Neither do Priest.

Totally a shame.   Demolition is a mess, but Jugulator is just AMAZING.  Cathedral Spires is possibly the greatest JP album closer of all time.   And Live Meltdown by itself is reason enough to legitimize the Ripper-era.    I'm an old school JP fan....but Live Meltdown is my favorite Priest Live album.

But therein is the Priest problem.   Now, I'm a huge Maiden fan (first concert ever was Maiden opening for Priest in '82) and compared to them, Priest just comes off a little cartoony.   The "Metal God".  "Jugulator".  What the fuck is a "Jugulator"?  Booby fondler?   I like Priest - have all their albums except the Ripper ones - but it's a little over the top for me, and despite some great tunes, drops them a notch for me.

Totally with you there. Priest are awesome, but Maiden just resonates deeper for me.

[KevShmev]

I get where Stadler is coming from.  On the surface, those various names Priest come up - Demonizer, Pain Killer, Night Crawler, etc. - are pretty silly, and let's face it, their lyrics are generally somewhat...pedestrian.

I look Priest as like the equivalent of an action movie: I am not expecting anything deep, but it's still good, mindless fun. 

[jammindude]

I know that.  I was just objecting to singling out Jugulator as if it was somehow cartoony when the others aren't.   

[NotePad]

A lot of song and album titles are based around demons and other characters they come up with. I felt that Glenn and KK did a good job of taking over this with the lyrics for Jugulator and Demolition. I'm assuming Rob writes the lyrics.

And Demolition was far from a mess. Although I don't see it as sounding like classic Priest like some say. It had to many 'modem' metal elements for that.

[Mosh]

I know that.  I was just objecting to singling out Jugulator as if it was somehow cartoony when the others aren't.   

I got the impression that he thinks the others are all cartoony, just using Jug as an example.

It's their shtick and I don't mind it. They used to have really thoughtful lyrics though, Beyond the Realms of Death immediately comes to mind.

Demolition is one of the worst albums I've ever heard. It's up there with the likes of St. Anger.

[MirrorMask]

Speaking of over the top Priest "monsters" and questionable lyrics, try to never find out what Jawbreaker is REALLY about.

[Scorpion]

Isn't Eat Me Alive about oral sex?

[MirrorMask]

Well, that also, but in that case they didn't try to hide it 

[wolfking]

Isn't Eat Me Alive about oral sex?

Pretty much. 

[Scorpion]

I'm currently relistening Nostradamus - still a great album, btw - and it made me think: are there any other Priest albums that features songs completely without drumming? I can't think of any off-hand, but I'd be curious to know if I'm missing any. Nostradamus definitely has Lost Love, and I think some of the interludes don't feature any drumming either, but I'm not sure on those, tbh.

[Stadler]

Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but I don't count the Ripper albums.

Neither do Priest.

Totally a shame.   Demolition is a mess, but Jugulator is just AMAZING.  Cathedral Spires is possibly the greatest JP album closer of all time.   And Live Meltdown by itself is reason enough to legitimize the Ripper-era.    I'm an old school JP fan....but Live Meltdown is my favorite Priest Live album.

But therein is the Priest problem.   Now, I'm a huge Maiden fan (first concert ever was Maiden opening for Priest in '82) and compared to them, Priest just comes off a little cartoony.   The "Metal God".  "Jugulator".  What the fuck is a "Jugulator"?  Booby fondler?   I like Priest - have all their albums except the Ripper ones - but it's a little over the top for me, and despite some great tunes, drops them a notch for me.

Oh come on! How is the Jugulator any different than the Hellion from SFV? Or the character on the front of DOTF? Or the Painkiller? All classic Halford albums...all NO DIFFERENT than the Jugulator.

And all cartoony.   I'm not arguing with you but you are in a way making my point. 

I outgrew the "METAL ROOLS, EVERYONE ELSE IS FOOLS!  DIE FOR METAL MUTHAFUCKAS!" mentality in '84.... wait, I never really HAD that mentality.   I get it, love your lifestyle and live it to the fullest, but I kind of got into the touchpoints of Maiden (and Sabbath for that matter) more than I did those of Priest.   Their best albums - and the parts of their albums I love the best - were always the parts where they brought it back down to less of a caricature.  We DON'T Rock, I DON'T Wanna Rock, and I'm not Defending The Faith.  Though I've dated a couple women that could be the subject of "Devil's Child". 

It's my one knock on later Sabbath; once someone told Iommi that he was the "RIFFMASTER GENERAL", and all he had to do was pile a couple of monster pieces of riffage together, instead of crafting SONGS like Spiral Architect, their work went down a notch (that's why I like the first two Dio records only, and while I have since gone back and found much to appreciate about Dehumanizer, I dismissed it for years as just a one-note sludge-fest).

No one talks about it much, but it's why I liked Point of Entry so much.  Some have called it Rob's "gay" album, and while I'm not gay at all, I thought it was a great exploration - to the extent you can explore the inner feelings of a gay man on a metal record, let's keep SOME perspective - of something REAL, as opposed to "Killing Machines" and what not.   

[Stadler]

I think it's clear, now, what with the novelette I just wrote (haha) but Mosh had it exactly right. 

And my wife knows what "Jawbreaker" is about!  Ba-dum PAH!

[PowerSlave]

It's my one knock on later Sabbath; once someone told Iommi that he was the "RIFFMASTER GENERAL", and all he had to do was pile a couple of monster pieces of riffage together, instead of crafting SONGS like Spiral Architect, their work went down a notch (that's why I like the first two Dio records only, and while I have since gone back and found much to appreciate about Dehumanizer, I dismissed it for years as just a one-note sludge-fest).

The Devil You Know is a masterpiece. I know that it's not officially a BS album (thanks to Ozzy), but from what I can tell it seems that most fans consider it canon.

[TAC]

I feel like "masterpiece" is a bit strong for TDYK.

[MirrorMask]

The Devil You Know is indeed great. Not mindblowingly awesome, but at least hafl the album has very great songs. I've seen only Heaven and Hell live, I never saw them with Ozzy, but if you ask me if I saw Black Sabbath live, I will answer you "yes, with Dio, the Heaven and Hell incarnation". I count myself has having seen the second most famous lineup of Black Sabbath because that's what it was. The name change was welcomed from Tony Iommi as well however, I don't think it's "evil Sharon" who forced them, they probably 1) wanted to avoid all the headaches and 2) not be forced to play Iron Man and Paranoid since the band was billed in a different way.

Imagine an alternate reality when the Ripper album with Priest are immensely popular - wouldn't Ripper, Tipton, Downing, Hill and Travis have an easier time billing themselves as Jugulators and play songs only from Jugulator and Demolition? and wouldn't the difference with "Judas Priest" be only semantics?

[TAC]

The Jugulators!


Sounds awesome!!

[jjrock88]

Love the Jugs!!!