Life after Rob Halford began seven years later, with rather oddly but perhaps appropriately the lead singer's position being filled by a former fan of the band, who had been at the time fronting a Judas Priest tribute band called British Steel. Tim “Ripper” Owens would go on to record two albums with Priest before being ousted by the triumphant return of Halford in 2005.
Jugulator (1997)
Heavy, mechanical robotics noises herald the approach of the Jugulator of the album title, a massive engine of destruction that rumbles forward on hard chugging guitar and menacing bass, percussion rolling in as it approaches and gets closer, a dark, evil-sounding voice declaiming its advance before all hell breaks loose and we pound into the title track. Rocketing along on the twin guitar assault, the song of course features the first vocal performance of the new singer, and while he may not be a match for Halford he's no shrinking violet, growling and spitting the lyric as he revels in his hitherto-unexpected position. There's a certain more restrained feel to “Blood stained”, though it's still as heavy as hell. Scott Travis, on his second album with the band, really thumps out the beat.
The dark growled vocals (mostly in the background) are a little silly though, and smack of Priest actively trying to compare to, compete with or even copy the likes of Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth, and Owens also seems to want to channel Ozzy at times. More growls and snorts from presumably the rampaging Jugulator as we head into “Dead meat”, where Owens really sounds like Hetfield to me, and the song is okay but a little weak and droning I feel. “Death Row” sounds like it might be a whole lot better, with an atmospheric guitar passage opening it and the sound of a phone call that advises there will be no stay of execution. It rocks like a good thing then, and in fairness Owens's voice does suit this song much better, but again I'm reminded of the Big M or even a slowed-down Slayer. The lyrical content is so much more US Thrash than UK Metal, with something of an odd chant in the chorus. Definitely feels like pandering to the American market and trying to jump on the Thrash bandwagon. Even the guitar riff is
so Metallica.
The song titles aren't exactly inspired either. We've had “Blood stained”, “Dead meat”, “Death Row” and now we have “Decapitate”, followed by “Brain dead” and “Burn in Hell.” Yeah. The first is a decent grinder with a snarly vocal from “Ripper” Owens, which is okay but it does make me yearn for the glory days of Halford. Oddly enough, “Burn in Hell” starts with an acoustic guitar, quite introspective, with a dark bassy line underpinning it, and a very good vocal from Owens. Those sirens from “Breaking the law” are back to usher in “Brain dead”, a slower, nastier, grindier song in which Owens again reminds me of the Ozz. Oddly perhaps, this is a sympathetic story, viewed from the side of a man who is in a PVS (Persistent Vegetative State) and can do nothing for himself, has to watch while people feed him, clean him, speak as if he's not there. The dark snarling guitar underlines the frustration of the patient as he sits, unable to do or say anything and decisions are made for him.
Stayling slow and somewhat moody for “Abductors”, with more of that silly death growling (not that it's silly per se, but here it just doesn't seem to fit; it's not part of Judas Priest's sound) , and a kind of dramatic, ominous feel. It speeds up near the end with a fine solo, but slows back down before the end, then “Bullet train” pushes down the hammer and racks everything up to ten, careering along with some fine shredding from the guys and we end on what I believe is the longest Judas Priest track to date, just over nine minutes as “Cathedral spires” brings the curtain down in style with a slow, smouldering opening then kicks up into a snarling, spitting monster as Priest envisage the final days of Planet Earth. Again though I find this very Metallica in sound and texture.
TRACKLISTING
1. Jugulator
2. Blood stained
3. Dead meat
4. Death Row
5. Decapitate
6. Burn in Hell
7. Brain dead
8. Abductors
9. Bullet train
10. Cathedral spires
It's not a bad album, and to be fair, to come back after seven years and with a new vocalist was quite a feat for Judas Priest. In Tim Owens I think they managed to land a successful replacement for Halford, but he has his own style and I feel this doesn't quite chime with the rest of the band. Allied to that, the fact that they seem to be intentionally trying to ape the sound of the bigger American Thrash bands here cheapens this album in my eyes. On
Ram it down Halford and the boys stamped their seal on the “new” metal scene in America, and gave warning they were far from dead. They faced up to the Big Four, and to a degree, faced them down. There was chestbeating and roaring and a whole lot of testosterone.
Here, it looks to me like after seven years away from the scene, and perhaps a little unsure of themselves without their charismatic leading man, and unsure too if the fans would accept a replacement for their hero, Judas Priest played it safe, copying the trend at the time, the darker, grindier, nastier sound of Metallica and their brethren. Instead of showing the upstarts how it was done, that they were back in no uncertain terms, they just seem to have fallen in line behind them and asked “Can we play too?”
Not something you would expect a beast as fearsome as the Jugulator to ask!
Perhaps the last lines of the closer could be taken as a kind of prophecy, or speak to the band’s state of mind at the time:
”We’re so tired/Watching the world expire/Maybe we should retire…”