The Heavy Metal Thread

April 06, 2024 02:31 AM


Judas Priest - Firepower (2018)

Genres: Heavy Metal


Judas Priest were lighter than what metal should be interpreted as for many of their early albums, and that all chanced with the surprise comeback album Painkiller, which perfected the metal tropes that the same band's earlier albums helped to influence.  They had steered into Metal Church and Metallica territory and reinvented themselves.  Unfortunately, nobody liked what came after that until almost 30 years later, when these 70-year-olds put out Firepower, their second comeback album.  Now Judas Priest are once again the talk of the metal world.  However, does this even come close to Painkiller?

As far as attacking the entire heavy metal genre goes, most of these songs are exercises in one or another typical stle of heavy metal.  The album dives into speed, power, thrash and even arena rock territory without ever fully crossing those borders, allowing Judas Priest to both stay true to their Painkiller sound while addressing the variety of the genre they influenced.  And boy, does this trope fest give you ALL the goods.  Each melody and riff is quite catchy and packed with energy that almost reaches Painkiller heights.  Right from the get-go, you know what your getting as its opening title track punches you in the face with its own energy.  And even though it's obvious that Halford's voice aged, he's still able to hold the metallic sound of it very well, perfectly fitting into Priest's style yet again.  And lyrically, the album's loaded with all the metal themes of the classic age: the warnings against Satanism and the horror stories that come from it, the machine guns blasting over the battlefield, comparing your sex appeal to weather like you're suddenly a Norse god, etc. etc.  And these lyrics are all pretty good and easy to sing along with.

So basically, you kind of have to say that this is the kind of album that's been done before, not only by Priest before but by other bands.  I occasionally even got a WASP feel.  The real clincher here is that none of these tropes are poorly delivered.  So the fact that these guys can stay this good after a series of failures between Painkiller and this shows that they're becoming more aware of what they must be, and it looks like the success stemming from their awareness carries on into Invincible Shield.  Firepower is one of the most spirited metal albums of the 2010's.  If you don't like heavy metal at all, you might find this generic.  If you do, you really should check this out.  If it was released around the time British Steel was, it would be one of their original classics.  On the other hand, you could say it bears a strong nostalgic touch thanks to its spirit, as is the justification for "pizza thrash,"  I mean, let's be honest.  Priest weren't quite this metallic and loud in the 80's, and this sounds just like an 80's album by another band that was heavier at the time, so the weird thing is that while this is a generic but good album, it's also an album that the band HASN'T DONE BEFORE.

86 / 100

April 06, 2024 03:36 AM


Judas Priest - Invincible Shield (2024)

Genres: Heavy Metal

Six years later, right?  Seems a bit long to wait for another Judas Priest album after they've had a SECOND comeback.  But maybe that length was taken for the band to really hone their skills again and try to improve.  If that's the case, they succeeded, because their new album is some purified metal with a nostalgic feel that also acts as a step forward from the overly-80's Firepower, being its own thing and having been seen as the next essential in the Priest catalog.

I was totally taken by surprise with those totally-synthed up Def Leppard drums and guitar sounds for the intro, which eventually becomes a flat-out power metal song on par with the works of Gamma Ray.  Halford's voice and the backing voices work together with a pure and shining harmony that to me is like a metal version of Simon and Garfunkel.  Halford's gotten a stronger hold on his voice, which can be clearly heard on this album, even while the production assaults you with a wild range of metal noises and effects.  Two songs in and this is already a huge improvement over Firepower.  Of course, by the time the title-track came along, I was afraid the album was going to be quite samey, which is something that Firepower largely avoided until the last third, as it was too long of an album not to fall victim to it.  Thankfully, the title track had levels of metal energy that rival the Arrange Edition of the F-Zero X soundtrack.

The entire first half was a bit samey with difference largely just going to the tempos, so whatever weirdness came from the intro wasn't going to be common.  Thankfully, side B starts with a ballad: Crown of Horns, so there change in pace is powerful without damaging the flow, as this song is quite a good ballad that shows that Halford still has vocal range.  And despite its ballad status, this doesn't stop the instrumentation from being thick and featuring a dense metal atmosphere.  Of course, the album goes right back into thrash territory immediately afterwards, but this is still good because nothing on Side A was as heavy lightning-speed-driven as the song As God as My Witness.  So I interpret this as the album doing two new things on Side B to compensate for a samey side A.  This sounds familiar: Hounds of Love? Trial By Fire even experiments with the rhythm some while teetering on the balance between heavy metal and metal ballad.  So By this point I'm fine with another song sounding like something from the first half.  The tunes take a little of a drop in rhythmic quality once they go back to the normality of the first half, but are still enjoyable.

Invincible Shield shows a noticeable improvement over Firepower and is a greater testament to what Judas Priest is capable of.  Through denser metal atmospheres and instrumentation, as well as a willingness to push even further than Painkiller, Invincible Shield overcome the 80's nostalgic vibe that could be interpreted as "being done before," and stands as a modern classic.

April 26, 2024 03:29 AM


Avenged Sevenfold - City of Evil

Genres: Heavy Metal

I'm glad I'm finally on this Avenged Sevenfold kick.  I've put them off for years out of lack of interest for metalcore and alternative metal.  I was extremely eager to see where the band's mutation would take them, putting their crappy debut on exactly the same level (and directly above on my list of all albums I've heard ranked from best to worst) as The Unspoken King by Cryptopsy, and having been fairly satisfied with the increase in melodic and emotional focus on the second.  But now comes the monster of metal: City of Evil, one of the most controversially diverse albums in both genre-bending and online ratings.

The album kicks off with their iconic song, Beast and the Harlot.  I heard this song a couple times years ago out of curiosity, but I wasn't inspired to go into the whole album yet despite liking it.  But I had VERY little recollection of it, so the Judas Priest shift into thrashy power metal territory took me a little by surprise.  One guy on RYM said it sounds like something you'd hear from the Sonic 2 soundtrack.  Now I've played enough Sonic games to know what that means (not Sonic 2, though), but this is NOT Crush 40 here.  I'd rather sing along with "Her plagues will come all at once as her mourners watch her burn" than "I can feel your every rage, step aside I'll turn the page."  The difference here is THIS SONG IS NOT THROWN TOGETHER.  Although, the shift between thrashy metal and Helloween melodies feels a little out of place sometimes, despite being a lot of fun.

That was just for the first song.  Next is Burn It Down, which is more F-Zero-rooted than Sonic-rooted, and the thrash factor is pretty high.  You can tell these guys are Metallica fans, but it feels more like influence than straight out copying.  The melodic factor works beautifully with the singer's melodic vocals despite the high thrash factor.  It looks like they finally found the balance between melody and energy that they struggled with on the debut and improved on with Waking the Fallen.

There's a metalcore drum kick that starts Blinded in Chains.  Like a few songs from WtF (oh), it combines elements of melodic metalcore with power metal, but this was easily the best metalcore effort I had heard.  There's obvious vocal overlapping in the production, but the experience it creates is purely badass and never lets go of the melodic touches.  In fact, this song boasts some of their best melodies.  The song also has an out-of-whack and creepy fade-out segment which lasts about a minute and a half, but does a great job with the dramatic flair without ever overdoing it.  I guess this is another favorite AVS song of mine.  But no matter how hard I tried, I didn't get the Samson reference I was expected because of that obvious title.  Huh.

"He who makes a beast out of himself..."Here it comes, their potential magnum opus.  Melodically their best song so far, does an excellent job shifting from energetic metal to slow ballady alt-rock like it's nothing, and does an excellent job bringing standard hardcore punk into the alt-metal world.  On top of that, it's got an incredibly catchy guitar riff.  Even if it's not a very extreme one, it's an empowering one.  I've gotten aching arms and fingers doing air guitar to this.  Probably the best thing that ever came out of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and the movie was already good.

Trashed and Scattered blasted me into the "powercore" of the last album, but it wasn't so jarring as the shift between ballads and almost-deathcore like on WtF.  It felt so natural because the previous songs set a standard of diversity and aura that feels difficult to break.  Once again we get some extremely catchy rhythms.  Or maybe it's just me because I'm a power metal sucker, and I've been waiting for a band to really pull of the combination of metalcore and power metal.  This is what I expect.

Next, Seize the Day... OK, maybe I should've expected this, but a piano-rooted alt-rock ballad threw me off.  It didn't fuck with the vibe or anything, but it was a really pleasant surprise.  There's an easy comparison many have made to GNR, which may detract from the originality of the song itself, but at least it's a totally different singer.  Anyway, it's pretty cute and it's a welcome addition.  I think the vocal melodies outshine the instrumentation, though.

Sidewinder is next.  Here we have another energetic ballad that steers into some fairly progressive melodic territory.  It hits all the right notes for a proper alchemic reaction, balancing the rhythms, moods and hard rock / heavy metal vibes. The song goes on with this surprisingly soothing energy for two-thirds of the song before kicking into a latin rock solo, never breaking the vibes.  That's pretty smart of them.  Not really overlong for seven minutes.

There's a welcome return to racecar metalcore and thrash metal with The Wicked End, featuring a wonkier lead riff with a little bit of djent attached.  But the song slowly mutates overtime, playing with varying levels of energy before somehow naturally working its way into a slow, symphonic chorus during the middle section and helping to overlap the third act until it kicks back into the thrash.  Is this the band's Stairway to Heaven?  Or is it just lacking focus?  No.  No way it's lacking focus.  It felt natural, and that's what makes it work.  The entire first album was loaded with metalcore tropes that didn't work together, so I'm going to approve this song and anyone can fight me on that if they want.  I'm a bit surprised this isn't the closer.  Maybe the album would be fine if it ended here, but I was gonna give the other three tracks a go and finish the album anyway.

The perfect way to start a song after that ambitious monster is with a slow pairing of acoustic guitar and violins recreating the wild west.  This is the beginning of Strength of the World.  Alright, after everything I've heard, I'll give them a spaghetti western beginning.  What does anyone have to lose?  It's not fucking with the flow.  After the minute-and-twenty-second intro, we get back into the electric guitars and build up into a thrash riff and goes into a fairly heavy and meaningful song that doesn't try very hard to go into more drama and relies on high-pitched guitars and the singer's voice to do all the work.  Personally, I think for nine minutes this should've had more focus, but it's not bad.  Besides, the song does mix it up again by bringing back the acoustic guitars and going into western ballad territory, and eventually into energetic riffs again and finally a cinematic violin outro.  It's another ambitious track, but it doesn't really have the same oomph or balance as The Wicked End.

The second-to-last track is Betrayed, and I feel like this one's a little melodically challenged.  The riffs and verses feel a little wonky and don't flow very well.  It's obvious they were trying a little too hard with this song, and that it was basically filler for a seventy-minute album.  Bad move, really.

This monolith ends with M.I.A.  It begins how I expect, with a softer intro before forcing itself back into energetic territory.  Thankfully, the band chose the right genre to go back to: metalcore, their roots.  But this time, the melodies work and the unpredictability is balanced. I mean, the melodies aren't amazing, but they drive this eight minute song from beginning to end and never loses its grip.

Alright, I'm extremely happy to say that I've given their iconic third album a spin.  And now to goad half the metal community into pointing their guns at me: I ate the majority of this album up.  It may be overly ambitious, but it's good to see they were trying a bunch of new things, despite the fact that the overambition leads the album to be frontloaded, especially due to the shorter lengths in the first half.  They seem to have largely forsaken metalcore, but they kept the personality traits and made something pretty fun.  This album might not always have the best songs, but it fits all of my standards for a good album.  The biggest reason I liked this album is that it handles genres and melodies exactly how I would if I were in a metal band (although I'd be heavier, and less reliant on epics).  Overall, great album by a band finding their ground, even if they have some toning down to do.

92/100

May 14, 2024 04:06 PM

Morgul Blade - Heavy Metal Wraiths (2024)

I was quite interested by Morgul Blade's debut album, 2021's Fell Sorcery Abounds, with it's combination of traditional heavy metal with black metal vocals, but ultimately it sounded better in theory than in practice. It wasn't bad, but it didn't grab me as much as I had hoped it would. Anyway, here we are, two and a half years and a couple of personnel changes later with the Philadelphians' sophomore, Heavy Metal Wraiths. Guitarist Jason Hiller has been replaced by Heavy Temple's Elyse Mitchell (aka Elyse NightHawk) and bassist Dan JD has been superceded by Wild Beyond's Jim Viola. The personnel changes seem to have made a big difference, with the band sounding much tighter than on the debut which I felt got a little bit sloppy at times. The production is excellent with all the elements of the band being perfectly audible and the overall sound being thick and crunchy, from steel-coated riffs to crisp drum fills and thundering bass lines. I must make a particular mention of drummer Will Spectre at this point, who sounds amazing throughout with his energetic and entertaining fills supplementing his sterling work as timekeeper.

Musically they have their feet well and truly planted in the 80s with an arterial line of ascension leading straight back to the stalwarts of early USPM and european trad metal, deploying galloping riffs, melodious leadwork and a tireless rhythm section. Then, of course, there are Klauf's black metallized vocals that instill the tracks with a snarlingly vicious edge and which solves one of the major hurdles I have to overcome with any number of traditional and USPM-derived bands and that is the overt histrionics of some of the frontmen. Musically I like a lot of power metal, but I find the majority of the singers intolerable, so Morgul Blade are tailor-made for me. I guess there are those that will counter this by arguing that the vocals are restrictive compared to those employed by the more theatrical exponents of the art and I can understand that argument, but for me personally, lacking in range though they are, Klauf's blackened snarls just resonate with me so much more than some elaborate glorified air siren that dominates proceedings with attention-seeking wailings. Interestingly, they throw in a couple of curveballs with the short interludes "Widow's Lament" and "A Welcoming Hearth". The former is a clean-sung celtic folk song that I found worked really well in context here and it, along with the opening bars of "Spider God", very much reminded me of Solstice's New Dark Age album where "Blackthorne/The Keep" segues into "Cromlech", a transition I absolutely love. The other interlude, "A Welcoming Hearth", takes the form of a short electric piano and synth-driven electronic piece, which is less out of place than it sounds, following the synth-heavy ending of preceeding track "Razor Sharp".

Funnily enough I found the opening couple of tracks to be the least engaging and it wasn't until the title track, the album's third, that things really kicked into high gear. It, along with "Razor Sharp" and "Neither Cross Nor Crown" all really hit the spot with me and illustrated best how far the band had come since the debut. Ultimately, Heavy Metal Wraiths is an album of good, old-fashioned metal with hook-laden riffs that will be playing around in your head long after the album has ended and has a vitality that stems from songwriters that understand what makes heavy metal great for those who love it.

As an afterthought - and I don't know if it has any relevance - but the artwork shows four hooded, Nazgul-type beings whereas the debut only had a lone hooded figure and I wonder if this is a reflection of a new dynamic within the band, whereby Klauf viewed the earlier material as his own and sees this later release as more of a band effort. It certainly feels that way and is better for it.

4/5

May 28, 2024 06:54 AM

Traitors Gate - "Devil Takes The High Road" (1985)

I generally regard myself as having a very extensive knowledge of the NWOBHM after having analyzed & reviewed pretty much every release of any significance over the years but this little three-song E.P. from Welsh four-piece Traitors Gate is an exception to the rule, most likely because I've never recognized this release as a legitimate NWOBHM record since it didn't come until 1985 which is a good two years after the end of the movement finished as far as I'm concerned. "Devil Takes The High Road" seems to have gone on to some level of underground notoriety over the years though so I thought it was about time I checked it out. I have to say that it hasn't impressed me much though with only "Love After Midnight" offering me much in the way of lasting appeal. The vocals are pretty pitchy & weak & the production isn't amazing either. It certainly sounds a hell of a lot like a NWOBHM release though it has to be said. I'd imagine that Judas Priest & Deep Purple would have been on high rotation at the Traitors Gate rehearsal studio. They remind me quite a bit of England's Virtue who also released a one-off single back in 1985. Nothing much to see here I'm afraid.

3/5

May 28, 2024 06:47 PM

Anthem - "Gypsy Ways" (1988)

I've gotten a fair bit of enjoyment out of the two releases I've heard previously from Japanese heavy metallers Anthem. Their 1987 "Bound to Break" album was more than decent but it was really 1989's excellent "Hunting Time" that sealed the deal for me & I've intended on checking out the records either side of it ever since. Well, 1988's "Gypsy Ways" sits somewhere between those two releases in terms of quality. It's certainly not as essential as "Hunting Time" but it's worth a listen none the less. As usual with the Japanese, the musicianship is excellent, particularly the shredding Eddie Van Halen/Randy Rhoads inspired guitar work of Hiroya Fukuda & powerful vocals of talented front man Yukio Morikawa. There are no duds included here either with the few highlight tracks being very impressive, particularly the outstanding closer "Night Stalker" which I'd suggest is somewhat of a classic for Japanese heavy metal overall.

For fans of Loudness, Judas Priest & Accept.

3.5/5

May 29, 2024 12:37 PM

Anthem - "No Smoke Without Fire" (1990)

I feel very similarly about the Japanese heavy metallers sixth album as I did about their fourth (see above) with Anthem taking a familiar yet unanimously effective approach. If anything this one might offer a touch more of a hard rock influence as well as a little more speed metal in parts. Once again, the production job & performances are on the money although Yukio Morikawa's vocals don't appear to be quite as strong here. Anthem were a seriously class act by this point in their careers though so there are no hints at weak song-writing with "No Smoke Without Fire" containing just as many highlights as "Gypsy Ways" did. I do think I slightly prefer "Gypsy Ways" over it but there's very little between the two, neither coming close to matching 1989's marvelous "Hunting Time" fifth full-length. The sensational "Fever Eyes" is my pick of the nine tracks on offer & is definitely one of Anthem's finest moments.

For fans of Loudness, Judas Priest & Accept.

3.5/5

May 31, 2024 05:09 PM


Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance (1982)

Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

I am so disappointed in Metal Academy right now.  New reviews are posted everyday, this website is old enough for many Priest fans to flock here, and yet their isn't a single review for Screaming for Vengeance.  We have three reviews for Sin After Sin but none for this!  Well, if it's up to me to write the first official review for this quintessential metal album, I will.

Of course, it should be noted that I'm not the biggest Priest fan.  My introduction to real metal is all thanks to Ozzy/Sabbath, Metallica and especially Scorpions.  Because of this, I am a Guardian first and foremost here.  But compared to Metallica, Ozzy and Scorpions who all felt a bit different in their own way, Judas felt a little standard for the time.  Maybe this is because they had been emulated so often that they came off as less original to me?  But overtime I've come to accept them much more.  Painkiller was my first Priest outing.  Absolutely incredible metal energy that I was CERTAINLY not prepared for thanks to the radio centering around the 70's and 80's stuff.  Screaming for Vengeance was my second, and as you can see, at first I could NOT favorably compare the two.  And today I still don't.  But I totally get why this is a metal classic.  Like I really do GET it.

Now the first thing I should mention is the varying levels of heaviness between songs.  Sometimes we have songs steering a bit towards the hard rock side like Devil's child, and a few of these songs are just teetering on the thin tightrope separating the air above the rope from the net below, with the air being metal and the net being rock.  Some studio production is noticeable here, so that does as much of a job amplifying the metal as much as it potentially hinders the album with its vague similarities to AOR and other arena rock genres.  of course, this was right before hair metal was cemented, so this album easily avoided the comparison for the time.  You've Got Another Thing Coming and other like songs have a certain metal personality about them, cementing them in the big leagues, but despite this quintessential biker-boy persona, it's still hard rock.  But then you have some serious metal bangers like the title track, which is easily the heaviest song on the album, and Riding on the Wind, which works in tandem with Electric Eye to give you everything you can expect from this album.

What I REALLY like about Screaming for Vengeance is that Judas Priest create a variety of attitudes, personalities and tones within their one specific persona: biker rock and metal.  They had greatly evolved from the days of dorky medieval robes and fantasy lyrics that defined their Sad Wings of Destiny days and had gained the nickname "metal gods" with this.  Some songs focus more on the drama, especially where the short intro track is concerned.  Some songs are just about having fun, and others are all about the energy.  Thanks to tonal and tempo changes, no two songs sound exactly the same, which I can't even say for Painkiller as All Guns Blazing feels similar to the title opener there.  But with things changing every song, there are a lot of ways to have fun here.

The consistency of the quality is high.  There are absolutely no skips.  I would even go as far as to say every song is great if not close to brilliance.  None of these songs really reach "brilliance" to me, but they're way catchier and more melodically healthy than so many other heavy metal albums I've heard over the years.  I guess this is really what makes Screaming for Vengeance a classic.  You could play this whole album when riding in your convertible and just let the atmosphere take you away as easily as electronic fans like Tangerine Dream's Rubycon.  In fact, those two are only four spaces away on my list of every album I've ever heard ranked from best to worst.  I can't consider this a favorite as none of the songs took me to heaven and back, but it's a lot of fun and perfectly healthy and diverse where the album's main focus is hard rock and heavy metal.

96/100

May 31, 2024 05:41 PM


Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)

Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

I'm going through all the most classic Priest albums I can right now to really educate myself in them.  I might be a Guardian but I've covered why I'm not a big Priest fan before.  But the 70's era does intrigue me as the 70's are my favorite decade in music.  Since I'm a guardian here and I've heard over 2500 metal albums, it's time I stopped putting them off.  Sin After Sin is next, followed by Stained Class.

Now this is considered early metal, but maybe not proto-metal.  Stylistically and chronologically, it exists right between the fantasy worlds of Sad Wings of Tragedy and the heavy metal energy of Stained Class, the latter of which I've only heard part of and decided to head to this first.  I found that there's a really good balance of melodies between each song.  The Judas Priest attitude is cemented on this album, so they're able to sing about fantasy topics again but with a whole new personality which would soon evolve into the biker-band we all know.  Songs like Starbreaker are all about that balance between hard rock and heavy metal.  This might even be a favorite Priest song of mine.  I find this balance tested pretty often, being neutral to Sinner and having rejected the tag for Diamonds and Rust.  Because these guys are still early at the time of this album, they're still prone to the softer and even folksier side of 70's rock, which is perfectly fine and even very cool for me.  Did you know my favorite Scorpions song is We'll Burn the Sky?  it's not even a song I grew up with considering the radio never played it and it wasn't on my "best of" copy.  Of course, this rock ballad obviously gets in the way of whether or not I'd call this a metal album, but it's really entertaining and even relaxing me despite the fact that I'm in a metal mood.  And as I hoped and even predicted, the album kicks right back into metal with an artistic 180, and goes into some progressive territory.  And all the while it remains cool, well-written and consistent with both its diversity and persona.

Sin After Sin is that glorious type of album that proudly circles all over the hard rock spectrum of the period.  The various moods of hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock, prog and a little room for ballads shows the band at some of their most diverse and surprising.  I have to really appreciate that the album showcases the band's growing understanding of structures, moods and melodies.  They pull of a lot of great things here whether they're being soft or hard.  There's a little more metal here than on most hard rock albums of the period, but the album clearly has a hard rock focus overtaking the metal vibes.  So the metal tag I'm offering should be more controversial than the internet forgives.  This is the first time that Judas met all of my standards for a five-star rating, even though the songs themselves aren't QUITE as amazing as Painkiller.  But still, there's no way I can't give this a 100.  This is currently my second favorite Judas album, and I'm going to put this in my current top 100.

May 31, 2024 06:03 PM

While I certainly quite like "Sin After Sin" & "Screaming For Vengeance" & have had a very long relationship with both, I've always felt that they were heavily overrated with neither being essential Judas Priest releases for me personally.

May 31, 2024 06:18 PM


Judas Priest - Stained Class (1978)

Genres: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock

Sin After Sin was an album that only made me so much more confident in the love the world shows Judas Priest.  Unfortunately, this is typically more for the radio singles and whatnot.  Albums like Sin After Sin proved to me that these guys were capable of so much more.  It's obvious that they steered away from blues rock, prog and fantasy because their image was working out for them.  Nevertheless, Screaming for Vengeance was surprisingly diverse for a strictly hard rock and heavy metal album.  So I got pretty excited to finish off the remained of the most classic of the Priest albums with Stained Class, which I started but quit so that I could compare it more easily to Sin After Sin.

This is the album where Priest truly became Priest.  I predicted a lack of the variety displayed and owned on Sin After Sin, which to me is Sad Wings 2.0.  Exciter and White Heat Red Hot begin this album with a good amount of energy for heavy metal, bringing influence to the later speed metal genre the way Dissident Aggressor did.  Great heavy metal tracks right here.  Of course, even though I predicted the third song would steer closer to hard rock, I never would've predicted it's main riff was an earlier, better version of the riff to My Own Worst Enemy by Lit.  Now this album's all funky fresh attitude here, which adds to the album's variety.  But the best thing about this song is the dense and atmospheric guitar bridge.  Strangely enough, this is the first song on the album that came so close to amazing me, as the first two were simply great and new for the time rather than phenomenal to me.  "Better by You Better Than Me" is now another favorite Priest song for me.  Next is the title track, which is speedy but bluesy at the same time.  I found my body going up and down in my chair rather than just performing standard headbanging.  I didn't find Halford's lyrical rhythms to be a proper one to mold with the fantastic instrumentation, though.  Maybe that'll change on another playthrough.

Now Invader and Saints in Hell both had some excellent instrumentation for the hard rock heavy metal bridge.  The lyrical rhythms by Halford were better than the title track's as well.  Unfortunately, I felt that both songs were too similar to each other, giving off a temporary feeling of lack of originality that was a bit to strong.  It might've had less effect if the two weren't next to each other, although I really did enjoy both songs.  Saints in Hell was an instrumental high point.  Thankfully, Savage goes right into the bluesier sounds and feels so much more original and badass as a result.  This is the kind of 70's song a man wants as his theme song when walking into the wrestling ring.  After that is the seven-minute Beyond the Realms of Death, which takes the slower side of metal that Sabbath's known for and applies it the the  newfound Priest personality, delivering something original, exciting and even atmospheric without relying on dense production.  This is probably the best song on the album.  The album ends with Heroes End.  I don't have a lot to say about this one.  It's catchy and fit for the album, but I think it's noticeably inferior to the previous track.  This should've come earlier on the album so that Stained Class could end with a proper bang.

Well, listening to both Sin After Sin and Stained Class has taught me something important: Priest's true greatness lies deeper than the radio's willing to go, because we have so many "bigger" hits by so many "bigger" bands that many of Priest's greatest songs are left to rot in a sack by radio while songs from British Steel are allowed to overtake Stained Class, Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin in popularity.  This album has a little more originality than Screaming for Vengeance and just as much metal fury.  So I think it's right to say that this album is slightly better than Screaming for Vengeance.  Stained Class rightfully showcases Priest's true evolution into Priesthood with a lot of classic metal attitude songs.  No wonder these guys are credited with helping to invent metal.  Sabbath had the slower side for most of their songs, but Priest made speedier songs cool, taking Deep Purple's skills to the next extreme, finally becoming a real metal band.

97/100

May 31, 2024 06:21 PM


While I certainly quite like "Sin After Sin" & "Screaming For Vengeance" & have had a very long relationship with both, I've always felt that they were heavily overrated with neither being essential Judas Priest releases for me personally.

Quoted Daniel

I can say the same for "Stained Class" actually. I guess my sweet spots for Priest are a little different to the norm.

May 31, 2024 06:29 PM



While I certainly quite like "Sin After Sin" & "Screaming For Vengeance" & have had a very long relationship with both, I've always felt that they were heavily overrated with neither being essential Judas Priest releases for me personally.

Quoted Daniel

I can say the same for "Stained Class" actually. I guess my sweet spots for Priest are a little different to the norm.

Quoted Daniel

No, I'm in the minority, too.  I checked some ranked lists around the internet, and it's rare to find Sin After Sin in the top 4.  Typically the battle for numbers 1-4 between Painkiller, Sad Wings, Vengeance and Defenders, with British Steel, Stained Class and even the two recent ones.  The latter two are a bit straightforward for me, especially Defenders.  That was the first of the various Priest albums I got through in the last 24 hours, and I really can't even say it holds a candle to the others, let alone to Invincible Shield or even British Steel which is more hard rock than anything.  Sad Wings is pretty diverse but not amazing.  About the same as Invincible Shield in quality.

May 31, 2024 06:34 PM

No, I'm in the minority, too.  I checked some ranked lists around the internet, and it's rare to find Sin After Sin in the top 4.  Typically the battle's between Painkiller, Vengeance and Defenders.  The latter two are a bit straightforward for me, especially Defenders.  That was the first of the various Priest albums I got through in the last 24 hours, and I really can't even say it holds a candle to the others, let alone to Invincible Shield or even British Steel which is more hard rock than anything.

Quoted Rexorcist

Interesting. I guess it just goes to show what an important band they were given that a lot of people have very different preferences. For the record, "Defenders of the Faith" is comfortably my second favourite Priest record behind "Painkiller" (which is the only Priest record that I regard as being a genuine classic just quietly).

May 31, 2024 07:05 PM

I never really thought much of them before checking out those remaining ones.  As far as modern radio's concerned, those albums are deeper cuts. :P  But at least I have a newfound appreciation for them.

June 04, 2024 01:56 AM

My Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums


Thanks a bunch to Ben for putting up Scorpions' World Wide Live so I could complete this accurately.  And yes, I included the four Metallica albums I tagged as "heavy metal," including RtL and MoP.  But that barely represents the whole of my feelings here.  I'm also very happy to say that my newfound love for Priest has allowed SEVEN of their albums here.

June 04, 2024 03:49 AM

Wow! I’ve rated, reviewed or are otherwise well across 85 of those 100 releases which is a little surprising given that heavy metal isn’t amongst my metal subgenres of choice. That still leaves a fair few to explore though.

June 26, 2024 08:40 PM

Annihilator - "Set the World on Fire" (1993)

Canadian thrashers Annihilator went from zero to hero in quite a hurry back in 1989 with their debut album “Alice in Hell” making huge waves in a thrash metal scene that was already starting to show signs of decline. Songs like the title track & “Word Salad” were all over the metal radio programs I religiously recorded & replayed at the time which saw me investing in a cassette copy of “Alice in Hell” shortly afterwards. While I don’t prescribe to the idea that "Alice in Hell" was a classic thrash record like many extreme metal fans do, I’m certainly a big fan of its classy complexity & beautifully executed compositional work which would lead to Ben & I picking up Annihilator’s more technical 1990 “Never, Neverland” sophomore CD as soon as it hit the shelves. I found that record to be pretty enjoyable too however, once again, I’d suggest that my affection for it is slightly less intense than others as I don’t consider it to be in any way essential. There’s no doubt that I classed myself as an Annihilator fan in the early-to-mid 1990's though so I took a keen interest in the band’s third full-length when it finally saw the light of day three years later with Ben purchasing the release on CD. I think it’s fair to say that my initial experiences with “Set The World On Fire” weren’t what I expected though & I found myself struggling to give a shit given that my taste had moved into such extreme territories over the previous few years. I’d continue to catch up with every subsequent Annihilator release over the years, if only for reasons of nostalgia & completism, but I don’t think I’ve returned to “Set The World On Fire” since the early 1990’s, apparently being scared off by the fact that it’s the band’s least intense release overall. Recent events have seen me discovering that I’ve been a little harsh on releases that took similar creative turns recently though so I thought I’d see if that was the case with this one too. I’ve gotta say that I’m glad I did too because it’s not half bad.

Now, let’s get one thing out of the way very early on by stating that “Set The World On Fire” is NOT a thrash metal record. In fact, there’s only really one thrash song included on it in the Exodus-inspired “Knight Jumps Queen”. The rest of the ten-song tracklisting is made up of an array of different subgenres that I’d generally suggest fall into a more commercially accessible space than anything Annihilator had done before or since. The production job is outstanding & is a real feather in the record’s cap with every instrument jumping out of the speakers at you in vibrant fashion. The performances are also stunning, particularly that of band leader Jeff Waters & his guitar-slinging partner in crime Neil Goldberg whose rhythm guitar work sits amongst the best I’ve ever heard which is really saying something. New front man Aaron Randall puts in a high-class performance too & gives the more commercially focused songs an additional layer of integrity. I have to admit that I didn’t even realise he was making his debut for Annihilator as he doesn’t sound drastically different to Coburn Pharr who appeared on “Never, Neverland” as far as I can recall. And what about the drum skills of future Extreme/Dream Theater/James LaBrie/MullMuzzler/Steve Vai skinsman Mike Mangini then!? Fuck, this dude can play. That elite capability has certainly played a strong role in my enjoyment of this release as I find it really hard not to get into a record when it sounds this good & it showcases the work of such capable artists. Thankfully though, the song-writing is nowhere near as bad as I remember it being. In fact, this is really a very consistent record with only the intentionally weird progressive metal closer “Brain Dance” failing to meet the mark.

As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of different influences on display on “Set The World On Fire” but this doesn’t leave the album sounding like it’s been pasted together. The strong production job & musicianship give this material enough of a common theme to tie it all together nicely. To be critical, the tracklisting is quite top heavy though with the three best songs kicking off the album in fine style. In fact, after those three songs I was wondering if I might have an underground classic on my hands here but it sadly wasn’t to be with the quality of the song-writing dipping a bit after that & never quite returning to its former glory. The clear highlight of the record comes right at the beginning with the Pantera-style groove metal title track being one of the finest moments in the entire Annihilator back catalogue. Speed metal burner “No Zone” keeps the energy high before catchy heavy metal anthem “Bats in the Belfry” brings the intensity down a bit. Interestingly, there’s a strong glam metal edge to a couple of numbers with “Snake in the Grass” clearly having been inspired by Skid Row & “Don’t Bother Me” having borrowed it’s rhythms from Van Halen. There’s even a bit of Extreme about the slick AOR sound of ballads “Pheonix Rising” & “Sounds Good To Me” but, just when you think Annihilator are verging on the cheese zone, we find them reaching into their back pockets & pulling out a progressive edge that eases any tension that may have been building up inside of my hardened extreme metal mind. The influence of fellow Canadians Rush is clear at times although I wouldn’t suggest that it’s ever intended as a focal point. It’s more of an accompaniment that’s used to good effect in my opinion.

Look, I’m not going to tell you that “Set The World On Fire” is essential listening, even for Annihilator fans. But I am going to tell you that it’s a pretty decent effort if you’re willing to follow the band into uncharted territory with an open mind. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say that I don’t think “Set The World On Fire” sits far behind its much more highly praised predecessor “Never, Neverland” in terms of general song-writing quality. It’ll only be the stylistic license that Waters has taken that might turn you off. Let’s be honest, Annihilator have always struggled to offer anything that comes even remotely close to their debut album in the 35 years since its release so I don’t think fans of the band can afford to be too picky when it comes to a record like this one & I’m really glad that I’ve reset my opinion on it as I’d clearly let my initial shock get the better of me back in the day. This simply isn’t the cheese factory I thought it was all these years.

For fans of Skid Row, Metallica's "Black Album" & Megadeth records like "Cryptic Writings" & "Super Collider".

3.5/5

September 21, 2024 12:27 AM

Nothing Sacred - "Live" demo (1985)

After checking out the 1985 demo tape from Renegade this week, I thought I'd also give the 1985 "Live" demo from fellow Melbourne-ites Nothing Sacred too as they're often referred to in the same conversations around the earliest Aussie thrash metal bands. This thirteen-song live set sounds like it's been recorded at a fairly well-attended headline show & includes a number of well-received cover versions from popular international bands like Metallica, Judas Priest, Savatage & Motorhead amongst a collection of original material that would appear to be quite familiar to the audience so one would have to think that Nothing Sacred had already built themselves a pretty decent following off the back of their live shows. The recording quality is typical of the time & will be a struggle for those that don't come from the tape trading scene but it's certainly listenable & you can make everything out pretty comfortably. The instrumentation & song-writing is really quite mature for an unreleased band but I have to say that the vocals are patchy at best. There's very little in the way of genuine thrash metal here either with the majority of the material sitting in the heavy metal space with US power metal & speed metal also playing a role. The only real thrasher is the cover version of Metallica's "The Four Horsemen" as far as I can see so I'd suggest that Depression & Renegade were slightly ahead of Nothing Sacred in terms of extremity & thrash metal credentials at the time. Still... this is a better listen than the Renegade demo in my opinion & I've ended up quite enjoying the experience even if I'm unlikely to return to it again in the future. The cover version of "Ace of Spades" that closes the set comes across particularly well in the live environment & is my pick of the material.

For fans of Iron Maiden, Prowler & Motorhead.

3.5/5

September 21, 2024 09:16 PM

Prowler - "Blood & Honour" demo (1985)

This five-song demo tape represents the earliest recordings from Melbourne progressive metal outfit Taramis who you may know from their 1988 debut album "Queen of Thieves" which is widely believed to be the earliest example of a more progressive metal sound to come out of Australia. You won't find any of that here though as "Blood & Honour" still sees them residing primarily in the traditional heavy metal camp with the occasional step out into US power metal territory (see the closing title track). The vocals are pretty pitchy & go off the rails at times but the band is pretty capable from an instrumental perspective which is not surprising when you consider that they'd paid their dues as a cover band. Iron Maiden were obviously the major influence & you can see that very clearly most of the time, particularly on highlight track "Vengeance" & the instrumental piece "3rd Day 9th Night" which borrows pretty heavily from Maiden's early instrumental works. Of the five songs on offer, I struggle a bit with the opening & closing numbers, mainly due to the flat vocal hooks & delivery, but the remaining three songs that make up the middle of the demo are all worth hearing & I found myself enjoying the experience overall. You won't find anything too extreme here but "Blood & Honour" does possess a naive charm, even if it's entirely inessential.

For fans of Iron Maiden, Manowar & Taramis.

3.5/5

September 24, 2024 07:23 PM

Armoured Angel - "Baptism in Blood" demo (1985)

Some of you are probably aware of the impact that Canberra trio Armoured Angel had on me as a young fella. In fact, they actually played a big role in me starting my own band to begin with. Their 1989-1995 period material was universally strong, beginning with more of a thrash metal sound on their demo tapes before transitioning into their trademark death metal once their proper releases started hitting the shelves. I saw them play live on a number of occasions & still look up to them in almost a fanboyish fashion even today. Interestingly though, I'd never checked out their earliest recording before now. It's a crude, poorly-produced demo from 1985 when they were still a four-piece & included only the one member of their classic lineup in bassist Glen "Lucy" Luck.

"Baptism in Blood" is a 25-minute, six-song affair that never hints at the extreme metal sound that Armoured Angel would pave the way for in this country, instead championing a rough & ready heavy metal sound that borrows equally from Motorhead & the NWOBHM. The musicianship is very basic & the vocals are patchy at best. I do quite enjoy "(I Am) The Beast" but the rest of the release is pretty much a throwaway so I don't know who would be picking up the re-release CD or retro t-shirts that have been on offer in recent years. This is a far from essential release & there was much better Aussie heavy metal around at the time too.

For fans of Motorhead, Venom & Holocaust.

2.5/5

September 26, 2024 06:58 PM