Judas Priest
Painkiller

THE REVIEW

Yesterday, one of the most beautiful days of my life.

I accompanied a friend of mine to a CD store and immediately noticed "Rust in Peace" on the shelf with Vic Rattlehead staring at me, wanting me to spend my money to satisfy his wickedness, but as I approached to get a better look at that "Megadeth" album,
I turned around and saw it.
I saw the most Heavy Metal record ever, I saw "Painkiller" and my love for that intro drum beat of the title track overwhelmed me and compelled me to take it home after desiring the splendid '90s Priest for so long.

I ran home and played it.
The title track begins furiously and maniacally, with excellent drum and guitar work. Rob narrates the deeds of "Painkiller" (the character depicted on the cover) and describes his "gleaming and chrome" appearance. Once the metal storm ends, the much more deliberate and less instinctive "Hell Patrol" kicks in, with its epic and martial stride where Halford's falsetto gives you goosebumps and the guitars mark the time along with the somewhat subdued but very present drums.
"All Guns Blazing" is an energetic track, perhaps more hard'n'heavy than heavy metal, not one of the best tracks in my opinion, somewhat forgettable.
And here comes the leather rebel, burning rubber on his Harley, "Leather Rebel" is one of those tracks to listen to with the stereo volume at maximum, letting your long, expertly tied hair down and starting to headbang in every room. Great riffs, great rhythm, with a chorus to shout out loud.
The guitars are insane, and the tapping dominates, it's time for one of the best pieces of the album and of metal as a whole. "Metal Meltdown" is arrogant, unashamed, and shattering eardrums from start to finish. Here, the choruses are brazen, and the riffs blend well with the overall atmosphere.
Brilliant introduction for the next track,
"Night Crawler" is an outright masterpiece, from the melodies to the atmospheres, this time more theatrical and performed by a calm Rob Halford, who at 2:36 minutes in gets agitated and delivers lines with a heartfelt and very moving falsetto.
It might have become my favorite track on the album, "Between the Hammer & the Anvil" roars with a nice ascending climax and a groove in the chorus that induces a temporary paralysis of the eardrums caused by the immense beauty of such compositional delight,
the following "A Touch of Evil" rests on a good pre-chorus melody, but the rest of the track I find boring and uninspired, perhaps due to the main riff which I find unconvincing, tastes do differ.
"Battle of Hymn" is the only instrumental on the album, 0:56 seconds long during which the most hopeful might hope to hear a bone-crushing grindcore, but instead, they will find a calm track interpreted by incisive guitars with a keyboard base underpinning the piece. It all sounds particularly good when the end of the song transitions into the next "One Shot at Glory" featuring a main riff played with the finger-picking technique, a beautiful piece, if only it weren't for the chorus that I find unbearable and lacking in complexity, but the rest of the track is pure delight!

The CD I bought also includes two bonus tracks, the poignant "Living Bad
Dreams," a beautiful track, a pseudo-dark and expressive ballad, and a live version of the already mentioned legendary "Leather Rebel."

Iconic and timeless album