Traitors Gate is the sound of a band in their prime, with Halford’s fist-in-the-air, die-for-metal chants complementing the Tipton/Faulkner riff machine. In fact, it’s the perfect accompaniment to Halford’s master storytelling and nails prog-infused metal far more precisely than on previous outings.Įverything you want from Judas Priest in 2018 is present and correct here. When Sea of Red wraps everything up, moving from brooding acoustics to a huge, hokey choir… it actually doesn’t feel all that hokey. You’ve got Rising From Ruins – the best mid-tempo, grinding anthem of its kind since A Touch of Evil from ‘Painkiller’ - sharing space with the gorgeous piano prelude Guardians. But here the concise songwriting makes the opera-worthy passages all the more effective. ‘Redeemer of Souls’, Priest’s previous record, went for epic and fell through the cracks somewhere between outright failure and points for trying. Every twin-lead exchange between Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner makes you wonder why Iron Maiden can’t do that anymore. It rumbles with the thumping, relentless heaviness of 1990’s ‘Painkiller’, but also the hook-a-minute grease of ‘Screaming For Vengeance’. Whether he’s spinning yarns in his patented shriek or a grumbly vibrato, he means it.Īnd how could he not? ‘Firepower’ celebrates the wonderful grandiosity, the absurd self-belief and genuinely uplifting qualities of metal in the best possible way. No, he couldn’t dream to be without her kind on Children of the Sun.

Yes, he’ll bring you the head of the demon on the title track. Vocalist Rob Halford is a man on a mission, serving up King Diamond levels of melodrama while stringing us along with with every word, every ludicrous tale. Recorded live with no click tracks, ‘Firepower’ is the result of a heritage act shedding that label. ‘Firepower’ succeeds on the strength of the music and the fact that the band sound like they’re going for the throat. Not because they’re nostalgic, though, and not because they’re rehashes of Priest’s glory period spruced up with today’s studio wizardry.

Produced by Tom Allom and Andy Sneap – the former a veteran Priest collaborator, the latter responsible for reinvigorating Megadeth’s plodding output in the latter half of the ‘00s – the 14 songs here are a genuine joy. ‘Firepower’ is the Birmingham legends’ 18th record, but it doesn’t sound like it. That sounds tedious, doesn’t it? That sounds painful, right? Embarrassing? No to all three, because Judas Priest have just released their best album in 28 years. A full hour of new music from a heavy metal band who have been knocking about since 1969.

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