Ok, so back when Rob Halford was kicked out of Judas Priest, and the remaining guys were in the market for a new vocalist, Ralf Scheepers was in the running for the spot, and then was "beaten" if you will, by Ripper Owens. He went on to create Primal Fear, and life is good... but what if he had assumed the position of Judas Priest's vocalist?? What would Priest sound like?? Would SCHEEPERS have then been asked to join Iced Earth upon Rob Halford's triumphant return? Would Rob have returned at all??? I find myself wondering this quite often while listening to Primal Fear, and would like to hear your thoughts.

Judas Priest would have probably sounded just the same whoever they picked to sing for them. Tim probably wouldn't have been as successful as he is now. And of course Rob would have still come back.

Thankfully Ralf wasn't picked, because the first Primal Fear album especially is one of my all time favourites.

Ralf wouldn't have changed the sound, i'm sure of it.. anyway it's not like RS is better than Tim Owens at singing Priest stuff.

Written by Baz Anderson on 12.01.2010 at 00:00

Judas Priest would have probably sounded just the same whoever they picked to sing for them. Tim probably wouldn't have been as successful as he is now. And of course Rob would have still come back.

Thankfully Ralf wasn't picked, because the first Primal Fear album especially is one of my all time favourites.

I hear ya on that one! Primal Fear has to be my favorite power group, hands down!

Depends... Only thing I can think would be the lyrical quality of the songs. After hearing primal fear (and not at all knowing the topic info until now) I'd say the lyrics would possibly have been worse for what may have been "demolition" and "Jugulator".

The voice would have made sense for Priest, I can't say otherwise.

Maybe Ralf would sound better cz he tends to use higher notes than Ripper Owens in general...

Ralf may not have shaved his head!!!!!
[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9Vs-g_9fepU/SJ5xzcAFx3I/AAAAAAAAAFs/ReeehZ0p4hU/s320/ralf+scheepers.jpg

I'm pretty sure things would have went the same. To my knowledge I don't think Owens had too much of an input on the bands sound during his era anyways. Except that one bonus track on Demolition, he co-rote. Otherwise I think things would have went down the same.

I think the albums between halford would of been worth buying had RS been in the band. If Glenn and Tipton allowed it, Ralf could of wrote some good stuff with them. Not that Tim is bad. He could sing Halfords songs great but when it came to new material Tim just wasn't blowing me away.

I think it was mainly just the lack of Halford that made the Owens era songs so poor compared to their Halford era work, as Halford is also a songwriter in the band. In fact, didn't Halford's solo album he released sound more like Judas Priest then Jugulator and Demolition did?

Halford's solo work certainly sounded like Painkiller-era Priest. But that makes sense considering one of the main arguments between Halford and the two guitarists was Rob's desire to take the band in a heavier, more modern sounding direction.

As for the thread topic, who can say how things might have been? A successful band is more about chemistry between its members than a particular members contribution to the song writing progress.

Who knows why Tim Owens was chosen over Ralf? Or why Tim was subsequently replaced by a returning Halford?

My guess is something didn't feel right for K.K., Ian and Glen concerning Ralf. Maybe he just didn't fit in with the band's chemistry or what they were trying to accomplish at the time as well as The Ripper.

Neither do I believe that Ralf would have gone on to front Iced Earth after any imaginary stint with JP. Once again it comes down to chemistry, and Jon Schaffer being who he is...

Judas Priest is nothing without Rob Halford. Without him, they wouldn't sound the same.