There'll Be No Compromise

So remember when we did that Kreator post a while ago? What we were trying to get at with that one was that Kreator was cool 'cause they were fucking metal. Just straight-up "heavy metal" with no extra tags or qualifiers or hyphens. Middle-aged guys who liked palm muting, singalong apocalyptic choruses, and at least three dive-bomby solos in every tune. As soon as we heard Kreator's Violent Revolution we felt like we were hearing Holy Diver or Ace of Spades -- music so confidently balls-out that it didn't give a damn whether you liked it or not.


And now that we've spent a month with nothing but Judas Priest on the dial, we gotta say we feel the exact same way about Angel of Retribution. It's taken us a few years to come to our senses, but we're finally ready to claim Priest's reunion record as one for the time-capsule. One of those few records where if some poor soul asks ya "What is this heavy metal you speak of?" you could pluck this one out and have that dude understandin' it all before the first chorus came in.

Angel of Retribution is glass-shattering screams and dueling solos. Pounding floor toms and single note basslines. Finely scooped distortion and overwrought demonology. In short, signature metal. Oh, and there's a an album-closing ten minute ode to the Loch Ness Monster. Fuck. Yeah.

So here's "Hellrider," taken from the greatest, Dutiest, and most metallist DVD of them all: Rising in the East. Judas Priest, we love you....and, yes, we know we've said this before.