Many people seem to be skeptical about this album because Halford was replaced with Tim etc.
In my opinion if you look at the big picture, considering instrumental parts and vocal parts this album is awesome, Burn in Hell being my favorite tune. It may not be better than the classic ones like Sad Wings of Destiny or Stained Class but it sure ain't crap.

I nearly rated this a 7, but this album was basically a monotonous rip off of a bunch of 80's thrash music. It tried to sound evil with, especially with every little "creepy" intro at the beginning of each song, but it failed miserably. Not horrible enough to rate it below a 6, but not really any good, either.

Can't believe this one has 7.1 in score. The first 9 songs of are just mish mash of stupid lyrics, bad semi-thrash riffing and horrible vocal lines. But then suddenly you get one of the most beautiful intros there is, and not only that it evolves into a monster track with one of the best choruses written. I'm talking about Cathedral Spires. The best Judas Priest song ever. And man, Ripper owns that song, not a chance in hell Halford could have given it justice!

On a side note, many of the tracks from this record actually sound really good on the 98 Live Meltdown and Live in London CD.

This suppose be some kind a I dunno what but its eld down, yes heavy album musically, but don't sounds much. I heard they chose Ripper because he could sing JP songs live, classic and he had some JP cover band something. But studio, well its nothing compare whit Painkiller, peace of shit. Boring album. Metal must be melodic whit catchy riffs not groovy, as this, groovy HM some kind a boringness

Written by Bad English on 20.09.2017 at 01:33

This suppose be some kind a I dunno what but its eld down, yes heavy album musically, but don't sounds much. I heard they chose Ripper because he could sing JP songs live, classic and he had some JP cover band something. But studio, well its nothing compare whit Painkiller, peace of shit. Boring album. Metal must be melodic whit catchy riffs not groovy, as this, groovy HM some kind a boringness

another fooly who compares to painkiller...
you can't just compare this with the old JP, it'll be automatically a new band with a different sound
and what was that conservatisme about Groove ?

Written by christmas.inHell on 09.12.2018 at 20:44

Written by Bad English on 20.09.2017 at 01:33

This suppose be some kind a I dunno what but its eld down, yes heavy album musically, but don't sounds much. I heard they chose Ripper because he could sing JP songs live, classic and he had some JP cover band something. But studio, well its nothing compare whit Painkiller, peace of shit. Boring album. Metal must be melodic whit catchy riffs not groovy, as this, groovy HM some kind a boringness

another fooly who compares to painkiller...
you can't just compare this with the old JP, it'll be automatically a new band with a different sound
and what was that conservatisme about Groove ?

Its not new band, its same band whit new singer and groove is well its somehow less metal, more groove if you come from Alabama and are drunk from moonshine, and wanna play metal, but mess whit guitar, thats how groove sounds. And Painkiller was heavyest album from JP till Jugulator

This is pretty kick-ass album, once you make peace with the idea that Halford isn't on it and it's not Painkiller part deux. Not to mention Tim 'Ripper' Owens is an excellent vocalist in his own right.

Written by Răzvan on 09.05.2020 at 18:06

This is pretty kick-ass album, once you make peace with the idea that Halford isn't on it and it's not Painkiller part deux. Not to mention Tim 'Ripper' Owens is an excellent vocalist in his own right.

Its equal as im whit blaze, 2 super singers left main bands in equal time period and replacers did good job as song writes wrote. Sad that fanboys riuned whole thing

Why is every single Judas Priest album available on Spotify besides anything with Tim Owens? THAT grinds my gears.

Written by majormalfunction on 19.09.2020 at 18:12

Why is every single Judas Priest album available on Spotify besides anything with Tim Owens? THAT grinds my gears.

If I had to guess, probably something to do with copyright issues. Not sure the specifics of any legal arguments, if any, that ever took place between the band and Owens, or if he contributed to lyrics or something that would cause problems.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 19.09.2020 at 20:37

If I had to guess, probably something to do with copyright issues. Not sure the specifics of any legal arguments, if any, that ever took place between the band and Owens, or if he contributed to lyrics or something that would cause problems.

Nah i'm cynical about this one and believes it's only because they don't want to be associated with that era in some way that it would lower their brand or something. After all, if there is copyright issues it would be with Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings. Not with the Owens stuff, Owens never really wrote anything on those records anyway.

Painkiller was the absolute peak for Judas Priest, so any album which follows is never going to match that kind of quality. The departure of Rob Halford was always going to hit the band hard, he was what made Judas Priest who they were, and his vocals in heavy metal around that time couldn't be matched. They obviously thought Tim "Ripper" Owens would be the perfect replacement, and his a great vocalist for sure, but he was no match for Halford, so I don't think the majority of Judas Priest fans were taken to it.

With the new vocalist came a new sound, for me it became borderline thrash, the vocals weren't bad, but the songwriting was not that great, there was some decent riffs and drumming, and the tempo was great, but it lacked the wow factor. The songs became more lengthy too, especially the closing track "Cathedral Spires", which for me would of been better if it was cut much shorter.

More like Suckulator How can you even go from Painkiller to this? It's like dipping from $65 000 to $18 000 as BTC, but in this album's case you won't be buying more of it. The biggest missing factor on the record sounds to be the lack of classic K.K and Tipton guitar playing; their playing sounds totally different here than on their earlier albums and it isn't recognisable as it used to be; this sounds like some two random guitarists playing some half metal half hardcore. The vocals, of course, aren't match for Halford's either. So, pretty negligible, I don't remember listening to this album many times.