NOSTRADAMUS (2008)

BEST SONGS: "Revelations," "Pestilence & Plague," "Alone"

This album has really taken me the longest to comprehend of all Judas Priest releases. All of their previous albums has been more immediate with me, except, maybe their very first, "Rocka Rolla". One or two spins were usually enough to tell if I loved it or would just enjoy certain songs on it. With this one I didn't know what to think for the quite some time and only two months after hearing it for the first time, I am starting to gather my thoughts on it.

This is definitely the most ambitious project from Priest. In 35 years of their existence this is their first full concept album and a first double studio album. It is simply astounding how the band that released TWENTY STUDIO ALBUMS never managed to repeat themselves! Equally astounding is the fact that the musicians are now in their 50s and yet they still try to break new ground, for themselves, if not for music in general (more on this later). Three years ago they had but one thing to prove: that the reunion was not entirely a commercial decision and the chemistry was still there. Excellent (albeit safe) "Angel of Retribution" answered that question. Now the only thing left to prove is the same thing that every band in the world tries to answer: that they can write great music, that they can rock. Therein lies a problem. Metal is the music of the young, and the only department where Priest has a clear advantage over young bands out there is the budget. Hence the overblown and overlong double disc.

Unfortunately, the concept itself is rather faulty. Countless bands have made rock operas with orchestral-sounding keyboards, from Blind Guardian's "Nightfall In Middle Earth" to Virgin Steele's "House Of Atreus". There have also been many concept albums about a disenfranchised prophet, from Morgana Lefay's "Grand Materia" (about Nicolas Flamell) to *gasp* Nicolo Kotzev's "Nostradamus" album, and any new ground here is only for the band itself and, to some degree, for general public. Rob can't even plea ignorance, because, unlike many other "A-list" metal icons, he has been keeping his hand on the pulse of modern metal and is well aware of NWOEPM movement. I find it hard to believe he and the other Priest members have not heard of these works. They probably have and decided to do the same thing.

The music is not particularly heavy but rather symphonic. If Queen got really dark, they would sound like… yes, like Savatage, but also like "Nostradamus". I guess one doesn't have to look very far for the main influence, considering that Rob Halford is a huge fan of Freddy Mercury, and I remember Glenn Tipton mentioning that he liked Brian May. The tempo is generally mid-tempo or slow, not one true speedster in sight ("Persecution" and "Nostradamus" come closest and they also feature Priest's patented riffs). For the album that's over a 100 minutes long, this is a bit of a problem. The atmosphere is very doomy, in vein of classic Black Sabbath. Another thing tying the album to Black Sabbath is the sound: it's very retro, and keyboards resemble those of Geoff Nichols. And, of course, the melodic interludes between almost every real song: a very 70s thing. I truly don't understand the point: the melodies aren't all that memorable and don't really add much to the songs. Hell, these intermissions (should I call them "interruptions"?) don't even build up to the songs! I guess they picked it up from the late period Manowar. My favorite of them is "Shadows in the Flame," which happens to have some singing in it.

The closest comparison points from the Priest's own catalog would be their first two, "Rocka Rolla" and "Sad Wings of Destiny", although in many places, it sounds just like "Blood Red Skies" off of "Ram It Down". The production is mostly very sterile and over-polished, as if ProTools was the producer. It works in certain places, but for the medieval-themed project one would expect a more medieval, coarse, rough sound. The drums sound almost techno-like: I think the last time I've heard something like this was on "The Mission" by Royal Hunt, but that sound was justified by the whole sci-fi topic. Plus, I think Scott's talents are underused here. The guitars are synthetic to the point where sometimes I'm not sure it's guitars and not the sounds from the library of plug-ins. The music itself does not really justify the album's length: there just aren't enough musical ideas to fill up its immense volume. Songs suffer from internal repetitiveness not unlike Metallica's ghastly "St. Anger" album. Fortunately, taken by themselves, most of the melodies are good.

"Prophecy" is a mid-paced chugger with an excellent main riff, a sure concert favorite. "Revelations" is a smooth, swift ride that waves excellent harmonies from both the vocals and the synthesizers. "War" is pure doom, its highest moment being an excellent melodic bridge before the final chorus ("We must hold this threat…"). "Death" is pure Black Sabbath; it would have fit well on Sabbath's self-titled debut (plus, of course, the crisper production). I wish it was a little more menacing, but the outro chorus (where the tempo picks up), sung in Italian, is very neat, recalling, of course, Italian Masters of Overblown Metal, Rhapsody. "Lost Love" is a very boring track, but "Persecution" makes up for it, mostly through Rob's wicked vocals.

The second disc starts off with the memorable-for-the-wrong-reasons "Exiled." "Alone," one of the album's best moments, begins with a pretty acoustic strum but after the first chorus transforms into the rhythmic anthemic drive that is not unlike "Touch of Evil." In fact, this is the only anthem on this album, uncommon for one of the world's greatest anthem machines. Chorus to "Visions" ("I will sell my soul, only I can know…"), for some reason reminds me of the chorus to Manowar's "The Oath" ("I will crucify, slay them with their tribe"). "New Beginnings" is a slow ballad in major keys, almost country-like. Its main plus is that when Rob sings "Living a dream," he doesn't sound as awful as he did on "Living Bad Dreams" (a Painkiller bonus track). Title track, "Nostradamus," also harkens back to "Painkiller," but, of course, it's not quite as aggressive. I like the chorus, the organ interlude in the middle, and the ripping solo that follows. "Future of Mankind" is an excellent mid-tempo riff-fest, except the terrible "I see you…" moment that is insanely primitive. The lead break is awesome, though, with superb solos from both guitarists. I'm very happy they didn't give us another "Loch Ness" monstrosity.

The lyrics and the story are incredibly pretentious, even for Judas Priest. Obviously, the tale of Michel Nostradamus calls for song titles like "Prophecy," "Revelations," "Visions," and "Future of Mankind," but it does not excuse the fact that all of this has been done before. So if Priest wanted to be original and break new grounds (which they apparently wanted), they should have realized the new ground can't broken with rusty tools. There hasn't been a metal album in the past ten years without these clichés in the titles. Anybody can come up with "Death" and "War." Only Priest could come up with "Dream Deceiver," "Stained Class," and "Painkiller."

Overall, the lyrics sound like Rob and Glenn tried to do something ambitious and put some thinking into them, but at some point ran out of words and just settled for the all-too-familiar "conquest and fire, the age of desire" and "I'm with you forever in true love by light of the day and stars above." "Exiled" is probably the worst offender: it's almost cringe-inducing both in lyrical platitudes and Rob's quasi-emotionality (it does have a redeeming feature in the guitar melodies, mainly the intro). The subject of every song is plain and generic. I guess they wanted to keep their material from sounding too narrow and particular, something "everybody could relate to." As a result, the lyrics came out too general. You almost don't hear anything about Nostradamus's actual prophecies! There is "war," there's "pestilence and plague," there is "death"… The man "loses his loved ones," he is "persecuted," he is "exiled." Nobody believes him, everybody persecutes him. Everything every metal band has written about. Trivial.

Vocals-wise, Rob sounds fine (I can only guess how much production treatment his voice received), although a little raspy. The palette of emotions in his voice is still as good as anything out there. In places he shifts to the Fight-like squeal or to the operatic crooning, but when he simply sings, without going too high or too unnatural, he is still Metal God. "Alone" is the prime example of that. I am happy he does not compete with his disciple, Ralf Scheepers of Primal Fear, whose incessant screaming nearly ruined their latest, "New Religion". But his emotions are not all there. He was always great at playing characters, so I don't know why I don't feel the same conviction here as in "Electric Eye," "Night Comes Down," or "Nightcrawler." The solos from Glenn & Ken are not as ripping as before, but they are, nevertheless, the album's strongest area: in melody and harmonies, not in speed. The problem is: the rhythm guitars are too low in the mix, mostly buried under keyboards (last time they were that far back was on "Turbo"), which is very odd for a band that in past relied almost exclusively on the crunch.

Mind you, I never said I wanted another "Painkiller" or another "Screaming For Vengeance". I judge this album entirely on its own merits. I don't have an inherent problem with long albums, concept albums, operatic albums, or slow-paced albums. The artist is free to try whatever he wants, as long as it's not a blatant trend-chasing, which this album clearly is not. I don't care if people say that "concept albums and historic / Biblical themes are not Priest's thing"… but what is "Priest's thing"? But I do care about the end quality. This is a fine album, but only in one department: melodies. Virtually no other band in metal wrote so many great melodies in their career, and this albums adds a few more to the legacy. Everything else is, unfortunately, flawed.

When the dust settles, this magnum opus from Judas Priest can still be enjoyable, and even great in some places. It is best enjoyed when listening non-stop, start to finish. This way you get to delve into its atmosphere and enjoy more than the sum of its parts. The problem is: almost two hours of undivided attention is hard to spare, especially with some intrinsic flaws that this album has. Therefore, it will likely get significantly less playtime in my player than many other Priest albums, mainly because it demands attention but provides few gratifying metal hits. I appreciate the fact that Priest is doing something almost no other band ever does, but my appreciation can only take me so far.