Published on Aug 1, 2003
With the news that Rob Halford will be reuniting with Judas
Priest not even two weeks old, it’s easy to now see where the
tell-tale signs of the inevitable began. The summer of 2000
officially marked Rob Halford hanging up the boa and black eyeliner
stage ensemble used while fronting his Trent Reznor-associated
alternative project, Two, and releasing a new metal album with a
band of largely unknown bandmates under the name of Halford.
Resurrection promised to return Rob Halford back to the
forefront of the metal scene, the same scene in which he
disassociated himself after 25 years when he began the Two project.
The rumors that Rob was forming the new band had been gossiped
about for nearly two years prior to the release of
Resurrection.
Skeptics aside, and I remember I was one of them, there were
many reasons to believe Rob Halford was committed to his return to
the hard-hitting scene largely built around his voice in the early
70’s. The imagery of a leather clad Halford riding a motorcycle on
the jacket of
Resurrection had everything to do with the association of a
Halford-led Judas Priest era centered around the
Killing Machine days where Rob trotted out the bike while
performing “Hell Bent for Leather” on stage. Also, the title of the
album surely seemed convincing enough.
Even the label the album was released on, Metal-Is, was a dead
giveaway that Halford was a serious metal project considering that
the label was a division of Rod Smallwood’s Sanctuary Records
group. Smallwood is the manager of fellow British metal legends
Iron Maiden and carries a reputation of a no nonsense metal
executive.
The title track and first song on
Resurrection launches into a
Painkiller-style sounding assault which fans will remember
was the last Judas Priest studio album in which Rob appeared.
Wasting absolutely no time in showcasing his falsetto shriek,
Halford reveals his past internal struggles and new vow to
“resurrect” his metal legacy with this first verse: “I’m digging
deep inside this hole/ To bring myself out of this God-damned
hole/I rid the demons from my heart/And found the truth was with me
from the start.” Whoa! This is commitment baby! Let the skeptics be
damned! The lyrics only become more direct in exorcising past
demons while Halford’s voice seeks to penetrate higher octaves as
the song roars on.
Proving the first track was no fluke, “Made in Hell” is a song
that depicts Rob’s personal ascent to “Metal God” status. While Rob
states that he took his “scream around the world from London to
L.A.”, it becomes apparent that the axemen Halford hand-picked for
this gig, Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, were equal to the
task in mirroring the sounds of legendary Judas Priest guitarists,
K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton.
One might think that that the track order on
Resurrection would make more sense if we learned of Rob’s
ascent to the top of the metal mountain before we learned of his
rebirth. To do this would severely undermine the seriousness of
Rob’s tenuous situation with his fans. Judas Priest fans are a rare
breed. They are obsessed with the band’s music and they were as
scarred with the terms that led to Halford’s initial departure from
the band as much as any other breakup in recent history.
Furthermore, the track “Silent Screams” is a seven minute romp
that approaches the magnitude of “Victim of Changes” (
Sad Wings of Destiny) proportions. As if Rob still needs to
beg for his fans forgiveness at this point, he eerily storytells
his plight before admitting that he still “screams inside because
there’s nothing left to do until the end.” Mid-song the tempo kicks
in, Rob goes falsetto, and the song gallops into another state of
chaos.
Interestingly, the song “The One You Love to Hate” features
guest vocalist Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden fame. Having
Dickinson appear on the album when Rob was last seen collaborating
on his recorded works with industrial rocker, Trent Reznor would
cause anyone to do a double take. The song is another classic metal
assault and should be the last confirmation that the Metal God is
serious with his return to the music for which he is best
known.
It’s easy to be prophetic when writing this review three years
after the release of
Resurrection and with the current news of Rob Halford
rejoining Judas Priest. Simply put,
Resurrection was an album created to send a signal out to
the metal masses that Rob Halford was back in pure Judas Priest
form and with the creative energy to write songs from the
heart.
While the songs on
Resurrection hold up on their own regardless of the lyrical
messages, it is indeed those lyrics and the unconventional musical
path that Rob Halford embarked upon after leaving Judas Priest in
the early 90’s that make this album essential listening for all
metal fans. It’s a storybook release that has finally been proven
to have the fairy tale ending which promises future glory for Rob
and his Judas Priest mates.