Judas Priest - Angel of Retribution

A review by DJ Spanks

I picked up this CD over the weekend at Best Buy. I knew from seeing Ozzfest information that Rob Halford was once again back with Judas Priest, however I didn’t know they were working on a new CD, or even that it would be out this soon!

I’m a metalhead, and I loves the Priest. It’s my opinion that Rob Halford has one of the best voices in rock and roll. The booklet insert informed me that, yes, Halford is indeed the vocalist for this album, as well as Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing are still with the band. Another original, Ian Hill, plays on the bass, and Scott Travis is on drums. The CD comes in two different packages. First, there is a 2 Disc set, the 2nd disc including DVD documentary and live footage from the 2004 “Reunited” tour, which includes live versions of “Breakin’ the Law,” “Hell Bent for Leather,” and “Living After Midnight,” among others. The other option is a new technology to my knowledge: a dual disc. One disc, where one side plays CD audio, and the other side of the disc plays the DVD features. I’ve seen this before on DVD movies, where one side has widescreen, and the other side had fullscreen (most recently, Napoleon Dynamite is this way). But splitting cd and dvd material is new, and intriguing.

The actualy CD was.. well. It was alright. In the 10 tracks, Rob still has his vocal range, but does not use it quite as often, much like he did in his solo projects, “Resurrection” and “Crucible,” under the band name “Halford.” He mainly sticks to a lower, still metal-sounding voice. The instrumentaiton seemed a little boring and drab, compared to other Priest tracks. However, it’s still Rob Halford, reunited with Judas Priest. These guys were the foundation for metal, and I still respect them. It may not seem quite like Priest standards, but it’s still better than a lot of the mediocracy out nowadays. I’d give this a 7/10.

Be sure to tune in to Global Insanity, this Thursday morning (March 10) at 10 a.m., and us metalheads will have ourselves a little listening party. Don’t miss it.