For the reason that launch of Judas Priest’s earlier album, 2018’s Firepower, the steel legends had been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame, one of many few style artists to be acknowledged by the establishment. Even then, they had been instated as a part of the “Music Excellence” class slightly than as official class inductees.
It is an unneeded reminder and clear instance of steel’s usually shuttling to second-class citizenship by rock highbrows. Priest’s nineteenth album, Invincible Protect, most likely will not change too many minds exterior of the already transformed, however it’s a deserving addition to the esteemed catalog of considered one of steel’s premier bands. Greater than 4 a long time into their profession, Firepower was their greatest report for the reason that early ’90s; Invincible Protect picks up the place that one left off.
Working once more with producer Andy Sneap, the band’s touring guitarist since 2018, Judas Priest roars via 11 songs that ship on the ferocity of their metal-stamped titles: “The Serpent and the King,” “Gates of Hell,” “Sons of Thunder,” “Giants within the Sky.” That there is a sameness amongst a number of tracks is to be anticipated; the riff constructing and exact execution till the purpose of ignition have been the primary property of their profession for the reason that begin.
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Judas Priest wastes no time choosing targets and locking in. “It is a signal of the instances when bedlam guidelines / When the plenty condone pompous fools / And the scales of justice suggestions in disarray,” Rob Halford sings within the opening “Panic Assault,” politically ambiguous however righteous in its indignation. Like a lot of the album, it isn’t precisely new territory for the band however delivered with hell-beckoning depth all the identical.
Invincible Protect makes few concessions towards modern steel; Judas Priest in 2024 would not sound all that completely different from Judas Priest in 1984. Drums roll in like main storm techniques, guitars churn out riffs with the pace and dexterity of a race automotive driver and Halford nonetheless hits ear-piercing notes as he did in his early 30s. From the full-on nuclear assaults of “The Serpent and the King” and the title monitor to “Trial by Hearth,” a spotlight from the album’s less-exciting again half, that is Judas Priest working at close to hall-of-fame ranges.
High 50 Albums of 1984
It isn’t solely one of many decade’s peak years, it additionally noticed the discharge of a few of the largest and greatest information ever made.
Gallery Credit score: Michael Gallucci
