Pre-release review of ANGEL OF RETRIBUTION by the Albanian "Mercenaries Of Metal" website:
1. Judas Rising: A heavy introduction with stone hard riffs. I've Seldom heard such a heavy Priest-song. Extremely good intro!
The song starts like a rip-off from AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" but than you face a wall of sound. Cracking and tight guitars and a helluva drive. Drums like a bolt thrower. If you listen to "Blood Red Skies" you get an idea of the intensity and drive of that track. Judas Rising is close to the edge of a thrash monster. Ideal opener for the upcoming tour and a genuine future classic.
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2. Deal With The Devil: A lighter piece that sounds like it is from the SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE album. Good, but nothing special.
If you listen to "Up To The Limits" from Accept you can gather the flavor of this song. It is from Priest's party section of their repertoire. Fun to listen to.
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3. Revolution: Lots of "United" feeling, but heavier, with fat riffs. Maybe a bit too simple. Right in the pants to those who liked "United". Don't know what I think about the song.
4. Worth Fighting For: A mid-tempo song where Halford sings in a way that you have never heard before. I cant remember any other Priest-song that sound this way. Maybe a little little stain of "Touch Of Evil". OK, but not much more.
The potential of this track is not obvious after listening to it only two or three times. Unusual vocal performance. Like with several of the REMASTERS trax, it is very difficult to decide as to which former release this song would fit.
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5. Demonizer: Heavy, aggresive and quite fast. Classic Judas-sound. This is the way they should sound like!
Well in the tradition of creating strange characters like "The Sentinel", etc... The song has very critical lyrics not only dealing with religion. Should please all fans of the RAM IT DOWN album.
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6. Wheels Of Fire: A song that somehow makes me think of "Eat Me Alive". A song that could have been on DEFENDERS or TURBO. Good, but nothing special.
Captures the easy power of DOTF. Deals with the "Hellbent..." theme.
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7. Angel: A true ballad. Really nice vocals and melody. I like it!
Similar to the track "Morning" from Halford's CRUCIBLE but not as bare in instrumentation. A nice melancholic piece able to replace "Diamonds And Rust" in the upcoming set list.
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8. Hellrider: Goose bumps!! Really fat riffs and an awesome chorus and many twists and turns in the song. Exactly like this is how Priest should sound like! God how good! The best song!
Together with "Judas Rising", the most powerful track on the album. A kick in the teeth. Shit load or riffs and hooks. It is similar to the track "Painkiller" in tightness of all five musicians but does not put Rob in danger of over estimating his abilities whilst performed live. A "must" on the set list.
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9. Eulogy: A short track. Should be regarded as a prologue to the next song. Nice as hell!
This is not like "The Hellion" or "Heavy Duty". The track has a normal fade out, but introduces "Lochness".
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10. Lochness: A 13 minutes long track and a worthy last song of the album. Many changes of_ tempo and themes. Not a new "Victim", but good!
The biggest surprise. Judas Priest goes doom. Listen to the solo parts of "Electric Funeral" from Black Sabbath and you know a bit what happens. Take a closer look at the chorus in "London" from Queensryche's RAGE FOR ORDER and you have a stint of how the chorus works. There is an eerie distorted guitar theme in the chorus bridge. By the way: Judas Priest uses a chorus!!! It teaches the latest outputs from Blind Guardian and Manowar to eat shit on this matter. 13:43 minutes that go by like a steam train. Why "Lochness" is not spelled "Loch Ness" will be the band's secret for now. Their 21st century epic masterpiece. A growing track with every turn.
