Let’s just say I’ve never felt the urge to sign up for the Judas Priest fan club, or even buy a t-shirt with their logo on, yet I don’t think my top 20 metal albums of all time would be complete without their phenomenal 1991 release Painkiller. While these days the band are mincing around composing ostentatious concept albums about Nostradamus, in a way it’s good to see their legacy is being kept alive. This is a solid example of such; it has to be said that it’s highly unoriginal and will largely be viewed as a nostalgia trip by most respectable metalheads, but who said nostalgia had to be a bad thing?
From the moment the gates open to ‘The Halls Of Madness’ this goes hell bent for leather, with razor-sharp riffs that are equally chunky in stature, and blazing solos that are enough to keep any posers at arms length. Some of the tracks are rather catchy, such as ‘Damn Nation’ (see what they did there?) which utilises some monstrous chanting while musically it comes hurtling towards you at 100mph. The riffs here are more thrashy, and is followed by the aptly titled ‘The Shredder’ which really does shred your face off with its high octane guitars that thrash just as hard while the menacing yells of ‘The Shreddaaaaaarrrr’ bring to mind the likes of Exciter.
‘Freedom Fighter’ is a fairly standard heavy metal track, which I’d describe as a tad workmanlike and there’s something weird going on with the random keyboard flurry that just doesn’t seem to belong at all. ‘In Shattered Dreams’ on the other hand is a real powerhouse of fierce drumming, crunchy guitars and heavy as fuck bass that you just don’t wanna mess with. ‘Grapes Of Wrath’ is another number to watch out for; it’s a real grower with its melodic verse that segues into a galloping chorus before trailing off with a series of guitar solos that will have you air guitaring like it’s 1988. A cover of ‘Nightcrawler?’ well, I couldn’t see that one coming! Still, they do a fine job of it that stays more than true to the original while being sandwiched between ‘The Nightmare’s Hold pt. 1 & 2’ that kind of leads nicely into and away from the track.
The vocals of Al Ravage are fierce and at times quite soulful even if not the most powerful around. What I do like is that his vocals aren’t too high and they sound quite natural rather than attempting to sound like Halford and screech out the high notes like he’s taken a cricket bat to the groin. Production is also really thick and gives the album a bit of spit and polish without losing that ‘straight out of the 80’s’ feel. The album ends on quite a laid back note with ‘End Of Tomorrow’ which while rather melodious still pounds away. There’s no shortage of bands out there doing this kind of thing, but this is a perfectly commendable heavy metal album with some rather catchy numbers and plenty of exuberance which some of the old guard have lost on recent albums. This’ll have you banging your head back to the ‘80s!
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