Judas Priest

Demolition

SPV/Steamhammer

It’s been a decade since Rob Halford left 80s metal icons Judas Priest amidst controversy over his sexual orientation—his bandmates were not comfortable with the idea of a homosexual frontman. So, they picked up Jack “Ripper” Owens, lead vocalist for Priest’s most prominent cover band and tried to recreate the magic—they have yet to fully succeed.

The band’s latest release, Demolition, does revisit much of what was great about Priest—headbanging riffs combined with technically exacting melodies, soaring vocal screams and crowd-chanting lyrics, but while these elements endure, it is safe to say that none of them has been expanded or improved.

While one must laud guitarists Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing for their technical skill, this is not an album chock-full of either memorable hooks or more than a few moments that inspire the same emotion as Priest classics like “Breakin’ the Law.” The album’s final track, “Metal Messiah,” shows, however, that Priest still contain the elements for fist-pumping arena action. The most up-tempo song on the album, it blasts open from the outset with a chugging and brutal riff, soon layered with the second guitar ringing out sustained harmonic notes. It quickly stalls into an off-and-on backbeat and then enters a classic Priest chorus, where Ripper wails the kind of cheesy-yet-appealing lyrics that won Priest fanfare in the 80s: “He’s the man / Armaggeddon / Walking through fire / Metal Messiah!” The song also contains one of the album’s most furious solos, and even a bridge with a Middle Eastern ambiance, as guitars warble like sitars.

Other highlights include the power ballad “Close to You,” which just might bring a tear to one’s eye given a few beers beforehand, and “Devil Digger,” which builds a thumping and grinding riff so great that one would find it hard not to at least bob a head to, if not bang. “Cyberface” sounds alarmingly derivative of a Rammstein song, with slow and thick riffing ensconsed in a keyboard melody, which shows that the band is not altogether above nabbing appealing aspects of modern music, but fans will be happy to hear that Priest have not gone so far as to throw any rap into their 21st century debut.

Overall, the record is entertaining, but it is not a new standard in metal or the beginning of any new chapter for the one-time kings of leather and chain. In “Devil Digger” Ripper asks the question, “Who wants to grow old?,” before repeating again and again, “I don’t want to fade away / I don’t want to fade away.” With their long-established and steady fan-base, Priest’s disappearance is not imminent, but with their inability to reinvent themselves in Halford’s absence, the fading has already begun.

—Michael T. Packard