“On March 9th, Judas Priest will release their 18th album, Firepower. This makes it the ideal time to take a long wistful look back over their historic catalog and rank their albums from worst to first according to the esteemed tastes of me, Lord Protector Steel.” Rocka Rolla through the ages with Judas Priest.
“What I’m about to say comes after a long and devoted love affair withJudas Priest: they should have broken up after Painkiller. Don’t agree? Well, let’s review. The Ripper era was reheated rhino shit and as our reward for steadfast loyalty we got the lukewarm Angel of Retribution only to be punished with the double length dumpster fire that was Nostradamus. Still not convinced? Maybe Redeemer of Souls will be the straw that breaks the law.” Hear that? It’s the sad wings of destiny flapping overhead.
This will come as an unwelcome surprise to Angry Metal folks everywhere, but the new Halford album Made of Metal isn’t angry and is only partly made of metal. Despite the deceptive title, Halford’s third solo album is a diverse but confusing mix of awkward, mostly flawed metal anthems, cheesy love songs with a metallic edge and poppy bubble gum metal/rock. Amid this confusion, only a few quality metal moments can be found. With all due respect to one of the founding fathers of heavy metal and a living legend to many (myself included), the results here are wildly inconsistent and just flat out disappointing.
