With the news that Rob Halford will be reuniting with Judas
\nPriest not even two weeks old, it’s easy to now see where the
\ntell-tale signs of the inevitable began. The summer of 2000
\nofficially marked Rob Halford hanging up the boa and black eyeliner
\nstage ensemble used while fronting his Trent Reznor-associated
\nalternative project, Two, and releasing a new metal album with a
\nband of largely unknown bandmates under the name of Halford.
\nResurrection<\/i> promised to return Rob Halford back to the
\nforefront of the metal scene, the same scene in which he
\ndisassociated himself after 25 years when he began the Two project.
\nThe rumors that Rob was forming the new band had been gossiped
\nabout for nearly two years prior to the release of
\nResurrection<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Skeptics aside, and I remember I was one of them, there were
\nmany reasons to believe Rob Halford was committed to his return to
\nthe hard-hitting scene largely built around his voice in the early
\n70’s. The imagery of a leather clad Halford riding a motorcycle on
\nthe jacket of
\nResurrection<\/i> had everything to do with the association of a
\nHalford-led Judas Priest era centered around the
\nKilling Machine<\/i> days where Rob trotted out the bike while
\nperforming “Hell Bent for Leather” on stage. Also, the title of the
\nalbum surely seemed convincing enough.<\/p>\n
Even the label the album was released on, Metal-Is, was a dead
\ngiveaway that Halford was a serious metal project considering that
\nthe label was a division of Rod Smallwood’s Sanctuary Records
\ngroup. Smallwood is the manager of fellow British metal legends
\nIron Maiden and carries a reputation of a no nonsense metal
\nexecutive.<\/p>\n
The title track and first song on
\nResurrection<\/i> launches into a
\nPainkiller<\/i>-style sounding assault which fans will remember
\nwas the last Judas Priest studio album in which Rob appeared.
\nWasting absolutely no time in showcasing his falsetto shriek,
\nHalford reveals his past internal struggles and new vow to
\n“resurrect” his metal legacy with this first verse: “I’m digging
\ndeep inside this hole\/ To bring myself out of this God-damned
\nhole\/I rid the demons from my heart\/And found the truth was with me
\nfrom the start.” Whoa! This is commitment baby! Let the skeptics be
\ndamned! The lyrics only become more direct in exorcising past
\ndemons while Halford’s voice seeks to penetrate higher octaves as
\nthe song roars on.<\/p>\n
Proving the first track was no fluke, “Made in Hell” is a song
\nthat depicts Rob’s personal ascent to “Metal God” status. While Rob
\nstates that he took his “scream around the world from London to
\nL.A.”, it becomes apparent that the axemen Halford hand-picked for
\nthis gig, Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, were equal to the
\ntask in mirroring the sounds of legendary Judas Priest guitarists,
\nK.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton.<\/p>\n
One might think that that the track order on
\nResurrection<\/i> would make more sense if we learned of Rob’s
\nascent to the top of the metal mountain before we learned of his
\nrebirth. To do this would severely undermine the seriousness of
\nRob’s tenuous situation with his fans. Judas Priest fans are a rare
\nbreed. They are obsessed with the band’s music and they were as
\nscarred with the terms that led to Halford’s initial departure from
\nthe band as much as any other breakup in recent history.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the track “Silent Screams” is a seven minute romp
\nthat approaches the magnitude of “Victim of Changes” (
\nSad Wings of Destiny<\/i>) proportions. As if Rob still needs to
\nbeg for his fans forgiveness at this point, he eerily storytells
\nhis plight before admitting that he still “screams inside because
\nthere’s nothing left to do until the end.” Mid-song the tempo kicks
\nin, Rob goes falsetto, and the song gallops into another state of
\nchaos.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the song “The One You Love to Hate” features
\nguest vocalist Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame. Having
\nDickinson appear on the album when Rob was last seen collaborating
\non his recorded works with industrial rocker, Trent Reznor would
\ncause anyone to do a double take. The song is another classic metal
\nassault and should be the last confirmation that the Metal God is
\nserious with his return to the music for which he is best
\nknown.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to be prophetic when writing this review three years
\nafter the release of
\nResurrection<\/i> and with the current news of Rob Halford
\nrejoining Judas Priest. Simply put,
\nResurrection<\/i> was an album created to send a signal out to
\nthe metal masses that Rob Halford was back in pure Judas Priest
\nform and with the creative energy to write songs from the
\nheart.<\/p>\n
While the songs on
\nResurrection<\/i> hold up on their own regardless of the lyrical
\nmessages, it is indeed those lyrics and the unconventional musical
\npath that Rob Halford embarked upon after leaving Judas Priest in
\nthe early 90’s that make this album essential listening for all
\nmetal fans. It’s a storybook release that has finally been proven
\nto have the fairy tale ending which promises future glory for Rob
\nand his Judas Priest mates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":25536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6402],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37672","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-halford","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37672"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}