Judas Priest

MindRuler said:
It was very unmelodic and way too heavy for me, not the Priest I wanted to hear that time...
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And it was not the style of Priest the fans were used to hear (started in the 80's... even with the late 70's albums, but not before that. Also, not everything in Painkiller was speed metal).

- I think it was an unexpected change of their style/sound (especially given how close Ripper sounds to Rob). During the Painkiller Tour they toured with 4 thrash metal bands and maybe this inspired them (K.K. had mentioned this as a possibility, IIRC)... another example: Rob said in a interview (in 2017) that touring with AC/DC in 1979 inspired some of the songs in the British Steel album.

In contrast, the albums with Blaze are not in a different style - someone can argue that the progressive era of Maiden started with TXF album (and it is probably true) and that there are some more rock type of songs in NPFTD and FOTD, but not the full albums, right. (*I don't mention the two albums with Paul because the albums of Priest from 1974 to 1977 are different style from the ones after 1978, like the the albums of Maiden from 1980-1981 are different style from the ones from 1982 to 1992).
 
I think that with the Owens albums, Priest couldn't do anything right. Had they tried to just do the same kind of music as before but with a new singer, people would have unfavourably compared it with the Halford albums and mocked them for being have-beens. By changing their sound, most old fans turned their back on them and new fans at the time had zero interest in getting into a dinosaur band. Another factor is that Jugulator came out after a seven-year hiatus in a period when the hard and heavy music landscape changed drastically. There was absolutely no way they could be relevant with such a long gap. Demolition was probably even more ill-fated because traditional metal had recovered some of its audience and Priest went all modern with that record; plus, Halford's Resurrection album and Maiden with Bruce back in the band soured any appetite for a "modern" or "Owens-era" Priest all the more.
One could argue that Maiden faced the same problems, but they got out of it better because the Blaze era was far shorter than the Owens era and they were present with new music throughout. Plus, Maiden is a better band.
 
This is what I said Monday before the song dropped:
Diesel 11 said:
Ripper Owens singing over stale trad metal with nothing pushing it except unbridled jealousy? Hard pass.
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And for a split second there I was seriously wondering if I was about to eat my own words. That opening, with the drawn out, motorcycle-revving, lightning-crashing guitar was fucking awesome. That's my kinda shit right there. And when the actual riff kicked in, I was honestly down. A riff is a riff, you know? And some riffs are better than others. The best thing about riffs is how they're used in a song. And I was ready for a solid, 7-8/10 heavy metal rocker that could at least be fun. And then Ripper started screaming and it kicked in that I was listening to a dumb song with a dumb name from a dumb band.

I swear to god, creativity isn't this band's forte. "Hellfire Thunderbolt" is just a bunch of cliches put together and packaged as a single. Manowar already did this years ago. Hell, Judas Priest already did this years ago! I love the imagery of "hellfire" but just using it for "metal is great! metal is cool!" fuck me. There is no bite to this song, it's just boring. The drummer constantly wants to do more than he seems to be allowed to. The rest of the music just blurs together. I think the pre-chorus sounds like "Holy Wars", the knock-off brand, and the chorus is just so stupid. I barely remember the instrumental sections.

And Ripper... if he had any charm in his younger days it's certainly not here now. Just shrieks without bite and singing without charisma. It's exactly like I expected. I cannot believe anyone would ever take him over Matt Barlow. I can't believe I ever did. He's completely soulless. Even back in Iced Earth singing about his friend in the Union army, and how "the blood is on [his] hands", it just felt calculated. Like he's trying but can't stop acting like a cyborg. No, scratch that. Cyborgs are actually cool. I will go so far as to say that I can sing better than Ripper, maybe not with the range he has, but with 1000x more passion. That's not bragging, that's just how much I can't stand Ripper's voice in this song. I actually think a less accomplished singer with really noticeable flaws like Kronos could've executed this material way better. At least bring it up from being just an average song.

If this song proves one thing, it's that K.K. Downing is not, has never been, and will never be Judas Priest. Judas Priest is more than the sum of its parts, and K.K. is not able to tap into that by himself. Maybe the rest of the album will actually be amazing, but I would bet money that it's just gonna be more of this shit. K.K.'s Priest should just rename themselves K.K.'s Ego and be honest about what they actually are. This doesn't even belong in the Cheesevivor, it would be such an insult to all the other bands of that hallowed hall. It's literally pissing me off the more I think about it. Envy-driven, washed-up, stereotypical, stupid-ass boomer metal with no reason to listen to it if you have more than one brain cell. Not good.
 
Diesel 11 said:
That statement is pretty much what I thought of the song.
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I know, and you made that point so well by embodying it. It's a standard metal tune, in the vein of Priest, the band that invented half the cliches around. It's like being outraged by how a lager tastes and expect it to taste like a stout, and proceed to rip the characteristics of a lager.
 
After the album drops we should have a sequel song survivor so we can all collectively groan about “The Unforgiven II” vs. “Return To Hangar” vs. “Return Of The Sentinel”…
 
I only like two things about this song, the intro because it reminds me of Sinner and KK's guitar solo. Never liked Owens vocals and the drummer replacing Les Binks is average.

KK fanboys are going crazy all over social media, saying the song is awesome and even saying the album will be "best metal album of 2021" lol
 
PieceofMind89 said:
I only like two things about this song, the intro because it reminds me of Sinner and KK's guitar solo. Never liked Owens vocals and the drummer replacing Les Binks is average.

KK fanboys are going crazy all over social media, saying the song is awesome and even saying the album will be "best metal album of 2021" lol
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It just might. It will definitely be better than The Book of Souls anyway, which by comparison a lot of Maiden fans swoon over - I personally think it's a weak Maiden album, which sort of highlights how subjective these things are. I have always (or nowadays do, anyway) objected to the term fanboy as well, because let's face it, 99% of us here would be viewed as Maiden fan boys by others - And hardly anyone would likely identify as a fan boy. The term itself pretty much stands for a high degree of bias, and when you've got a favorite band or two, well, you're definitely biased. The term just makes fun of other people's bias, sometimes to invalidate their opinions in favor of bias of your own, so it's rather pointless.
 
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I was gonna hit you with a mad reaction for saying that KK’s Sermons of the Shitter is gonna be better than the monolith that is The Book of Souls, but then you actually put into words everything I hate about the fanboy moniker. So......
 
Point of Entry is an interesting piece in the Priest legacy. Desert Plains is my favourite, and as much as I want to criticize the cheesyness of You Say Yes, that chorus riff is HEAVY.
 
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