Artist: Judas Priest
Title: “Lightning Strike” (Single)
Label: Columbia
Release Date: 1/5/2018
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 4/5
It’s been a couple of years since Judas Priest kicked our respective behinds with the molten Metal melodies on “Redeemer Of Souls” and after an international tour, a live video and audio release one almost expected them to begin to map out the final plans as a band. Fortunately for all the worldwide fans The Priest went back to the studio and completed a brand-new album which we shall see in March and in the hopes that it starts our own 2018 off better – the first single was just recently dished out. The album is called “Firepower” and the debut single from it is “Lightning Strike”. Here’s my thoughts about the tune.
The song starts off strong with a very familiar Judas Priest crunching vibe that is loaded with riffs and solid double pass alternating patterns and it’s the kind of sound one expects Priest to deliver. They keep the format as opposed to delivering something unexpected and potentially confusing to their longest tenured fans. Halfords voice sounds fine and if one can judge from this tune alone, the getting back to regular touring and vocal exercises makes me think that its even stronger than what we got on “Redeemer Of Souls”. I loved the chorus and feel the audience will be screaming along with The Metal God and company. Though I miss the presence of Downing, his shoes have proven to have skillfully filled by that of Faulkner who is a perfect complement to Tipton. We get some higher register notes from Rob and through it all drummer Travis pushes the band from beginning to end.
This was a fine taste of the upcoming release and it makes me hungry for more. The single album art is the “Firepower” cover which shows some sort of robotic warrior which calls to mind the Metallian from “Defenders Of The Faith”, the hawk from “Screaming For Vengeance” and yes even the “Painkiller”’. Hopefully the band chooses to serve up a couple of more singles before the albums release so we can speak about them straight away.
Track Listing:
1. Lightning Strike
Official Website: http://www.judaspriest.com