Artist: Judas Priest
Album: Firepower
Label: Legacy Recordings
Release Date: May 9, 2018
Power Priest
Written by Silas Valentino
Close your eyes after clicking “play” on Judas Priest’s Firepower and feel yourself falling back into 1981. The metal gods make it easy with their latest effort to feel like time has stood still in their presence; the riffs are fresh, song titles such as “Necromancer” prove there’s still worthy material to play around with and Rob Halford sounds as good in 2018 as he did when British Steel was released nearly 40 years ago. Firepower is their 18th album and first record in decades alongside the producer of their heyday: Tom Allom. Together, they’ve released a rock record that could satisfy a hungry fan or entice a new pair of ears into embracing the legends.
Several of the original band members from their early Eighties heyday are present on Firepower with Halford on vocals, Ian Hill keeping the sound grounded on bass and Glenn Tipton continuing his exploration into new squeals from the guitar. Unfortunately, after decades of touring, Tipton announced a month before the album’s release that he was staying off the road (he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease) and his replacement on tour is Andy Sneap of bands Sabbat and Hell.
Firepower begins with the titular track and according to guitarist Richie Faulkner, speaking to Blabbermouth ahead of its release, the song “might be the fastest Priest song.” It isn’t hard to here why; the guitars fire off chords at the rhythm and speed of a hell-bound train edging off the rails and drummer Scott Davis conducts a pattering assault on his snare and kick drum to keep heartbeats breaking 100-beats per minute. Halford snarls: “Empty the chamber/Lock and reload/This world thrives on danger/It’s bound to explode” and at one point in the next verse he rolls the r in “laser” with commendable capability. Sounding neither exhausted or fabricated, Rob Halford continues to be one of the most-resilient vocalists in metal today, yesterday and without doubt tomorrow.
“Never the Heroes” has Judas Priest venturing into some tasteful sonic exploration and begins with a looped recording of a fuzzed bass that evokes a dip into industrial metal. But the detour is short and quickly the song erupts into classic Priest as charged-up power chords lay a framework for Halford’s dazzling vocals. The verses are marked by some “Enter Sandman”-esque guitar work and the chorus hook of “Never the heroes/we were made to fight” lifts the song as a standout moment amongst a bevy of heavy hitters.
Adding depth to this 14-track, hour-long record is the mid-alum instrumental “Guardians” that’s fashioned as a piano ballad before triumphant guitar licks appear to make this fleeting moment a spiritual cousin to the Top Gun theme song. Short but not to be missed, “Guardians” bleeds evenly into “Rising from Ruins” which manages to crisscross between distortion and tranquil guitars with effortless gusto. The song also stands as a Judas Priest anthem that champions one of the band’s trademark traits of perseverance. “Send in the valiant, fight for what you believe/Then we shall overcome, lay victory at our feet” Halford howls and the sentiment is a fitting mission statement for these metal veterans from West Bromwich.
Acoustic guitars may not be a hallmark of Judas Priest but the band deploys them well in the final track “Sea of Red.” Guitarists Tipton and Faulkner trade Spanish-style arrangements as Halford explores his mid-range vocals. If this were a classic hair metal record, this ballad would have been listed as the second song but Judas Priest choose to end their album with a more relaxed moment.
Aside from the phrase “British steel,” Judas Priest may forever remain tethered to their endurance. Their consistent display of heavy metal music that never strays too far from what established their glory is a sure-shot fix for the modern metal hungry. Firepower has already proven itself to be their highest-charted album ever landing at #5 on the Billboard 200. After a few seconds into the record, it’s easy to hear why.