Ok, here we go with the next Judas Priest album after Sad Wings of Destiny. Things have now Improved for the band and their previous album sold alright so they’ve got a bigger budget this time. Out with Gull Records and onto CBS for these guys!
The album opens up with “Sinner”. This is a pretty cool song and I know they played this one from time to time in their live set. Next up is “Diamonds and Rust” another one that is still a staple of their live set to this day. I had a great time re-living these songs. Starbreaker is a song they don’t tend to do live but is still a pretty rockin’ little number. But here’s where it gets a bit funny. I’m going to say I liked their previous album “Sad Wings of Destiny” better than this one. Then next song “Last Rose of Summer” is just painful. To be fair its not a bad song, but it feels like the wheels fall right off the wagon with this song. What started out as a great Metal album gets well and truely derailed.
Ok onto side 2 and its still kinda weird. This sounds a bit more like Queen in my opinion. There’s fast verses in this song so that’s something. Not that I have anything against Queen (I quite like them) It picks up a bit compared to “Last Rose” so that’s something. I have to say the second half of this album seems a little unfocused. After 3 great songs to start the album, it really loses its way after that. I’d be interested to see what other long time Priest fans think of this album. Am I being too picky?. In the bands defence there were issues with their producer (Roger Glover of Deep Purple fame) and they had to give their drummer the boot half way through the session and get a session drummer. There is however the track “Dissadent Aggressor” on the end of this album which picks up the pace a little and brings the band back to their metal roots.
Personally I feel the band was hitting on the right formula with their previous album and seemed to regress to their first album (Rocka Rolla) on this one. I might be wrong as it was their first album to shift any major units. So in a way this album basically made the band in so far as sales were concerned.
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