Judas Priest
Jugulator

THE REVIEW

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