Review Summary: ...And it isn't even Owens' fault.
1991. The end of the
Painkiller tour. Robert Halford, vocalist of Judas Priest, leaves the band he had fronted for nearly 20 years. Many of Priest’s fans predicted this would be the end. The world’s second heavy metal band… was dead.
Or weren’t they?
However important Rob Halford was to Judas Priest as a front man, core song writer and voice of the band, the rest of the band did not decide to call it quits that easily. They didn’t disband, they didn’t continue recording under a different name, but they did something that most bands do when they lose a member: they went looking for a new one.
A replacement was found in Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, an American singer who had been doing vocal duties for a Judas Priest tribute band called
British Steel. Still, a lot of time went by between Halford leaving and the recording of their next album.
Jugulator was released in 1998, and was eventually the one of only two Priest studio albums released in the 90’s. It was also a departure from their classic sound, borrowing heavily from the 80’s American thrash metal scene both musically and lyrically. Harsher themes, lower-tuned guitars and thrashy riffs created an album that was their heaviest up to date, and nothing like they had ever done before. Again, it resulted in a logo change, both for the band logo and the Judas Priest Cross, which seems logical considering the change in sound and line-up. Jugulator was also a semi-concept, depicting the ending of the world (as if we didn’t have enough cheese already…). The big question is, of course: was it any good?
Jugulator’s Judas Priest was:
- Timothy S. Owens ~ Vocals
- Kenneth Downing Jr. ~ Lead Guitar
- Glenn Raymond Tipton ~ Lead Guitar
- Ian Frank Hill ~ Bass Guitar
- Scott Travis ~ Drums
The start of the album isn’t half bad at all. After hearing some dark and sinister mechanized sounds, the title track tries to explode in the same way
Painkiller did. It doesn’t succeed entirely, as the track lacks the powerful punch heard on Priest’s previous album, and the lyrics are even more childish, but Owens’ singing is actually what makes the song, and works well with the now thrashy riffs.
Even though Owens is actually quite a good singer, with a lower register than Halford whilst still carrying an impressive falsetto (he luckily doesn’t try to copy his predecessor either), the album has a serious problem instrumentally. It seems as the spark that created previous fantastic Judas Priest songs has left the band with Halford. Surely we don’t mind thrash riffs, but Downing and Tipton don’t make them sound very innovative. Rather, they are pretty generic and boring at most times, and the two guitarists seem very uninspired. Even the solos are sometimes more average than those found on
Turbo. Travis, who managed to impress heavily on
Painkiller, is nowhere as great as he sounded before, and provides a rather lacklustre rhythm section with Hill. On top of that, the added sound effects and spoken vocal parts are mostly silly.
Sub-par instrumental section or not, Jugulator does have its moments. Aside from the title track,
Burn in Hell stands out with a nice soft guitar line in its first half and better thrashing overall than most of the other tracks.
Blood Stained is great in parts, but then again not so great in others, especially the chorus.
Cathedral Spires aspires (no pun intended, seriously) to be a magnificent epic that closes off the album perfectly. It doesn’t quite reach the classic status, but comparing it to the most part of the album, it is a pretty impressive song, and arguably the best on the album.
Priest’s new line-up has potential, but they just show it off in too few spots with often boring, uninspired instrumental work and very childish lyrics. Owens is an adequate replacement for Halford but remains an identity of his own. If they had produced an album that sounded more interesting and varied, we wouldn’t have minded. As for Jugulator though, it really is a poor affair.
+ Owens is a solid vocalist with an unique identity
- The instrumental work sounds bland too often, with the ‘old’ part of the band not sounding very inspired to say the least
- Repetitive
- The lyrical mess don’t stop
- Useless sound effects that add nothing of quality
Recommended tracks:
Cathedral Spires
Jugulator
Burn in Hell
