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Judas Priest: Jugulator

30/07/10 || InquisitorGeneralis

I have to give Priest credit for making “Jugulator”: sure, it is far from a perfect album but with nu-metal on the rise in the late 1990s and Rob Halford off doing Fight and just being plain weird Priest soldiered on and released a considerably heavy record. Fuck it, even if Halford had stayed they still have the incredible “Painkiller” album to follow up which was a daunting enough task on its own. “Painkiller” is the shit. Priest certainly did not pussy out on “Jugulator” though.

We all know the rags-to-riches story of Tim “Ripper” Owens: the cover band singer who was chosen to take the front man spot after Halford left Priest to pursue his various solo projects… which kind of sucked. Owens had big shows, but thankfully not pumps, to fill and on “Jugulator” I think he does alright. The band however really tears it up and it is the performance of the old dogs behind Ripper that makes “Jugulabia” worth examining with a few well-placed fingers. It is clear that Downing and Tipton were trying to focus on making heavy, crushing riffs instead of the virtuoso leads of previous records and for the most part they succeed. Scott Travis also impresses on the drums: “Jugulator” may the have the heaviest drum sound and playing of any priest record except for the already mentioned “Painkiller”.

There are more hits than misses on “Jugulator”, that’s for sure. Although, as with most Priest records, the songs that suck suck super hard. One solid point for this record: no motherfucking ballads at all. While nowadays I am not a huge fan, in 1997 The Ripper could sing pretty well and his vocals in no way turn me off from Jugulator. He ain’t Halford, but who the fuck is? If you try and look at Jugulator as a classic Halford Priest record you will be disappointed. Forget about Rob for a second and appreciate what the band with Owens was trying to do…and write a seriously heavy album about a gigantic demon-machine destroying the world! Plus, if you have a problem with the songs blame Downing and Tipton, they wrote them.

“Blood stained” displays all the good things about “Jugulator”: Ripper’s voice sounds distinct and the band gets into a solid, heavy groove. I am a sucker for “Burn in hell” and I really think it would be a killer track to hear Priest play now with Halford. It certainly ruled when I saw Ripper sing it back in 2001. “Cathedral spires” is another good one but it drags a bit. “Dead meat” and “Death row” round out the solid, heavy tunes on “Jugulator”.

Actually, every track on here is heavy and thankfully “Jugulator” is ballad free. I love my Priest but not when they ease up and get emotional. Sorry Daemo, “Angel” is painful to listen to. However, just because it is all heavy, all the time does not make this record outstanding. It does get cheesy and repetitive at several points. I like the more evil tone Priest is going for on here but a lot of the lyrics are just goofy and don’t seem to fit. Still, overall “Jugulator” is a enjoyable record if you try and disassociate it from previous Priest records… difficult as that may be. You can do it dominators, I believe in you. This is certainly better than the Blaze-era Maiden and Priest at least proved they could be something decent without their iconic frontman. “Jugulator” is a good, not great, record so the following score fits teh bill methinks.

Information
Released: 1997
Label: Steamhammer/SPV
Website: www.judaspriest.com
Band
Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens: vocals
Glenn Tipton: guitar
K.K. Downing: guitar
Ian Hill: bass
Scott Travis: drums

Tracklist
01. Jugulator
02. Blood Stained
03. Dead Meat
04. Death Row
05. Decapitate
06. Burn in Hell
07. Brain Dead
08. Abductors
09. Bullet Train
10. Cathedral Spires

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