JUDAS PRIEST - Redeemer of Souls

I will try to contain my excitement as much as I can here… Which is virtually impossible, because Judas Priest have just rebirthed Heavy Metal. What’s not to lose one’s mind over?

Hell, there have been several heavy metal albums between ’90-’14 that have been exemplary, like Sonic Boom from Kiss and Brave New World from Iron Maiden. But mostly each effort from the giants of old has been a lacklustre attempt of trying to fit in, and that includes the last four albums from Judas Priest themselves, whereas Angel of Retribution truly shines, but it’s still a modern heavy metal album.

On Redeemer of Souls, Judas Priest seem to have been utterly and completely reborn through the magical input of newcomer Richie Faulkner, and I was so incredibly lucky to have witnessed this lineup at Wacken 2011, when Judas Priest delivered the most spectacular live-performance I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve seen Iron Maiden twice, both times absolutely mind-blowingly good, Metallica on their Load-tour and Slayer in a 1500 capacity club. Judas Priest with the vigour of the collaboration of Faulkner and Tipton completely laid waste to everything else. I stood beneath the stage like a giddy schoolgirl while Halford and co. went through each and every favourite of mine… And this album bears every ounce of this new-found power.

Redeemer of Souls starts off on a high note, nodding and praising every inch of their old-school stable, until you realize, this is nothing of the sort. This is Judas Priest delving into their origins of their heavy metal career and working the album straight from the source. There are incredibly few modern influences to be found here, apart from perhaps the punchy sound, but they still managed to retain a very original guitar sound throughout. It sounded a bit weird at first, but then it just struck home. This is how the last of their '80s albums, Ram It Down should have sounded like.

The songwriting is spectacular, almost leaving a sing-along choir/passage on every song, even the dual solo tradeoffs from Faulkner/Tipton have me humming along with them, exactly as I do when I listen to Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith. Halford sounds like million bucks and we even have a couple of licks from Ian Hill on the album as well. This 40 year anniversary since Rocka Rolla is so infinitely fitting to the event. It’s pure Priest as most of us got to know them, and love them.

The overall harmony of the band on this album is better than it has been since Painkiller, and frankly, some of the songwriting here is better than ever before. This is unalloyed Priest. This is pure heavy metal. And this is yet another confirmation on my belief that Judas Priest is the best heavy metal band that has ever existed. [Epic / Columbia]
- Atli Jarl Martin