Judas Priest, the name just screams Heavy Metal, is back for round 2, with Ripper on vocals that is. After Halford left the band, Priest chose Ripper Owens as the new vocalist for the band. Ripper was a very good choice to head the band, because he possesses the vocal range and power necessary to stand in Halfords shoes.

Demolition, one will notice, has been slapped with the parental advisory sticker, which is a turn off for me. Profanity, in my opinion, is a very weak way for a band to get a point across. Judas Priest is the last band I would expect to be using the type of language common to the Korn (shit) style hard rock. To be perfectly honest, I really only noticed one or two profanities in the album.

Musically, the band does not seem to have what they did way back in the days. Ripper Owens is a very good vocalist, Tipton can still write a good solo, and Travis is an excellent drummer, but not much can be said for the songs. Good tracks pop in here and there, but most of the tracks are very forgettable. One problem I have is the over use of weird effects. Personally I would much rather listen to “Jugulator” or classic Priest, then put “Demolition” in the player.

So, to summarize the album as a whole, I would say it gets the rating of average. Only pick this one up if you have a lot of money, or is one of those people who are foaming at the mouth Priest fans. Personally, if I had to do it over again, I would not buy it.

© 2002 ramrod