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68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great music...but both U.S. editions need work, March 8, 2005
As for the music...this is classic Priest. Great to hear Halford back in the group. As for the U.S. cd releases, well, they both were less than satisfactory. Unlike some reviewers, my star rating is for hte music, not the CD issues. Most of you notice that there are two versions of this album available. There is a "dueldisc" edition and a limited "hardcover" book edition. The "dueldisc" version generates more problems. This is a new type of technology that is still in the working process and there is even a warning on the CD case. The disc features the music portion on one side and a the DVD features on the other. Because of this, the CD is thicker than the usual CD. Since it is thicker, the cd has a hard time playing in a lot of CD players. Forget about playing it in your CD deck in your car. Alot of players also scratch up the DVD side when trying to play the music side. I know a lot of people like myself like to make copies of our CD's so we can play 'em in our cars without worry of ruining the original discs. Forget about that as the new copy protection makes this impossible. Overall, the "dueldisc" edition blows and should be avoided. People wanting to avoid all the hassle of the ultra-garbage dueldisc version are better off buying the limited hardcover book edition. This has the CD and DVD on seperate discs. You are also able to make back-up copies of the CD for your car with this one. The downfalls of this release is that the CD and DVD come in little slipcases inside the 'book'. This means that if you keep removing the discs, you have a chance of damaging them. I even know a few individuals whose discs came pre-scratched because of these slipcases. The hardcover book is also only slightly better than those dreaded digipacks as it can get ruined very easily. Still, even with its downfalls, the limited is by far the way to go. If only they released it in a regular double jewel case instead...
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A few new wrinkles in the old Priest Robes..., March 1, 2005
The first new album from Judas Priest since the Ripper Owens days and the first with Rob Halford since Painkiller (over ten years ago) tries to reclaim the ground it has "lent" to today's metal acts, with generally nice results. From the first (the opener "Judas Rising"), the trademark Priest grinding guitars and hypnotic riffs light up the album, and generally keep a high level of energy throughout. Rob Halford's voice is nothing less than fantastic; even his screams (at least on record) are still amazing, though his voice certainly stretches out with lower range and volume changes as well this time around, again with masterful results.
Two things that make "Angel Of Retribution" sound a bit different from what people see as the typical "Priest sound," however, are the greater presence of the bass in songs and the nature of a few of the songs themselves. First, Ian Hill's bass plays a much more central role in some songs (certainly on the album's first single, "Revolution", but on others like the finale "Lochness" as well), and helps to spread out the demands on screaming guitar solos (which I think are just a little toned down for this release) and Scott Travis' drums (but still a lot of the double bass drum beats throughout). Hopefully this helps the band more easily capture the sound of these songs live and maybe even surpass them in their concert versions. The second difference is that Priest (unlike many other bands of the genre) always have tweaked their sound a little to accomodate changes in their interests, and here is no different. There's a full fledged ballad "Angel" which is not fair to simply refer to as a "power ballad," as it deals with an interesting topic (asking for relief in the form of death at the end of the character's life) and is carried more by Halford's wonderful lower and mid range voice than the inevitable crashing guitar chorus. "Eulogy" is another change of pace, kind of a view from outside the body of a group of mourners with a heavy piano (maybe from Glenn Tipton?) base; mournful and an interesting segue into the album's last song, "Lochness," an extended "trudge" through one of the more interesting myths of Scotland (Halford referred to it as their "Lord Of The Rings" moment).
There are still plenty of high-octane songs on the album to rock to (my favorites are "Deal With The Devil" and "Demonizer" with it's "Out, Demon, Out" line in the chorus) and even though the second half sags a bit in my opinion, the Priest machine has definitely retooled itself successfully for the forseeable future. Recommended!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Judas Priest is back defending the faith with a vengeance, March 2, 2005
I have listened to every song on Angel Of Retribution and I have to rank it as one of the all time Judas Priest classics. The sounds and songs on this CD are as diverse in sound as the band has been spanning their entire 30 year career.
While "Wheels of Fire" and "Demonizer" are Painkiller-esque, they have other tunes such as "Deal With the Devil" which is more like from "Screaming for Vengeance". "Worth Fighting For" would fit well on Hell Bent for Leather. The ballad "Angel", if it were on "Sad Wings of Destiny", would already be an all time classic as well as "Eulogy". "Revolution" sounds like some of the grinding classics of "Sin After Sin" and would fit right in with the other songs on it. "Loch Ness" is not a simple "metal" song, but more of a "rock opera" artsy style piece along the lines of "Beyond the Realms of Death".
If you want all hard 100 mph grinding stuff go buy some "thrash", if you want some band crunching the same chords at different tempos and a singer "growling" in the mic go buy some "nu-metal" or "death metal", but if you want some real straight forward classic heavy metal in its truest form buy "Angel of retribution" by Judas Priest. You will not be disappointed.
I would recommend dishing out the extra $10 to get the version with the CD and Bonus DVD than the dual disk. From what I have read some people have had a problem with the dual disks format not working on older CD players plus the extra footage on the bonus DVD which is not on the shortend dual disk video is worth it.
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