Halford - Resurrection (2000)^{Release ID: 8513}

Rob Halford’s desire to return to a more mainstream metal sound following his excursions with Fight and 2wo always strikes me as coming off as a poor man’s Judas Priest. I mean three years later he re-joined Priest who had been useless without him anyways so for me all two decidedly average album Halford albums did in the intervening three years was just allow him to get all the sub-par material off his chest.

Revisiting Resurrection for this review, I am immediately struck by how weaker than usual Rob’s vocals sound. He seems to be struggling through the title track to maintain that famed high-pitched style of his throughout the track and it seems to be a push too far. At the start of an album, this is not a good sign. Thankfully though Made In Hell is a marked step up in the energy stakes and is a riffy and bashy affair that only suffers from some clunky and naive sounding lyrics. The guitars flex their pecs well and drive the track forwards with only the drums feeling slightly understated and lacking oomph.

Appreciate as I do the need to keep busy and occupied, there still needs to be some quality control applied to making music – even when you are Rob Fucking Halford and are a God in many fan’s eyes. Locked and Loaded again picks up on the hi-octane metal pace of its predecessor but again sounds juvenile lyrically. Whether there is a sub-conscious element here playing on my mind because I know Rob is an older guy and therefore these lyrics sound a tad cringey remains a possibility however, at the end of the day I think this album shows that Priest are more than just Rob Halford and that when left to his own devices he does struggle without the rest of his comrades.

Let us take some time though to acknowledge the consistent positives that do still exist on this album. Lachman and Chlasciak are actually very capable guitarists and whilst I wouldn’t put them in the same class as KK Downing and Glenn Tipton they are a great accompaniment to Rob Halford’s distinct vocals. I would go as far as to say that they do rescue a few tracks and distract me nicely from the less enjoyable tracks, usually with a combination of solid riffing and/or energetic lead work. There is a consistent energy overall to the album and it feels like the teeth and claws are never too far away from being shown, even on the slower tracks there is still an edge.

Although not always well represented in the mix, Jarzombek’s drumming is solid enough and he does not put a stick wrong overall. The guest appearance from Bruce Dickinson however brings me back round to the negative aspects of the record. The One You Love To Hate is probably one of the worst tracks on the album, even the hazy and muffled guitar tone that attempts to inject some variety into the track is not able to save the track. For two well established and capable vocalists to put such a poorly conceived track together is disappointing to say the least.

There is nothing else on here really that alters my opinion that Resurrection is a poorly delivered album with some underdeveloped ideas that just feel hastily pulled together and dropped onto a record as opposed to being composed and written thoughtfully into an album. The final four tracks are all one word titles and have no depth or real quality beyond the odd burst of guitar to show some flair in the throes of the album. Drive might be the worst track Halford has ever been involved in but more or less everything beyond the Dickinson collaboration is clearly not written by a band with any quality control filter engaged.