Judas Priest seem to be experiencing a late-career invigoration after a few challenging years. When the (IMO great) Nostradamus album was greeted with low enthusiasm from the “death to all but metal”-segment of their fanbase, and founding guitar player K.K. Downing left the band, they were unsure enough about their will to continue that they did a “farewell to world touring” tour called Epitaph.
It was a great tour, during which they rediscovered their joy as a musical unit and experienced a latter-day resurgence of creativity. That point was proven with the brilliant album Redeemer of Souls (2014). Four years later, they are ready with yet another opus called Firepower.
The release of Judas Priest’s eighteenth studio album was preceded by a shock announcement, as guitarist Glenn Tipton revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. While remaining a member of the band he had been in since 1974 and completing studio work for Firepower, he would no longer be able to tour. This context contributes to making Firepower a somewhat emotional piece of work.
Across 14 tracks, all co-written by Tipton along with singer Rob Halford and second guitarist Richie Faulkner, we are victims to a relentless heavy metal onslaught. Halford exudes a manic intensity, backed by the best and most intense riffing you’re likely to hear all year.
Firepower was the first song that was made available to the public. It happens to be the opening track (and title track) of the album, so it’s very much an upfront mission statement. It also sets the standard for what you can expect on the album, kicking off with an aggressive guitar riff until Scott Travis’ double bass drums thunders in and finally a characteristic Halford-scream adds an exclamation mark. The tempo is doubled in the chorus, and Halford screams “FAIAH POWAH!” as the song enters lovely double guitar lead solo which oozes of classic Priest.
Richie Faulkner has seamlessly found his place in the band and no doubt contributed a lot of energy and determination after replacing K.K. Downing in 2011. Now that Tipton is taking more of a back seat and won’t be touring, Faulkner is emerging as the band’s primary guitar hero and coping well with the pressure.
Lightning Strikes and Evil Never Dies continue in the same vein. I have a sneaking feeling that I have heard these riffs many times before, but these songs are likely giving Priest-fans exactly what they want – uncompromising metal. The next song is a bit slower, but Never the Heroes still comfortably chugs along in a comfortable mid-tempo.
The first part of the album is very much Priest-by-numbers. The material really offer very few surprises, while this isn’t neccesarily a problem, to me it gets more interesting when the band stretches out in the second half.
The song that rings in some interesting elements is Necromancer, with a very dynamic song structure and a catchy chorus. This continues on Children of the Sun, which is definitely one of the better songs on the album. The guitars remind me a bit of Black Sabbath, which funnily enough the title itself does, too.
We are at the middle point of the album, and this is where we get the album’s highlight: the song Rising From the Ruins. It even has a separate minute-long intro track called Guardians which is a lovely, piano-based piece of music. The entire song is dramatic, melodic, epic in scope, has a far more dynamic musical expression than most of the songs on the album, and spins a fantasy story about facing your enemies and standing tall ahead of a final battle.
This would have been a Priest classic if it had been on one of their 1980s albums. Here, the Priest shows us that playing the most powerful riffs is not always required to end up with the most powerful song.
The album lose a little bit of focus after this point, but I give a thumbs up to No Surrender and closing track Sea of Red. The last one is probably the closest thing Judas Priest comes to a ballad. It builds up from a careful acoustic opening to a panoramic crescendo, and should work really well on stage.
It should be mentioned that Tom Allom is back producing the Priest on this album for the first time in thirty years. This is noticeable as the album sounds excellent – in particular the guitars and drums are crystal clear with a lot of punch, and Rob Halford’s voice is put to the forefront of the mix. And speaking of Rob, it is incredible that he is 66 years old on this album and delivering amazingly. He sings his heart out on this album!
Song by song I would not put Firepower amongst the best Priest albums, but it is far from the opposite. The Priest has delivered a classic-sounding and aggressive album, and looking at most people’s feedback have fulfilled every expectation with just that. I love the sound of the album, but tend to prefer the diversity of songwriting on the previous album Redeemer of Souls as it utilised a larger diversity of moods and styles – it isn’t as full-tilt aggressive most of the time as I feel Firepower is. I would also have been okay with a slightly shorter album and removed a few of the “too samey” tracks, but I couldn’t tell you right now which ones they would be.
Bands like Judas Priest who are approaching the end of their career may have a challenge when it comes to new albums. They could make the next Dark Side of the Moon or Sgt. Peppers and it still might not sell much beyond the hardcore fans (who will buy the album in any case). Late-career albums are often destined to become footnotes to the band’s overall discography, and the majority of the concert public are there to hear Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight, with little care for anything made post-Painkiller.
I honestly think their most recent albums deserve more than that, and especially those who were frustrated at the ambitious and progressive material on Nostradamus should take great delight in the fact that the band have just delivered their heaviest album since Painkiller.
Nobody knows if Firepower is the final Judas Priest album, including the band – or if they know they are not saying. But if it is the last one, they are certainly bowing out with a highly respectable album. Glenn Tipton’s condition has to play a huge factor in the band’s ongoing status, and I just cannot imagine that he will be able to contribute much after this point. Andy Sneap covered on guitar for the past tour, but who knows who a more permanent replacement could be? Perhaps K.K. Downing would be willing to return, which he has said he would consider – totally depending on how he is asked. I’m not sure I would hold my breath, but stranger things have happened.
If this is the end of the road for Judas Priest, we should all celebrate the fact that they are signing off in grand style.
Facebook Comments