Album Review: Judas Priest - Firepower

First the good news. This is the best Judas Priest album since Painkiller (for those wondering its greater sonic consistency means it just pips Angel Of Retribution).

There's everything here we love about Priest - catchy songs, gorgeous double harmonies (the Glenn Tipton/Richie Faulkner partnership clearly works) and fist-pumping lyrics that border on the absolutely ridiculous and cliched. The bad news is that this is also Priest by numbers and there's nothing here that tops say a Defenders Of The Faith or Stained Class. Still, Firepower is a fantastic metallic romp that alternately stomps (Lone Wolf), flies high (Firepower) and charges along the highway in leather-clad glory (Lightning Strike) before snarling like a wolf (Evil Never Dies). Rob Halford sounds in top-notch form even though he never hits those truly stratospheric notes (probably a good thing at his age) and the now tried and tested rhythm section of Ian Hill/Scott Travis delivers a predictably rock-solid performance.

This album is also important for another reason. With Tipton's recent Parkinson's announcement and KK Downing busy sniping at his former bandmates, this is very likely the last instalment in the Priest discography. No, they aren't capable of delivering ground-breaking records anymore, but Firepower stands as a worthy coda for a band who along with Black Sabbath created the genre of metal.