Gazinwales Top 50 Albums - v. #26 bitter metallic side...

[wolfking]

I was a pretty hard core Priest fan in high school - first concert, we played "Living After Midnight" in my high school band - but I fell out of favor with them after Turbo and Painkiller.   They didn' t really hold up over time for me; so much of the 80's metal (Priest, Scorpions) seemed so cheesy and contrived after delving into prog and later, prog metal (like Dream Theater).  But I've since gone back, and there's a lot of good stuff in that catalogue and this is one of them.   I'm not sure there's one skippable song on this record; sometimes I'll brush over "Freewheel Burning", because of all the falsetto singing, and "Defenders Of The Faith" because I'm sort of past "pledging allegiance to metal flag" bullcrap.   But Sentinel is an AMAZING track, and may be my favorite Priest song ever.   This is one of the recotds I go back to more than most in the catalogue, and has stood the test of time pretty well.

(Honestly, it's almost embarrassing how much of the lyrical content went right past me at that time.   And I was a teenage boy!!!)

Agree.  The only blemish on this album is Heavy Duty/DOTF.  It's an underwhelming closer.

[gazinwales]

Top 3 Priest album.  It's almost perfect.  Night Comes Down is classic in my book and so underrated.  The rest of the album just rips.

So happy to see this continuing Gaz.

What are your other 2 in the top 3?

[wolfking]

Top 3 Priest album.  It's almost perfect.  Night Comes Down is classic in my book and so underrated.  The rest of the album just rips.

So happy to see this continuing Gaz.

What are your other 2 in the top 3?

Painkiller and Jugulator.

[Stadler]

See I skew older; my top three might be Stained Class, Point Of Entry (you read that right) and Defenders Of The Faith.    Screaming may be in there too (I love that record, even though it has "the hit"). 

[TAC]

I go Screaming, Defenders, and Painkiller.

[Stadler]

I need to revisit Painkiller.   

[TAC]

I need to revisit Painkiller.

You should've never unvisited it.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I need to revisit Painkiller.

You should've never unvisited it.

[gazinwales]

I'm not really familiar at all with any of the pre British Steel albums, which I am in the process of rectifying.
So my current top 3 would be:
1. Defenders
2. Turbo (no laughing please!)
3. Firepower

[wolfking]

Roast me but, I always thought Screaming was overrated.

[wolfking]

I need to revisit Painkiller.

You should've never unvisited it.

This.

[gazinwales]

Roast me but, I always thought Screaming was overrated.

Me too, but it had the 'hit' that broke them in the USA.
That said it does has some very strong material, but a couple of not-so-good songs too.

[wolfking]

Roast me but, I always thought Screaming was overrated.

Me too, but it had the 'hit' that broke them in the USA.
That said it does has some very strong material, but a couple of not-so-good songs too.

Even songs like Riding, Bloodstone and the title track I never really took to.

[Evermind]

My top three is Nostradamus, Sad Wings of Destiny and Painkiller I guess. Defenders is a fine album though.

[Stadler]

Roast me but, I always thought Screaming was overrated.

Me too, but it had the 'hit' that broke them in the USA.
That said it does has some very strong material, but a couple of not-so-good songs too.

it would make my top four for Electric Eye and Devil's Child alone.   Devil's Child might be my favorite Priest tune.  That is everything I love about Judas Priest in four minutes and however many seconds.  I'm also a fan of Fever.  It's also the first Priest album I got into so there's some nostalgia involved.

[TAC]

   Devil's Child might be my favorite Priest tune. 

Of course it would.

[Stadler]

   Devil's Child might be my favorite Priest tune. 

Of course it would.

Let me guess:  TAC's worst song on the album! 

[TAC]

   Devil's Child might be my favorite Priest tune. 

Of course it would.

Let me guess:  TAC's worst song on the album!

It's actually above Pain And Pleasure.

[Stadler]

   Devil's Child might be my favorite Priest tune. 

Of course it would.

Let me guess:  TAC's worst song on the album!

It's actually above Pain And Pleasure.

Another great song... 


(I'm kidding; not my favorite.)

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

My top three is Nostradamus, Sad Wings of Destiny and Painkiller I guess. Defenders is a fine album though.

A man after my own heart! 

Nostradamus is so underrated!

[wolfking]

   Devil's Child might be my favorite Priest tune. 

Of course it would.

Let me guess:  TAC's worst song on the album!

It's actually above Pain And Pleasure.

Another great song... 


(I'm kidding; not my favorite.)

If we are still be controversial, (Take These) Chains might be top 3 for me on the album.  Also, top 5 would be Prisoner of Your Eyes.

[wolfking]

My top three is Nostradamus, Sad Wings of Destiny and Painkiller I guess. Defenders is a fine album though.

That's as out there as my Jugulator pick, nice.  I HATED this album when it was released, but it's aged really well and I really appreciate the hell out of it now.  There's some really amazing tunes on here.  I'd probably still take my cut down single cd version, but can appreciate the pick.

[Stadler]

So I listened to Painkiller today... eh.   starts a little slow, but ends strong.  I know it's the age of CDs, but basically you can have Side A, but I like Side B. 

[TAC]

Starts a little slow?? 

Stadler!!

[Stadler]

Starts a little slow?? 

Stadler!!

That's irony.  It's all Travis' double bass onslaught until Night Crawler.  Once he starts playing normal drums, the songs get good.

(I'm kidding.  Sort of.)

[wolfking]

Normal drums? 

[TAC]

Normal drums? 

[wolfking]

Ahhh! Gotcha. 

[Stadler]

Yep, that's pretty much it.   

I happened to like Dave Holland's drumming; I just thought some of the drums, especially on the first part of the record, were very obtrusive.   I'm not a huge "double bass" fan, so it just seemed overwhelming.

[TAC]

It was deeply needed, honestly.

[wolfking]

Holland held Priest back for a long time if you ask me.

[gazinwales]

38.
Barren Earth
Cure Of The Red River
Progressive Metal

Peaceville Records 2010

1   Curse Of The Red River   7:52
2   Our Twilight   5:27
3   Forlorn Waves   4:39
4   Flicker   6:42
5   The Leer   4:56
6   The Ritual Of Dawn   6:34
7   Ere All Perish   5:54
8   Cold Earth Chamber   5:34
9   Deserted Morrows   6:50

Band line up

Kasper Mårtenson – keyboards, backing vocals (ex Amorphis)
Mikko Kotamäki – lead vocals (Swallow The Sun, Shamrain)
Sami Yli-Sirniö – lead guitar, backing vocals (Kreator)
Janne Perttilä – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (Moonsorrow)
Olli-Pekka Laine – bass, backing vocals (Amorphis)
Marko Tarvonen – drums (Moonsorrow, October Falls)

Mention the word 'supergroup' and immediately I think of hype, high expectations and disappointment.

Barren Earth came without the hype and any kind of serious expectations, but their debut album really did deliver and even now when I listen I am still floored by the song writing
arrangements and the stellar musicianship.

So what do we get here? With the names and the bands associated with them you might expect a full on extreme metal orgy of heaviness and brutality.
But what you actually get is a full on 1970's inspired blast of progressive rock at it's heaviest forged with some modern extreme vocals.
The vocals are probably 60/40 death style, with the cleans coming across in many places all 1960's British physcadelic pop style.
The music is a glorius combination of prog, death, folk, physcadelic and some shiny metallic bits just to keep things a little on the heavy side.   

Barren Earth manage to mix all this up quite nicely and with plenty of melody
If you don't mind the growling vocals, then this is easily a serious listen for anyone who likes any kind of progressive rock or metal.
Sadly this line up would only record one more album together ('The Devil's Resolve') that didn't quite match this one. They are still active all be it
with a new singer and keyboardist.

Bio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barren_Earth

Interview https://youtu.be/0BT0-ZMqbac
The Leer https://youtu.be/dGQhgTD1ffg
Flicker https://youtu.be/UwlF2KCvdyg

[Kwyjibo]

Never heard if this band or this record, but the description sounds interesting. Seems like they are on spotify, so I will give this a try.

[Evermind]

I've heard The Complex of Cages by this band (thanks to Luoto I think) and I enjoyed it. I'll give this one a spin.

[Buddyhunter1]

I should check this one out - I really like a few songs on The Devil's Resolve but I haven't explored the band much further.