Judas Priest

>KK gets mad, sends them a nasty letter about how much they all suck, leaves the band
>Band doesn't even think of asking him back.
KK:
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Nostradamus:

With fifteen studio albums in their pocket and almost 40 years of domination while defining a whole musical genre, Priest could play it safe. But instead these veterans took the long road again while risking a conceptual double disc symphonic metal opera based on the well known 16th century's french clairvoyant Nostradamus. One must admire the balls it takes to 5 soon to be sexageneries to make such a game changer following their huge reunion.

Dawn of Creation wellcomes the listener, drenched in syths and effects, and then all of a sudden Prophecy kicks in: a mid tempo theatrical Priest tune, filled with orchestrations giving the moto to the whole record. The track itself is merely ok and serves as a proper prologue. After a short interlude (one of many) Revelations gets going in a way more dynamic and even more theatrical fashion, with the orchestrations propelling the narration to a more intense pace. Like it. Then things tend to get a bit problematic.
The following 4 songs consist in 2 beautiful interludes and 2 songs regarding the 2 initial horsemen of the apcalypse - War and Death. Both songs are slow, heavy and once again cinematic and orchestral as metal can get (the former giving a more belic groove with its war drumming while the later being a sombre dirge - totally fitting to the narrative). The problem here is these 2 tracks is that both also sound like lengthy interludes themselves, and by now don't get surprised if you start yawning. Following another interlude (also gorgeous but... another one?) enters the 3rd horseman: Pestilence and Plague. And fortunately this horsemen's mount has whole lot more of torque and its potency immediatly recaptures your atention to this passionate and intense metal piece with its chorus featuring a transcription of the original quatrain in its original language (buono!). The last horseman arrives after (yes you guessed it) another interlude and it's a superb old school pompous metal anthem, featuring some arabesque licks and a great lead guitar that drives this tune onwards. Lost Love is simply boring. Persecution, on the other hand, kicks in relentlessly. A fast heavy rhythm crusher that wouldn't seem dislocated in Painkiller's track list, closing the first disc on a real high note.

As you hit play the second disc starts surprisingly with another goddamn intro. By now these interludes tend to get tiring and are way below the quality of teh "4 horsemen" sequence in disc one. Exiled is also quite average and a bit boring melodic down tempo. So this is far from a good start of the 2nd part of a double album until we get to Alone. And let me tell you: this track is nothing short of amazing! Like its predecessor Alone's also an acoustic theme that bursts into metal power chords but the similarities end here. If it wasn't for the orchestrations this tune could be included in any top Priest album and still would hold its ground. That chorus, the bridge with the acoustic guitar, the choirs and most of all Rob's voice here is out of this world (just check the man's last high pitch scream... wow!). Absolutely masterful. Then you guessed it: another short interlude and by now I'm already developing severe eardrum rashes due to "interludotitis". Nevertheless Visions is a superb mid tempo Priest tune that eases my interlude saturation only to be aggaravated by another one before the title track starts. With a pompous, dramatic intro, Halford's voice goes full tenor and then everything gets dragged by a warp speed monster ryhtm strongly resembling Painkiller: a really great track sabotaged by goofy and unnecessary Broadway like choirs chanting "Nostradamus" 1000 times through the song in a really annoying fashion. To wrap the whole thing I'm tortured with one last interlude making way to Future of Mankid, with its slow paced heavy riffing revealing an uninspired chorus, dragging itself through the last 8 minutes of the plot.

So what do we get?. A lot. And that's the problem with Nostradamus. It has too much. Sure some songs are really great but sometimes they appear to get smothered in orchestrations and an excessive amount of intros that ironically break the record's pace and narrative. Plus some tracks could be way shorter while others are simply boring transicional points. Would the band managed to round the edges and remove all that's accessory, Nostradamus could easily fit in 75 +- minutes and become the great opus it was intended to be.
Nevertheless I must stress it once again: hats off to the band for not playing it safe and pulling out something new into their legacy. And no matter how many interludes I'm surmounted by, that alone is enough for a strong applause.

Highs: Revelations, Pestilence And Plague, Conquest, Persecution, Visions and the wornderful Alone. A band of veterans innovating/ taking risks
Lows: Saturating at times, too much interludes, lenghty stagnant songs, too much interludes, some musical cliches here and there, too much interludes, could easily fit in one record.
15/20 (or 7,5 out of 10 if you prefer)
 
Last edited:
karljant said:
Lows: Saturating at times, too much interludes, lenghty stagnant songs, too much interludes, some musical cliches here and there, too much interludes, could easily fit in one record.
Click to expand...
You should check this version of the album that I made:
Night Prowler said:
I challenged myself to cut down Nostradamus to a single CD release.

I removed about 22 minutes, cut or merged intros/outros from few songs and removed like 5 songs altogether and some other stuff that didn't really flow well, and it all came down to this:

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If anyone wants to hear it :innocent:

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL35LjZ8wshhP0pv8VjMNiCrGzulmey_ZJ
Click to expand...
 
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