Firepower is a fine album. It scratches that metal itch, and there's nothing bad about it by any means, but let's be real here, does it really belong among the top 100 greatest metal albums of all time? Among the greatest of the the great?
Yes, and I would argue that it’s Top 10 worthy.
Here’s the thing:
Firepower made me care about Priest in a way I never had before. I knew a lot of the big hits obviously, but hearing made me interested in actually going through and listen to the other albums. My first thought wasn’t even that “this was a great record”, I thought the production was immaculate but otherwise it was just yadda yadda metal. But the thing about Priest is that you’ve got to take them where they are. They aren’t as serious as Iron Maiden, they just write riffs and play solos and sing stuff about monsters and the brotherhood of metal on top of that. If you can’t except that, then their whole discography is pretty much bunkum. But I was able to appreciate that for what it is, and
Firepower is easily the pinnacle of their career.
Most people would point to like,
British Steel,
Screaming for Vengeance,
Defenders of the Faith, or
Painkiller as their best, but all those albums have weak points. BS is fine but it doesn’t really jive with me outside of “Breaking the Law”. SFV is great, but it’s not fiery enough for my taste. DOTF would rival FP if it wasn’t for the stupid fucking finale tracks. And PK packs a punch, but also has weaker tracks, especially “Metal Meltdown”.
With
Firepower, every song is great. Every song. And that’s honestly amazing when you think about how band has struggled ever since Rob left in the ‘90s. The Ripper albums really aren’t great, and his return was a pretty iconic moment in metal, but didn’t set them up for success like Iron Maiden with BNW. And of course following up
Angel of Retribution was the immense snoozefest that is
Nostradamus doesn’t help. Then KK Downing, who’d been with them forever, left the group, leaving a young Ritchie Faulkner to fill in those massive shoes. On
Redeemer of Souls they were still trying to find their footing in the new lineup. And also, you gotta remember that for ten years or so, Glenn Tipton was struggling with Parkinson’s, which made him exit the band as a touring unit after
Firepower. So the fact that the band sounds as good as it does is an utter miracle. And the fact that each of the 14 songs are legitimately great is even more amazing.
There’s really no breathing space here aside from the intros, “Guardians”, and the first half of “Sea of Red”. Everything else balls to the wall, pedal to the metal. When “Firepower” ends it launches directly into the heavy as fuck “Lightning Strike”. The riffs here are amazing. The instrumental parts of “Traitor’s Gate” are absolutely pummeling. And Rob sounds better than he has in years, and I’m not even talking about the highs (which on songs like “Necromancer” are really impressive). But even his lower register is surprisingly more powerful than you’d expect, and in “Sea of Red” the emotion in his voice is legitimately chilling. Speaking of which, one thing I didn’t pick up at first is that “Sea of Red” ends the record without a proper outro, and it finally clicked that, of course it shouldn’t, because it should leave you wanting more — it brings your expectations up for Priest’s next album, and lets you hit play on the album again. That’s pretty cool.
Yeah it’s a bunch of old guys playing with pristine production. That’s not a diss, that’s a compliment. The fact that a bunch of old geezers in their 70s could make music this good is incredible. I like more bombastic music as a whole, but when I want to listen to a straight-forward, fiery metal album,
Firepower is an easy pick. In my mind it’s the best thing the band has ever created and deserves a spot among the titans of the genre. In addition, it’s not boring like
Awake is. I don’t care if it’s impressive musically. Music is more impressive when it’s good than when it’s technical.
