JUDAS PRIEST ALBUM RANKING GAME: FINAL ENTRY AND RECAP

Yax said:
I don't think they intended to strip down their music further than British Steel per se, which was already both quite simplified and simultaneously hardened, but were taken by the success of British Steel and attempted to repeat the success it had with no less than three hit singles. It's just that Point of Entry is nowhere as good as a whole, nor are the hits better singles than Living after Midnight and Breaking the law were at the time (now they are so overplayed it's difficult to appreciate them on their original merits at times).
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And British Steel still retains a lot of intensity whereas Glenn and co sort of "left out" a lot of heavy riffing in several songs, going more often for clean reggae-ish stuff like in The Rage. The music is emptier, more open and very simplistic without having enough catchy moments.

The 1981 tour was very cool though. Great setlists and performances at the time.
 
Forostar said:
Well, to be be honest I rather limit my interest in (metal band) lists by other people to this forum.
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This. There are enough of those clickbait videos cluttering other threads, please don’t spam those here too.



Forostar said:
And British Steel still retains a lot of intensity whereas Glenn and co sort of "left out" a lot of heavy riffing in several songs, going more often for clean reggae-ish stuff like in The Rage. The music is emptier, more open and very simplistic without having enough catchy moments.

The 1981 tour was very cool though. Great setlists and performances at the time.
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I think you guys are saying similar things here. They wanted to replicate the success of British Steel in a way by having an entire album of FM radio friendly rock songs. On British Steel, for every Living After Midnight or United there was a Rapid Fire or Grinder. Point of Entry disregards the latter to make room for more commercial material. Even within the songs like Don’t Go, the music does feel simplified compared to the commercial stuff on Steel. The instruments are sparser, the riffs (if there are any) are really straightforward, Halford’s vocal melodies are easy to sing along to. A lot went into the arrangements and sonic quality of British Steel to make all of the songs remarkable. Point of Entry is just the band running through their songs. I think all those things were conscious and intentional decisions to simplify further from British Steel.
 
Forostar said:
And British Steel still retains a lot of intensity whereas Glenn and co sort of "left out" a lot of heavy riffing in several songs, going more often for clean reggae-ish stuff like in The Rage. The music is emptier, more open and very simplistic without having enough catchy moments.

The 1981 tour was very cool though. Great setlists and performances at the time.
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Mosh said:
This. There are enough of those clickbait videos cluttering other threads, please don’t spam those here too.




I think you guys are saying similar things here. They wanted to replicate the success of British Steel in a way by having an entire album of FM radio friendly rock songs. On British Steel, for every Living After Midnight or United there was a Rapid Fire or Grinder. Point of Entry disregards the latter to make room for more commercial material. Even within the songs like Don’t Go, the music does feel simplified compared to the commercial stuff on Steel. The instruments are sparser, the riffs (if there are any) are really straightforward, Halford’s vocal melodies are easy to sing along to. A lot went into the arrangements and sonic quality of British Steel to make all of the songs remarkable. Point of Entry is just the band running through their songs. I think all those things were conscious and intentional decisions to simplify further from British Steel.
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Agree with both of these. I’d rank the album higher than it arrives here.

For me, Point of Entry is a mood album: not varied or deep enough to reach the mid-point of my list, but a fit for certain situations: backyard or background. And I like how it sounds. It’s easy, and while that has its pluses, easy will never equal great.

The top tracks - Highway, Plains - are elite. Angels is cool and I have a soft spot for Turning Circles and Rob’s emotive vocal performance there.

But by and large it’s full of too many unmemorable rote tracks.

***

Looks like I timed this perfectly by missing the Ripper albums.
Tried them, didn’t like them. Easy bottom 2 on my list.

Rocka Rolla deserved a better fate because of the above, but definitely belongs near the bottom.
Interesting at times, but on the whole, kinda dull.
 
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14: Ram It Down
15: Point of Entry
16: Jugulator
17: Demolition
18: Rocka Rolla

Highest Score: 13 (@KidInTheDark666 @DJMayes)
Lowest Score: 3 (@MrKnickerbocker @LooseCannon)

To me, Ram It Down is the true black sheep of the Judas Priest catalog and the one that gives me the most "what could have been" thoughts. The Ripper albums are what they are, but most fans seem to accept that period as a career misstep for the band. Meanwhile, Priest had a pretty successful 80s by any metric. They kept their lineup in tact, they had several big commercial hits, and several albums that were embraced by the Metal community at large. It's rare for a band to do all of those things. Turbo is what it is, but no denying it helped keep Priest afloat during the MTV era. Then you have Ram It Down, with its weird combination of glossy 80s production and heavy metal riffs, awkward 50s rock and roll covers, and a drum machine. There's no denying that this album feels like it was partially released in demo form. You can hear that the band wants to make a Painkiller, but are being held back. Whether it's by management, a sense that a heavier album isn't what American audiences want, or something else.

Ram It Down could have been a great album if it were given the care and attention to detail as Turbo as well as the production/quality of performances found on Painkiller. The songs are there. Ram It Down, Hard As Iron, Heavy Metal, Blood Red Skies are all fantastic songs that are hampered by the production and lack of real drums. Heck, even with a Defenders of the Faith type of sound the album would have been more successful. A double album as originally conceived could have been interesting as well, although I think a classic single Priest album combining the best songs off both albums exists.

The #12-14 trio of albums was very close and separated by only a few points. In fact, the #13 album (to be revealed later) only beat out Ram It Down by a single point. So Ram It Down was pretty close to a higher ranking. The rating spread is really all over the place though. Some people put it high in their lists, many people put it somewhere in the middle, and a few members ranked it pretty low. It's hard to say where it truly belongs in the Priest catalog. For my tastes, I think #14 is a little low just by the merits that the album's songwriting is really strong at times, which is more than I can say for Nostradamus or even something like Angel of Retribution. But at the same time, it exists in this weird in between for the band. If I want a heavy Priest album, I'm obviously going to reach for Defenders or Painkiller before this. The more commercial sensibilities of this album are obviously better represented by Turbo. Which leaves Ram It Down as a weird black sheep album that brings very little to the table compared to other Priest albums.

Blood Red Skies though... :edmetal:
 
Alright, things are starting to look up!

Now, before I get too ahead of myself, let's be clear: Ram It Down is an absolute misfire of an album from start to finish. The band sounds like they have no idea what they want to make here: a heavy metal album, a glam metal album, or just a bag of silly demos. It's such a lazy production effort that they couldn't even be bothered to bring in a studio drummer and just used some shitty programmed drum machines. Halford is wailing his ass off on half the songs like the music he's singing over should sound like Painkiller, but it sounds like a lost Def Leppard album (and come to think of it, this album may have worked if it were produced by Mutt Lange....2 or 3 years earlier).

This is the tiniest of steps up from Rocka Rolla (where the band didn't know who they were yet) and Point of Entry (where the band actively tried to be something they're not), but I think these three albums all fit in a similar box: i.e. Priest not knowing what decisions to make regarding their sound. Luckily, however, by this point in their careers, they were more competent songwriters. Several songs here would be rated higher if the production weren't such dogshit. But also, 60% of the lyrics are about being “heavy rocking rockers” and that's 60% too fucking much. Halford still has the melodic chops, but his lyrical inspiration is as non-existent as this album's audio engineers.

The title track is very good, Monsters of Rock is cool, Hard As Iron is also cool (but has a horribly annoying melodic choice in the chorus melody), and Blood Red Skies is a classic. Everything else is mid at best, sad at worst. I'm not sure what moment I hate more on this album, the whispered "I'm a rockah's" or Halford begging to get spanked while cumming at the end of Love You To Death.

All of that said, Ram It Down earned a half a point this go around for me, landing it at 5.2/10.
 
I've always really liked Ram It Down (t/t), albeit I will concede that the first three seconds are a major factor in that...
 
The title track, Hard As Iron and Blood Red Skies are what make this album for me. It's uneven (so are most Priest albums, imo) but those three are incredibly strong highlights. The only albums I remember rating higher are the ones I think are incredibly strong from start to finish.
 
I always liked RID a lot. Sure, the last two songs are some of Priest's worst but there's a few major highlights too. Blood Red Skies is my second favorite Priest song and Hard As Iron is somewhere around the 10th place too. The title track is also fantastic and Glenn's intro solo in Heavy Metal is easily in my top 5 Priest solos. Halford is at his peak vocally but a lot of the lyrics suck unfortunately.
 
I was one foot out of the door after Turbo, Johnny B Goode had me running for the border, so I picked this up cheap late '90 after Painkiller.
It's got some lesser songs but I think I prefer it to its successor.
Title of each are even to me. Iron> Meltdown, Skies better than anything else pk.
Elsewhere Monsters > Heavy Duty, Heavy Metal more fun than the rest of side 2 of Defenders(ok, maybe not eat).

Not their best, but lots of fun!
 
Ram It Down, I think its ranking is expected -> for me half of it is great, the other half are some of the weakest and some of my least favorite songs of the band. Almost like POE. If it was combined with Turbo (but not 15 songs or something) it would have been better and more noticeable for sure. The album combines the aspects of the heavy metal and the glam metal (and other things) - but it serves as a needed bridge for the next album. I think Glenn had admitted that. I like the polished production and it fits the album. Most of the lyrics are not good, unfortunately.

Rob's vocals (live too) and the guitar playing (solos, riffs - title track, Heavy Metal, Iron, Skies) should be noted. Classic metal and peak Priest.

The classics for the band from this album are: the title track (one of the band's best songs imo), Blood Red Skies (great epic, that's how you mix metal and glam) and Hard As Iron (a gem). Panikiller material!
I also enjoy Come And Get It And I'm A Rocker, cool glam metal songs. They are catchy and anthemic in a way.

I don't like any of the other songs and for me they are the weakest material written during this era. Monsters Of Rock at least has character. Not including the bonus song Thunder Road was a mistake. One of the best songs from this era for me.

It's an album that wants to be different from the previous one, but for the most part it's the same (except for some of the strong songwriting). I think it was intentional this time, their original plan was to release a double album. It's a weird album for the band (with some weird songs), but it's so 80's and helped shape their big classic (and heavier sound) that is the next album. It's a bit like VXI and BNW for Maiden.
 
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Terrible plastic production. Cringe-worthy lyrics. Priest is always cheesy, but they're usually awesome cheesy. Ram it Down is a weak attempt to be Motley Crue and the worst of the Halford albums.

I mean it's Priest, so there is some interesting stuff on there. Everyone is right about Blood Red Skies. The bass drive of Heavy Metal is different and its verse and pre-chorus melodies are vintage Halford. The title track and Hard As Iron hint of Painkiller. There are some very good solos. Even Johnny B. Goode has some merit — as a B-side wink.

Songs like I'm A Rocker can work in the right setting, like United does on British Steel. But Ram It Down has too many weaker songs and it drowns the stronger songs in Sunset Strip offal. Love You to Death is the worst thing the band ever recorded.

Overall, a gross miscalculation.
 
I completely agree with @mckindog, who has absolutely hit the nail on the head there. Blood Red Skies rocks, and everything else is up and down. Turbo, for all the people who complain about it, felt far more honest than this album. Turbo was Judas Priest with synths. This is Priest pretending to be something they should never be.
 
I’m gonna be echoing the above points, but similar to how I feel about Point of Entry, this album should work for me, but doesn’t. Ram it Down feels like it goes through multiple identity crises before it even ends, and I have multiple questions throughout. Does it want to be blistering speed metal Priest? Does it want to be a commercial rocker? Random 7 minute epic? A Chuck Berry cover? However I do quite like Heavy Metal, Come and Get It, Hard As Iron and obviously Blood Red Skies.

This doesn’t seem like a safe space to admit this, but I did go through a period of time where I listened to their cover of Johnny B. Goode quite a bit; but no, I don’t believe it to be a good cover.
 
The only problem with Johnny B Goode is that they put it on the album. Nobody gives Maiden shit for the ridiculous covers they made because they knew better than to put them on the albums. It's just one of many WTF moments on the album.
 
Mosh said:
The only problem with Johnny B Goode is that they put it on the album. Nobody gives Maiden shit for the ridiculous covers they made because they knew better than to put them on the albums. It's just one of many WTF moments on the album.
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I think cover songs should always be bonus album stuff. No matter the band.
 
"Come And Get It" is also a nice song from 'Ram It Down'. And this record is not the huge catastrophe that 'Jugulator' or 'Demolition' were in the 90's, even if I enjoy listening 'Jugulator' sometimes.
 
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