MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
I had no enthusiasm for the last Priest tour, I’d have even less for another tour in 6 months. These guys are overdoing it and are no longer exciting.
Judas Priest
- Thread starter Perun
- Start date
PieceofMind89
Ancient Mariner
Ian Hill a founding member is still there and Scott Travis, a long time member since Painkiller is there too. Also Ritchie Faulkner has been there for almost 15 years and made three studio albums. So it's not really Halford and some "hired guns" like some other legacy bands out there.
PieceofMind89
Ancient Mariner
I think the next tour could be exciting if they play a deep track from Defenders like Rock Hard Ride Free or Eat Me Alive and play some songs from Sad Wings and Turbo like Tyrant, Island of Domination, The Ripper, Genocide, Locked In, Out in the Cold and Reckless.
Iron Lurker
Apologist Maidentard
I skipped this past tour as well. The only other tour I passed on since 1981 was the second tour with Ripper.
dickinson1978
Ancient Mariner
15 years 3 albums.. but yes the others had been there for decades. But the 2 main guitar players are retired.
Flaming Blimp Crash
Ancient Mariner
I thought they played really well on this past go-around, I just wish I could have had a full Shield of Pain setlist rather than a 14-song or so set. No shame in going to a smaller venue here like Rosemont Theatre or even go play the Aragon Ballroom.
15 years is a longer time than the whole Dave Holland's and Les Binks' eras combined.
Some of these tracks are pretty much guaranteed to be played in 2026. Defenders is a big question because they can play literally anything from the album, but I expect them to perform The Ripper, Tyrant and Genocide (all of them were played in 2018-2022). Out in the Cold is a no brainer if they really want to revisit Turbo.
BludBrutha
Ancient Mariner
Yeah we all know that.
Ian Hill has never moved off the spot in fifty years and last did a good bassline in 1980. Total non entity. He’s barely even shown in the 80s videos like Priest Live! because he’s so unimportant. They don’t even show him at all until five minutes in, and then everyone remembers Judas Priest actually have a bass player.
And Scott Travis ruined Priest by putting obnoxious double kick drums all over everything. Just horrible. No one cares about either of them.
Judas Priest was Halford, KK and Glenn.
Now it’s Rob Halford & Friends.
MrKnickerbocker
clap hands
Man, I was so onboard with your Ian criticisms but then you went and slandered Scott Travis, which is bonkers.
Scott Travis is the best drummer Priest have ever had and he was exactly who they needed in 1990 and exactly who they need now.
I don’t care who is in the band as the issue isn’t the songwriting: it’s the endless and soulless touring
DorotheaMe
Educated Fool
They will also play in Wacken.
Hill's lines are much more present in the mix at concerts. He might not be the best bass player in the world, but he's a crucial member of Priest. He's one of the most important decision makers (ex aequo with Rob), he's been in the band since the first day. It doesn't matter if someone likes him or not, he's an important musician. A pretty cool dude as well, although it's irrelevant to the subject per se.
Saying that no one cares about Scott is completely delusional tho.
Saying that no one cares about Scott is completely delusional tho.
BludBrutha
Ancient Mariner
Plenty of people remember real Priest, before they just started making Painkiller over and over and over again.
damage_case
Trooper
Les Binks > Scott Travis
Mhm, yes, making Painkiller all over again. Let's see...
Angel of Retribution - includes some Painkiller-esque tracks (Demonizer - IIRC, a song written for Jugulator, Hellrider). Other than that? Judas Rising is a song written DECADES earlier, it goes way back to the Defenders of the Faith era. Worth Fighting For is closer to Point of Entry than Painkiller. Could Angel apprear on an album like Painkiller? Come on... Eulogy, Lochness - no comment.
Nostradamus - I don't think that anything needs to be explained in this case.
Redeemer of Souls - again, only few tracks sound like it's 1990 again (Halls of Valhalla, Metalizer, Battle Cry, the title track, which is basically Hell Patrol, pt. 2). Then you have a moody ballad (Beginning of the End), a rocky tune (Down in Flames), an echo of Nostradamus (Secrets of the Dead), their bluesiest track since the 70s (Crossfire), a slow burn (Hell & Back), a song that suits Ozzy's discography rather than Priest's (March of the Damned), another slow-paced song (Cold Blooded)... There are also the bonus tracks: a ballad and a few short, melodic songs. None of them would have been written for an album like Painkiller.
Firepower - again, very few Painkiller-esque songs (Firepower, Lightning Strike, Necromancer). And a lot of slower and more melodic tracks that sound like a journey to the 80s (No Surrender, Never the Heroes, Rising From Ruins...). In what reality a song like Spectre made it to the Painkiller tracklist? You tell me, I'd love to know. Lone Wolf sounds much more like rather recent Metallica's compositions, Children of the Sun perhaps does have something from Black Sabbath in its DNA. Sea of Red? Oh yeah, it's definitely a sequel to Metal Meltdown, no doubt about that.
Invincible Shield - when it comes to the vibe of the album, it's kinda similar to Firepower, although different. Panic Attack definitely reminds me of Painkiller, so does As God is My Witness. What about the rest of the songs? The title track is more inspired by Randy Rhoads' work than anything else (and if we want to stick to Priest, I'd compare it to Ram it Down, the song). Gates of Hell is, just like No Surrender, a callback to their 80s era. Crown of Horns is another slow-paced track in the vein of Worth Fighting For. The Serpent and the King is their most Stained Class-like composition since... Stained Class. The only difference is that Rob's using distortion this time. Sons of Thunder is an intentional reference to Hell Bent for Leather. Trial By Fire might be considered a distant cousin of Sword of Damocles - again, not a very aggressive tune. I don't think there's a point in proving that Giants in the Sky, Devil in Disguise (and of course The Lodger) and several other songs don't have anything in common with Painkiller because it should be obvious to anyone who knows the album.
Kalata
Out of the Silent Planet
^I didn't know that! It makes sense, the Jugulator sound can be heard, as in the overall mood of Lochness.
Judas Rising may be an idea from the mid 80s (whole song, who knows), but it's definitely Pankiller-ized. The fast riffs and tempos are the album's DNA.
Yeah, I suppose they might have rearranged Judas Rising. I guess that the original version could have sounded more like, let's say, Love Bites. It would be nice to hear the demo recording, assuming that it exists. I guess it does, I doubt that the band still remembered Judas Rising 20 years after writing it