Talking about Fight is undoubtedly hard for any fan of Judas Priest. On one hand, Rob quit Priest in a very unhealthy way. On the other hand, he is still Rob Halford. So I will try to be objective to the best of my ability. After his departure from Priest in 1992, Rob moved to Arizona, became big friends with Pantera (collaborating with them on a song "Light Comes Out Of Black"), shaved his head to look like Anselmo, found several hungry kids to play with him, called the band "Fight," and got a bunch of lousy tattoos. He then released two studio albums and one album of live performances and remixes and had a couple of rather successful tours (the 1995 tour was with Anthrax, and I almost saw it, but the Stanley Cup Final on TV took priority). The style was changing severely from one album to another. It started as death/thrash metal, later became industrial metal, and then something I can't even describe. Fight is considered to be a notable page of metal history, and the line-up included JJ (bass), Brian Tilse (guitars), Russ Parrish (guitars, later replaced by Mark Chaussee), and Scott Travis (whom Rob took along from Judas Priest, drums). Oh yeah, and Rob Halford (vocals, guitar). Rob was then rumored to ask Glenn Tipton and KK Downing to let him back into Priest but was refused. He then met Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson, discovered that now it's fashionable to be considered gay, announced that he was kicked out of Priest because of his sexual orientation, disbanded Fight, found several other hungry kids, called the project "Two," and released an album "Voyeurs," which no metal fan has heard let alone liked.
The industrial version of Rob Halford did not do well with the audiences, and Rob has promptly decided to return to his metal roots. "Halford," Rob's third solo project, included Bobby Jarzombek (formerly of Riot, drums), Mike Chlasciak (guitars), Pat Lachman (guitars, also of Eleventh Hour), and Ray Riendeau (whom Rob took along from Two, bass). Producer Roy Z (known as "the guy who brought Bruce Dickinson back") added Halford to his resume with "Resurrection" (2000). After a very successful tour, the band returned to the studio and released "Crucible" (2002). However, the band started experiencing problems of various sorts, and in 2003 Rob found the best solution: he rejoined Judas Priest (which was at the time having problems of their own). Currently, he is working in JP on a new record, and the status of his solo career is unclear. Meanwhile, Chlasciak and Jarzombek both participated on John West's solo album, "Earth Maker" (2002), and have recently started another project, titled "Pain Museum," and Lachman joined Pantera's Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul in their Damageplan band.
WAR OF WORDS (1993)
RATING: ***
BEST SONGS: "Into The Pit," "Nailed To The Gun," "Immortal Sin"
Thrash metal with strong Pantera influences. This album is heavy. Very heavy. But the production is fairly dry, the riffs aren't particularly interesting, and most of the solos remind me of a dentist's drill. Rob's voice is higher than it's ever been with Priest, but lacks any kind of pleasance. When Fight toured after the album, I doubt there were any girls in bikinis in the audience. Lyrics are either politically oriented ("Into The Pit," "Nailed To The Gun," "War Of Words"), philosophically oriented ("Immortal Sin," "Reality -- A New Beginning"), or plain depressing ("Life In Black," "Little Crazy"). Good things: it's very energetic, at times quite catchy, has some good songs, like fast "Nailed To The Gun," softer and more commercial (the only song from the album to be on the radio) "Little Crazy," a heavy rocker "Contortion," and one of the greatest songs ever, "Immortal Sin" (I will talk about it more later). Bad things: it lacks melody, sounds a lot like Pantera, at times boring, and every single song has its title repeated several times to represent chorus ("In-to-the-pit! In-to-the-pit!," "Nailedtothegun! Nailedtothegun!," "Li-i-i-fe in bla-a-ack!," "It's immortal si-i-i-i-i-in," and so on v every single song). Overall: not bad, but I seriously expected more.
MUTATIONS (1994)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "Freewheel Burning" (live), "War Of Words" (remix), "Immortal Sin" (remix)
First four tracks are live performances off of "Let The Fight Begin" tour. They all are very, very good and all sound much better live than in studio. Rob Halford is in a very good position with Fight or, for that matter, with Two: every time he feels like the show isn't being very successful, he can just do "Breaking The Law," and the audience would go apeshit. Fight does a reasonably good job on "Freewheel Burning," but the sound is nowhere near the perfection of Priest. Next five tracks are remixes of the War Of Words songs. They sound way industrial, but very cool. The "WOW" song itself has a kick-ass part with the First Amendment read out. "Kill It" and "Vicious" remixes I don't care for, the latter sucks greatly. But the "Immortal Sin" remix is definitely one of my favorite songs ever. It has one of the best grooves I have ever heard. JJ's bass is awesome, and Scott Travis is great as usual. A short guitar lick at the end of the song on the WOW album has been promoted to the "second theme" and absolutely rules. Headbanging factor is of top quality, and it's hard not to sing along to the chorus. "Little Crazy" remix is average. This album I recommend to everyone. It's unusual, but very good. Hell, "Immortal Sin" alone can immortalize it.
SMALL DEADLY SPACE (1996)
RATING: *1/2
BEST SONGS: "Blowout In The Radio Room"
I could only listen to this album once and that was all she wrote. Frankly, even in the sad history of "90s American metal" it's hard to find an album which would be so dull. Frankly, I thought it was pathetic. "Blowout In The Radio Room" was the only song with the groove (I even copied it on tape), and "Legacy Of Hate" was alright too, but everything else I can't even remember. Doesn't sound at all like either of the previous Fight albums, and is somewhat closer to Two, in music more than in production. Avoid.
RESURRECTION (2000)
BEST SONGS: "Made In Hell," "Twist," "Sad Wings Of Destiny" (although everybody seems to pick their own favorites)
What Accident Of Birth was to Dickinson, Resurrection is to Halford. Rob is back in a big way. This is one hard-hitting album that may make a lot of people think of Ram It Down and Painkiller. Very well produced by Roy Z, and it sounds a little like Accident Of Birth. Yes, it's heavy metal all the way. Rob is the good old metal maniac we all know and love once again (and 15 pictures of him in the booklet support that notion). Alright, the songs. They're mostly good. Well, the first song, "Resurrection," is not bad, but is very, very flat. Next song, "Made In Hell," is a clear highlight. Very much in the Ram It Down tradition (although the song itself really reminds me of is Dickinson's "Road To Hell"), it is everything a metal historian (that hasn't lost his ability to headbang) might want to write an essay on metal (and don't think "Monster Of Rock" from RID -- that piece of crap I just can't force myself to review). Rob rocks it to the full, and the song is a total ass-kicker. Next song, "Locked And Loaded," recalls Rob's sexual orientation more than anything in my mind, that's well beyond my listening ability. It has no other merits either. "Nightfall" is a good mid-tempo track, in vein of "Bloodstone." "Silent Screams" was Rob's first song that marked his departure from Two, and it's actually an epic (7.11 minutes long, lots of tempo changes - very interesting stuff). "The One You Love To Hate" was once every metal fan's wet dream, cuz Bruce Dickinson guest stars on it, and they sing four verse lines each and chorus together. I don't know why, but this song kinda left me emotionless. Probably because neither of the "voices from above" have done anything outstanding. They both sing in mid-range, and that's not what I want to hear from Rob and Bruce, damn it! "Cyberworld" is another fast and good one. Rock on, Rob! "Slow Down" indeed slows down, but it's not a ballad, more of a mid-tempo tune. "Twist" was written by Bob Halligan, Jr. ("Take These Chains," "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll"), and many people think it's the weakest song on the album. I don't think that at all. AAMOF, it's one of the grooviest songs, with a mesmerizing chorus. "Temptation" and "Saviour" are also both pretty cool. "Drive" is funny, and brings out the memories of "Turbo Lover" in the full, a good one! Now, I got two Japanese bonus tracks. "Hell's Last Survivor" is pretty neat, but nothing special. "Sad Wings," on the other hand (it can't be the leftover song from the Sad Wings Of Destiny album? 25 years later?), is one of the best songs I've heard this year. It rocks, rocks, and rocks again. Album's good sides: (1) Rob is back (2) he's got good production (3) several songs are really worthy of the term "Metal God" (4) Some lyrics are thought provoking (5) I hope Priest gets the message. Bad points: (1) Most songs sound the same: a single crunchy guitar riff, verse-chorus structure, except "Silent Screams." (2) very little versatility. All starts starts out identically: a single rhythm guitar riff, then the rest of instruments join in. But then again, it's a statement album from Rob, and he has to stick to every Heavy Metal cliche that he once helped to invent, just to prove that he's indeed still playing Heavy Metal. So I hope everyone gets the message.
LIVE INSURRECTION (2001)
RATING: *****
BEST SONGS: just about everything
Well, after releasing a total of ONE studio album, Halford's new band now delivers a double live album, full of Judas Priest material. What can I say? One can't help but comparing it with Priest's Live Meltdown. The comparison is valid: both Tim and Rob have something to prove. One -- that he belongs in Priest and the other -- that he still *IS* Priest. Well, this album kicks the living crap out of Live Meltdown. Why? Mostly because the song choice is better. Obviously, some songs are must for every Priest-related band: "Electric Eye," "Beyond The Realms Of Death" (Mike nails the solo precisely), "Metal Gods," and "Breaking The Law." Another obvious thing is that both Priest and Halford tried plugging their latest album, and in this respect Resurrection all but destroys Jugulator. Halford included just about every good and semi-good song from Rez: title track, "Made In Hell" (and it's much better than "Burn In Hell" too), "Slow Down" (I started appreciating this song a lot more after hearing it live), "Silent Screams" (I still think this is one of the weakest Rez tracks), "Savior," "The One You Love To Hate" (and YES, Bruce Dickinson steps up to the mike) and "Cyberworld." But Halford also did what I didn't expect him to do: he included quite a few of rather rare offerings. First of all, both Japanese bonus Rez songs: "Sad Wings" and "Hell's Last Survivor." Secondly, he included several tracks from his 90s career: "Into The Pit," "Nailed To The Gun," "Life In Black" (I don't see any reason for this song to be there and not "Immortal Sin"), and even "Light Comes Out Of Black" (which was previously recorded with Pantera for some movie soundtrack). Third, Rob picked out some Priest's songs that Priest hasn't performed in eternity: "Stained Class" (with an updated sound, this is exactly what I wanted, although the tune is simplified a notch and Rob falls flat here a couple of times), "Jawbreaker," "Running Wild," "Riding On The Wind" (all these songs were not on any of Priest's three live albums), as well as "Genocide" (still don't like this song, although it's better than on either Sad Wings or Unleashed), and "Tyrant."
Finally, the album has three studio tracks: "Screaming In The Dark" (very Fight-like) and two unreleased Priest demos re-recorded: "Heart Of A Lion" and "Prisoner Of Your Eyes" (this one I've just heard as a bonus track on remastered "Screaming For Vengeance," the sound on Halford's version, expectedly, is much more updated). Obviously some studio tinkering took place, as many Priest songs sound better than they did in the 80s in the studio, and Rob acknowledges the use of "studio magic." The crowd participation is huge: people are not only singing the words, but the melodies as well. Guitar sounds are perfect (which was definitely NOT the case when I saw them live), and both Mike and Pat nail every solo to perfection (they must have spent a lot of time listening and practicing Priest in their childhood). And drums... what can I say that hasn't been said already about Bobby Jarzombek? One of the best skin-pounders in business, he adds everything that Dave Holland was missing. Overall, this is one fabulous live album, and Rob makes a strong point that he's still a Metal God and can sing every one of those old Priest tunes (although on "Riding On The Wind" he doesn't pull off the final scream in its entirety, instead he breaks it into several parts), and he would not mind being in Priest again. As we all now know, his wish was granted a couple of years later.
CRUCIBLE (2002)
RATING: ****
BEST SONGS: "One Will," "Betrayal," "Handing Out Bullets"
This album is a natural progreesion from "Resurrection." It is heavier then "Resurrection," although not quite as heavy and thrashy as Fight. Schlasiak's guitar is so damn crunchy, it makes you want to grind your teeth. I can also say that it is a little more mature (strange, considering Rob Halford's status in the metal field): the band gelled together a little more. First half of it is very good: "Betrayal" is a candidate for the Song of the Year title, it rocks with the best of them, and Rob's screams in the chorus are priceless. AAMOF, the whole "One Will"/"Betrayal"/"Handing Out Bullets" triple sequence is perhaps the best of its kind in the recent years. Great video too (saw it once on VH1). Then the album loses some of its catchiness, although "Golgotha" and "Wrath Of God" are both pretty cool. "Sun" is an interesting piece, slightly reminding me of "Small Deadly Space" album, but better. The rest of the songs, however, are more or less forgettable. I realize it's hard to sustain the same quality level for the entire album, but then again, what's subpar for me, may very well be enjoyable for somebody else. I'll stick to the tracks I love, and, thankfully, this album has several of them.
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