Judas Priest: Angel Of Retribution : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Good metal bands usually kick ass early on, then remain on a proven path until the albums stop selling or the band implodes. Judas Priest, born thirty-five years ago in the same Birmingham, England, factory shadows that sired Black Sabbath, have a much more complex history -- one that spans Seventies prog-rock, Eighties arena metal (which they more or less invented) and the thrash that came after. They survey that history on Angel of Retribution, the band's fifteenth studio album and first with iconic singer Rob Halford since 1990's Pain Killer.

The quintet celebrates its return on the throttling opener "Judas Rising," revisits its Eighties heyday on the speedy "Deal With the Devil" and alludes to vintage song titles throughout. Instead of trend-hopping, there's "Lochness," a grinding thirteen-and-a-half-minute metal-folk tune devoted to the mythical Scottish water beast. You cannot get any more old-school than that.

Amazingly, these fiftysomething headbangers pull it off. On "Hellrider," guitarists Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing revive the well-conceived solos that most heavy bands avoid these days. Halford is in excellent form, particularly on the ballads. His gayness has for decades given semihidden weight to the group's outlaw lyrical metaphors (not to mention its leather dress code). Here it baldly informs "Angel," where Halford calls out to a gender-indeterminate spirit he prays will bring him to a better place. It's an honest power ballad from a band that understands power like few others, the centerpiece to an album that holds up well next to Priest's strongest, most sustained recordings. Now that's retribution.