Review by Mohsen Fayyazi

Band: JUDAS PRIEST
Album: Redeemer Of Souls
Release Date: July 8th 2014

Label: Epic Records

Tracklist:

01. Dragonaut
02. Redeemer Of Souls
03. Halls Of Valhalla
04. Sword Of Damocles
05. March Of The Damned
06. Down In Flames
07. Hell & Back
08. Cold Blooded
09. Metalizer
10. Crossfire
11. Secrets Of The Dead
12. Battle Cry
13. Beginning Of The End

Bonus tracks:

14. Snakebite
15. Tears Of Blood
16. Creatures
17. Bring It On
18. Never Forget

Can you imagine a train without an engine? Or an airplane without wings? Trains need engines to move, airplanes need wings to fly and we need metal to survive! Obviously JUDAS PRIEST is one of those bands whose story is bound by heavy metal history. Their high point was monumental in metal history and if they go down, it may bring the quality of metal down too. There are not many bands, who can be compared with PRIEST ‘s hall of honour and their influences in this industry.

“Redeemer Of Souls” is JUDAS PRIEST’s 17th studio album and their first record in six years, following previous album, “Nostradamus”. The announcement back in 2013 of releasing this album, gave us some hope that we would have an exciting 2014. So many of us were looking forward to seeing what our metal gods would bring to us, certainly the band tried hard to make it their best and I appreciate it, but unfortunately it was not what I was expected.

“Redeemer Of Souls” has 13 tracks plus 5 bonus ones, which just proved to me that the Tipton/Downing team was better than the Tipton/Faulkner one! The band seems to try and move forward by getting help from their traditional and classic metal awesomeness, the album sounds heavy and Rob Halford’s voice still remains very enjoyable to listen to. But the whole album has a feeling pain of confusion and doubt, what exactly did the band want to do?! There is no concept or excitement and I couldn’t see any harmony between all the songs. Honestly, if it was not because of Rob’s voice and my knowledge of which album it is, I couldn’t easily recognise that this metal is written by JUDAS PRIEST. Some tracks sound like BLACK SABBATH and one song even reminds me of METALLICA’s “Reload”. Well, if I want to listen to BLACK SABBATH or METALLICA I will go and listen to them and I don’t need PRIEST to play them for me, but I would love to hear some masterpieces like ‘Hell Patrol’ or ‘Electric Eye.’ Obviously this album is so far from their pure British Steel.

I can imagine one or two reasons for this lack of metal god quality; the lack of K.K. Downing can be felt throughout the whole album, however the new blood in the band’s music is very recognisable and obviously it’s because of JUDAS PRIEST ‘s youngest and new member Ritchie Faulkner. Another thing that I can mention here about the band in the “Redeemer Of Souls” era is that JUDAS PRIEST sounds like Rob’s FIGHT band too?! The metal god style of vocals in this material is almost like the style that he used for FIGHT and there is no sign of that stunning and incredible singing in high notes, which could send shivers down our spines at any time. Remember ‘Resurrection’ from HALFORD’s band and/or ‘Painkiller’? I think all of us know the real deal in this case though! Rob Halford is not young anymore.

“Redeemer Of Souls” is not a bad album at all, it is just not one of those albums that you can listen to all the time without getting tired. But don’t get me wrong, the mighty JUDAS PRIEST and this album have still lots of great things to offer. PRIEST feel furiously epic on tracks such as ‘Battle Cry’ and ‘ Halls Of Valhalla’. Also they will remind you where the Phoenix of heavy metal, JUDAS PRIEST originated, by using some the band’s classic elements during the title track and ‘Down In Flames’. And you will face the new band’s colour on ‘Metalizer’, which sounds very fast, heavy and obviously it is a kind of modern metal from them, however the guitar riffs remind me of HELLOWEEN. The track ‘Crossfire’ sounds a little bit like BLACK SABBATH, especially the guitar solo part, reminiscent of Tony Iommi’s SG.

As my final words, JUDAS PRIEST was/is always deep in my heart, I always appreciate what greatness they have created. Clear as daylight, they are one the builders of the institution we proudly call HEAVY METAL and they will be very shiny stars in this universe forever. Unfortunately, I couldn’t enjoy listening to the band’s newest album, “Redeemer Of Souls”, as I stated at the beginning, I was expecting something different, but this is still as heavy as metal, as fast as a Harley and as powerful as a juggernaut. My favourite track of the album is ‘Battle Cry’, the purest PRIEST track on this album.

Long live JUDAS PRIEST! Long Live Heavy Metal!

Rating: 7.5/10