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Rating: Steel. Heavy metal in its purest form forged in the furnace of hell by Master Glenn Tipton: this is Jugulator, the first album by the Judas Priests along with that monster with superhuman vocal cords known as Tim "Ripper" Owens. The final result is an incredibly hard and angry album, with transcendental sound power capable of sweeping away in less than a nanosecond all the various raw black or brutal death groups.
The masterpiece opens with the homonymous title track, the anthem to the infernal creature on the cover, half demon and half machine, that after the metallic groove of the intro explodes into a devastating outburst, garnished with heart-stopping riffs and schizoid falsettos that make your hair stand on end; and closes with "Cathedral Spires", a masterpiece within a masterpiece, with its melancholic arpeggio and its melodic flights, which are punctually reabsorbed by the quicksand of riffing, evoking a post-apocalyptic industrial scenario where a defeated humanity, resigned to extinction, finds itself forced to take refuge in the spires and meanders of a phantom cathedral.
Between these two extremes are 37 splendid minutes of riffs, not very fast but solid as rock, an ever-pulsing drum, and a stunning voice that switches with embarrassing ease from growl to whisper to falsetto. The themes range from the condemnation of war (Blood Stained) to euthanasia (Brain Dead), passing through the death penalty (Death Row, Decapitate), the rejection of conformism (Dead Meat), and infernal punishments (Burn In Hell), demonstrating a band that, thanks especially to the predecessor "Painkiller," has definitively shaken off the awful syrupy taste of "Turbo" and the mediocrity of "Ram It Down".
It is truly a mission impossible to resist the irresistible perverse crescendo of "Burn In Hell", just as to the blazing but catchy choruses of "Blood Stained", "Dead Meat", "Death Row" or "Bullet Train", often adorned with melodic yet tension-filled arpeggios, that are always a prelude to subsequent and devastating explosions.
In short, this "Jugulator" is an album to always have and appreciate, born from a historical period of metal that gave rise to other unknown masterpieces like "Angry Machines" by RJ Dio (practically a twin brother of "Jugulator" in terms of attitude and themes) or the famous "The X Factor" by Iron Maiden, albums perhaps too forward for those years, but that in my opinion are essential for those who truly love the more grievous and heavy metal.
"And while such predators, stalk this earth, disguised as saints, they kill our faith" - Blood Stained
"I will not obey, I will not betray, I will not give in, not while I'm living" - Dead Meat
"Death row, say a prayer, best beware, it's not very nice in the electric chair" - Death Row
"Say my name, I can hear you whisper, not to blame? You are going to blister" - Burn In Hell
"Let me pass, from this world, so I fade away in peace" - Brain Dead
"They send you back and disorientate you, a lesser race they discriminate you" - Abductors
"Breakdown close my eyes, voices talking many lies, stained glass bursting in, shattering my world again" - Bullet Train
"They have blown away the daylight hours we had, left a legacy, a deadly aftermath, we cannot exist in godforsaken lands, as we spiral down into oblivion, breathing the fumes of fires that they ignite, losing ground and we are all just losing sight, we shall never see another setting sun, time to rise up and ascend, the and has come" - Cathedral Spires
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Jugulator (05:51)
Now let's see what you're made of
He is coming, you can't run
Violators that get caught
Will wish that they'd never been born
Exterminator
You are dead
Mutilate
Sharpened razor
Takes your head
Jugulator
Predit hater
You are trapped
Decimate
Desecrator
Your neck snapped
Jugulator
Jugulator he is near
Attracted by the stench of fear
Part demonic part machine
Hungry and it's time to feed
Iron claws and fangs of steel
Dripping from his tasty meal
Now it's time to jugulate
Feel your skull disintegrate
Jugulator killing time now
Reaches in and rips your spine out
Violator
Big mistake
Mutilate
Vindicator
Rib cage break
Flesh and bones
Are massacred
Jugulator
Desecrator
Jugulator
05 Decapitate (04:39)
Your head
You will lose it
Severed
When executed
You always thought
You'd never get caught
Decapitate
Sealing your fate
Rebels
Futile efforts
Are quelled
With effective measures
The sentence is read
Word that you dread
Decapitate
Walk through hell's gate
You've lost your head sir
Well you will tomorrow - sleep well
This court's
Best deterrent
To set
New precendents
The verdict of course
Couldn't be worse
Decapitate
Example be made
Decapitate
Will seal your fate
07 Brain Dead (05:24)
Turn me off
Pull the plug
Leave me with some dignity
I am not
What I was
And I don't need the sympathy
Alive inside me
No one can hear me
Brain dead
I'm not
Brain dead
Sentenced
Forgot
Paralysed
In my shell
Enduring every
Endless day
Immobilized
On my back
Aware of everything
They say
Extricate me
Eliminate me
Brain dead
I'm not
Brain dead
Drip fed
Forgot
I can't blink my eye or cry
Or even speak
They crowd around my bed
Condescending words are said
Thinking I don't hear or know
What is going on - Hello!
Can't you suckers hear my cries
From inside I'm still alive
It's my decision to abort
Turn off the goddamn life support
Let me pass
From this world
So I fade away in peace
Comprehending
Unrelenting
Brain dead
I'm not
Brain dead
Sentenced
Forgot
Brain dead
I'm not
Brain dead
Drip fed
Forgot
08 Abductors (05:49)
They come at night and they infiltrate you
They paralyse and they mentally rape you
Expressionless they disintegrate you
The probe your soul and desecrate you
Abductors - will bleed your mind
Abductors - cutting inside
They come for you in the night
They strap you in-struments laid before you
And powerless begin to explore you
You scream in pain but they just ignore you
The bring machines and they drill and bore you
Abductors - cutting inside
Abductors - drinking your mind
No-one believes that you
Were chosen from few
Defiled and abused
By alien rituals
You wake in fright there in your room
You better hope your memory fails you
A lower form of life to them
Just one more blood experiment
Abductors - will bleed your mind
Abductors - cutting inside
They come for you in the night
You wake in fright there in your room
You better hope your memory fails you
A lower form of life to them
Just one more blood experiment
They send you back and disorientate you
A lesser race they discriminate you
Whatever said will incriminate you
No-one believes
The sceptics laugh an annihilate you
They dig you out and they excavate you
Authority and even God forsakes you
No-one believes
Hey maybe I am just a liar
09 Bullet Train (05:11)
Sunrise showing every flaw
Paying for the night before
Dark eyes, scanning every vein
Exploding - cannot stand the strain
With each new mile They death defy me
Standing on trial Scrutinize me
And questionize my
Strong denial
Bullet bullet bullet train
Piercing through my brain
Windows illuminating stains
Breakdown closing in again
Freefall as I close my eyes
Voices talking many lies
Changing my course Blurred and scorched
Breathing exhaust As we distort
By gravity
Of such G-force
Bullet bullet bullet train
Piercing through my brain
Breakdown close my eyes
Voices talking many lies
Stained glass bursting in
Shattering my world again
Freefall but never can
Ever reach the ground again
Dark eyes scanning in
Feel my mind explode within
Wanting much more I implore you
Near to death's door To ignore
The screams of all
Who fall before
Bullet bullet bullet train
Piercing through my brain
Bullet bullet bullet train
Piercing through my brain
Bullet
10 Cathedral Spires (09:17)
They have blown away the daylight hours we had
Left a legacy, a deadly aftermath
We cannot exist in godforsaken lands
As we spiral down into oblivion
Breathing the fumes of fires that they ignite
Losing ground and we are all just losing sight
We shall never see another setting sun
Time to rise up and ascend, the end has come
No more willpower
Choked by hell fire
Darkness above
Blackening out the sun
Gripped by steel claws
Corrosion eating us
So before we're all devoured
Time to rise up and retire
In cathedral spires
Watching as the world expires
From up amongst the clouds
In cathedral spires
No names
No graves
No prayers
Can save us
Ashes to dust
Doomsday's upon us now
It cannot be stopped
Genocide all is lost
Oh! We're so tired
Time to rise up and conspire
In cathedral spires
Watching as our world expires
From up above the clouds
In cathedral spires
Jaws of corruption
Swallow us as one
Consuming every nation
Evoke resistance getting none
Complete disintegration
No good to defend
There can be but one outcome
We are no more - ascend
Vaporized fury
Offers no sanctuary
Oh! We're so tired
Time to rise up and retire
In cathedral spires
Watching as the world expires
From up amongst the clouds
In cathedral
In cathedral spires
Oh! We're so tired
Watching the world expire
Time that we retire
Up in cathedral spires
Oh! We're so tired
Watching the world expire
Time that we retire
Up in cathedral spires
Oh! We're so tired
Watching the world expire
Time that we retire
Up in cathedral spires
Oh! We're so tired
Watching the world expire
Time that we retire
Up in cathedral spires
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Other reviews
By ocram
Judas Priest... have contributed from the beginning to create and define the world of Metal as we know it now.
This 'Jugulator' is, very simply, an uninspired and tragically inconclusive album, that offers no new insights.
By Rainbow Rising
Jugulator is the bastard child of Painkiller, a big, muscular guy with a Slayer t-shirt and a Pantera tattoo.
Owens doles out plenty of high notes on a nice wall of guitars and helicopter double kick.
