Halford - Resurrection

Release date: 08/08/00 - Ref: Metal-Is MISCD001

Band
Rob Halford : vocals
Patrick Lachman : guitars
Mike Chlasciak : guitars
Ray Riendieau : bass
Bobby Jarzombek : drums

Guests
Bruce Dickinson : vocals on The one you love to hate
Pete Parada : drums on The one you love to hate
Ed Ross : keyboards on Silent screams and Twist

Produced by Roy Z

Review

Lemme get this straight : I started listening to Metal at age 10. The first LP I bought was Maiden's Killers and the second was Priest's British Steel (and the third was whatever Motörhead released at the time). Why am I boring you with this petty details of my meek existence ? Well, they are quite relevant. In 1997, Z brought Bruce back from the wastelands of pseudo-Grunge Rock. At the time, I called it a "reZurrection". Now that he rescued Rob Halford from the limbos of whatever-the-hell-I-would-call-Two-if-I-had-listened-to-it, I'm shit out of clever puns, damn it. Anyway, to top it off, Roy offers us a duet between the two best Heavy Metal singers ever, something that basically everyone had been waiting for the last 20 years. Not bad for a life's work, hey ? And something tells me he ain't stopping now, baby.

Another thing : I'm truly happy that young musicians got a chance to play with the Metal God. Their performance proves that they deserve it tenfold. But I would have sold my soul to Satan (again) to hear Roy play these tunes : he wrote/co-wrote 9 out of 12 and produced, so it's safe to say that this is as much his album as it is Halford's. I only dare imagine the end result. Oh well... Can't have it all, can you ?

Resurrection, then. In 15 seconds, Halford :

1. proves that's he still is the Metal God
2. smashes the competition into a bloody pulp
3. has Ripper Owens waiting for his severance package
4. All of the above

Just like for Maiden, I'm sure I'll come along old grumpy fans who'll complain that this solo album is not "classic" Priest, and newcomers who'll think that Ripper is, like, the best Metal singer ever. And both will be wrong. Classic Priest is 15 years old, baby and I don't want to hear Defenders of the faith all over again : I want to hear its 2000 little brother. As for Ripper, he did a great job, both in and out of the studio (much better than Blaze Bayley did in Maiden anyway). I personally loved Jugulator, but the only man who can take this to further extremes is Rob, not Ripper.

Face it, it's the Dickinson situation all over again. Halford got bored, left, did his own thing for a while, bit the dust and now he wants back. He won't say it this clearly, but neither did Bruce and we all saw what happened. I only wish that the inevitable Priest reunion will spawn a much fiercer beast than Maiden's did. At least we'll be spared the preposterous triple guitar attack... I feel this opinion is shared by the silent majority, so that's why I'm voicing it. Anybody in charge reading this, please pass the message. Thanks.

Julien

PS: the songs ? They all kill. Rob is God and Roy is his disciple. Buy or die.

Visit the Metal God's Official web site RobHalford.com