np: "Visions" - Judas Priest
Yes, I am finally back after my wonderful little hiatus. Life certainly does seem a little brighter now that I'm married to most wonderful woman in the world and am coming off a week in beautiful Costa Rica. I highly recommend a visit if the chance ever arises.
I've mainly spent the last week or so catching up on the stuff that has been piling up on my desk (of which I'll be posting more later this week, hopefully) but I wanted to take a second to address one of this summer's big name metal releases now that I've had the chance to absorb it. I've never been the biggest Judas Priest fan, my collection until now had been limited to vinyl copies of British Steel and Screaming For Vengeance, but I've always held a huge amount of respect for the band. When news started filtering out about the band's latest album being an epic, double-disc concept album about Nostradamus, I thought that sounded ambitious and over-the-top enough to be worth a spin. On those counts, I certainly wasn't disappointed - this thing is epic as hell. Over 100 minutes, multiple instrumental segues, seven tracks passing the 6 minute mark, etc etc.
So how is it? Well, let's just say that a pretty decent 40 minute album is probably buried in this thing somewhere. The second disc is pretty painful to sit through up until the end and most of the ballads are downright awful, but there are some really great moments sprinkled throughout. "Death" is a great Priest twist on rumbling doom metal and the title track is an absolute firestorm once it kicks into gear. But these moments are too few and far between to make this album really worth the time it takes to listen. The overreach in ambition and tendency towards the cheese are at fault here, because instrumentally the band is on fire and Halford, despite nearing 60, hasn't lost an ounce of vocal prowess. Longtime Priest fans will probably find a lot to like here, but there are enough better metal albums coming out this summer to render this inessential.
Judas Priest - "Nostradamus"
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