Psycho: I really had to let this album sink in first of all. Ever since I have consciously listened to music, I have been a JUDAS PRIEST fan and so I found it hard to brush away the last 15 years just like that in order to approach this re-union album in the classic Painkiller line-up as unbiased as possible.
Now, about 2 to 3 weeks after the release of Angel Of Retribution it is beyond doubt to me that the elder gentlemen have really made it once more. It’s not so much that the CD impresses with super original song writing or with being a new milestone in the history of hard guitar music (or their own back catalogue), but more with JUDAS PRIEST delivering a raw essence of what made this band so fascinating (and valuable).
AOR (stupid acronym of the album title that doesn’t do its content justice in any way) consequently offers one thing more than anything else: Heavy Metal! In such a classic way that it almost makes you weep and you start thinking wistfully of times past. Musically the album embraces nearly all albums that have been essential to the band’s history, be it reminders of Painkiller (Judas Rising, Hellrider), Point Of Entry (Worth Fighting For), Defenders Of The Faith (Wheels Of Fire) or British Steel (Deal With The Devil), just to mention a few. Even the old ballad highlights of the 70’s are reflected with Angel relatively free of cliché, while there is even a doomy and quite extraordinary song – the 14-minute Lochness, which blends perfectly into the typical JUDAS PRIEST frame.
Consequently the fans get what most of them might have hoped for. Still you can’t deny the fact that the five Britons have a real flop aboard with their first single release Revolution and that they copy themselves relentlessly from the first note to the last. However, they do it on a worldclass level: Lead- as well as rhythm guitars fight impressive duels and the bass- and drum foundation is first class. I don’t dare imagine how JUDAS PRIEST would sound without Scott Travis. The lyrics are overflowing with quotes from old songs and practically every cliché that Heavy Metal has to offer. But what would devaluate any other band fits like the harley right under Robbies bottom. You simply cannot and wouldn’t want to imagine it otherwise.
Anyway, with Angel Of Retribution the Metal Gods have proven beyond doubt to themselves and to the world that this band can only work in this constellation. That includes Rob Halford, who can easily brush away the rather weak impression of last year’s live performance with a great performance. However, he presents his trademark high notes rather sparingly. Still JUDAS PRIEST profit greatly from the charisma of their old/new frontman, even if his main merit lies in being the muse for the guitar duo Glenn Tipton/K.K. Downing. Or can somebody explain to me, why songs like these couldn’t be found on the last to releases despite a renowned singer (Ripper Owens)?
In my eyes the greatest credit point simply is the fact that after a 15 year long haul and almost being in retirement JUDAS PRIEST managed to produce an album that sounds more original, spontaneous and especially more like heavy Metal than practically everything that has been turned out by the countless HM- and Power Metal epigones during the last years. It’s no wonder that I couldn’t come to terms with all that new stuff.
The final touch is the extremely dynamic and forward production and the bonus DVD that is included in the limited edition. Besides some informative interviews with the band the DVD contains footage from the last tour. All of the songs are absolute JUDAS PRIEST classics (Breaking The Law, Metal Gods, A Touch Of Evil, Hell Bent For Leather, The Hellion/Electric Eye, Diamonds And Rust as an acoustic version and Living After Midnight) that have been preserved in excellent sound and picture quality. This makes it easy to revel in nostalgia...
The upshot is: JUDAS PRIEST delivered a more than distinct sign of life and almost easily cut the ground from under the feet of their more recent competitors. Still they are a good distance away from their glorious deeds of the past 30 years and one or the other weak point must result in a depreciation for reasons of objectivity (in spite of the afore mentioned nostalgia), especially since JUDAS PRIEST themselves raised the expectations. All considered I think 8 points are appropriate. Still, HM fans won’t get round this album!

*

Sui: Even if I hadn’t listened to Angel Of Retribution with my own ears I would become suspicious just by the length of Psycho’s review (and I don’t say this because I had to translate it). A really good album simply doesn’t need so many words to convince. Not that I think that it is a bad album, but it is not a good one either, especially not by the high JUDAS PRIEST standards. To me the reminiscences of their heyday that Psycho mentioned are rather wistful instead of being an essence of their previous work.
There is more than one flop on this album, Lochness being the bigger of the two (the other is indeed Revolution). It is indeed extraordinary – extraordinarily boring and superfluous with lyrics that range on the level of the righteously despised epigones. JUDAS PRIEST have always fed on clichés, but whereas in former times these clichés gave me (and thousands others) goose flesh, now they seem not to work any more, maybe because the are so blatantly copied from former JUDAS PRIEST albums.
The album definitely has its highlights but none of them can reach the level of the era that it evokes. Some come close (Judas Rising, Demonizer) some quite miss the mark (Wheels Of Fire, Angel). The production is fat and heavy but the times of badly produced major act albums have been over for more than a decade now, so this should be taken for granted (exceptions prove the rule). And Psycho, if you really want to know what JUDAS PRIEST would sound like without Scott Travis, listen to any album before Painkiller and there you are!
6 points from me: For an album that is okay but nothing more. The DVD doesn’t count in my eyes, because it contains old (the real thing) stuff and is not part of the „normal“ package.