★★★★★
You wait and wait... the anticipation kills you as the silence gradually leaves the ears. The distant sound of harmonized guitars becomes closer and more prominent as a dark atmosphere is set right before you. Soon, the guitar wizards Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing begin their descent into a riff of mammoth proportions and a new journey that is equal parts brutality and serenity is opened up for you to explore...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2014-01-20
★★★★★
When it comes to music, rarely is anything more depressing than watching one of your favorite bands fall from grace. For some bands, it might seem inevitable because of how many albums they put out in a certain amount of time; just look at Technical Ecstasy and Never Say Die! by metal legends Black Sabbath for a good example of that...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2014-01-04
★★★★★
It's pretty tough to find a rock fan who hasn't at least heard of Judas Priest. A key factor in what became the 80's New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), the band are one of classic metal's longest-enduring acts and continue to play music to this day. Between Rob Halford's charismatic vocal presence, fantastic guitar interplay as far as the ear can hear, and music that has (mostly) aged very well, Judas Priest are quite a "one-of-a-kind" act...
- www.sputnikmusic.com
2013-10-02
★★★★★
Filmed about a year ago at London's Hammersmith Odeon on the final day of Judas Priest's Epitaph World Tour, this show will no doubt go down in history as one of the top metal concerts ever to be held in a venue that's notorious for being the place where legendary metal shows happen. The set list for the show, a generous 23-songs long, contains lots of Priest favorites like "Turbo Lover," "Heading Out to the Highway" and "Breaking the Law" but the band delves deep into their catalog here, and...
- www.antimusic.com
2013-05-11
★★★★★
Combining the full-lunged operatic vocals of Rob Halford with the twin lead guitars of Glenn Tipton and KK Downing, and throwing in a leather-and-studs aesthetic along the way, Judas Priest were, like Black Sabbath, absolutely pivotal in cementing heavy metal's sound and aesthetic. This box set tracks the band from their bluesy, prog-tinged heavy rock beginnings through to the concise, catchy and commercial metal offerings of the early 80s; onto to the controversial synth and drum machine-laced...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-04-02
★★★★★
"From an unknown land and through distant skies came a winged warrior. Nothing remained sacred, no one was safe from the Hellion as it uttered its battle cry...screaming for vengeance." Judas Priest used that quote on the cover of their 1982 release Screaming for Vengeance and although the words were swaddled in myth and mystery, they turned out to ring true as the band blew the metal scene wide open, indeed with a vengeance...
- www.antimusic.com
2013-04-01
★★★★★
"From an unknown land and through distant skies came a winged warrior. Nothing remained sacred, no one was safe from the Hellion as it uttered its battle cry... Screaming for Vengeance." A fantastical quote like the one above, which adorns Judas Priest's '82 mega-selling Screaming for Vengeance, is a rare sight these days. However, when the band released its eighth and most commercially successful album, the metal scene was a far different place...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-10-08
★★★★★
Sound: "Ram It Down", released in 1988, is closely related to its predecessor "Turbo", even though it's pretty hard to tell just by listening to it. Much of the album was written during the same sessions as "Turbo"; the band was preparing a double-LP called "Twin-Turbos", with one half being radio-oriented and the other showcasing the style of metal for which they were known and loved. But the record company recoiled at the suggestion, and Priest had to save the heavier side for later...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-06-14
★★★★★
Sound: When Judas Priest entered a studio in Bahamas in 1986 to record "Turbo", they found themselves in a situation where the brand of classic metal which they had pioneered was slowly giving way to a new, more pop-oriented wave of young metal bands; the likes of Bon Jovi, Ratt, Mötley Crüe and others. Ever since the mid-70s, Priest had been on the cutting edge of heavy metal, and this album captures them desperately trying to remain there by gaining inspiration from the pop metal scene...
- www.ultimate-guitar.com
2012-06-14