Judas Priest – Nostradamus (Release Year – 2008)
In 2008, I have been very anxious for four bands to release their new albums, Whitesnake, AC/DC, Judas Priest and Motley Crue.
Out of the four, I was mostly concerned with the new Judas Priest disc, Nostradamus, as it is a concept album. That style of album rarely turns out well for most hard rock and metal acts.
With this being a two disc set, I wanted to take some extra time before I put my thoughts down in a review. There is over 90 minutes of music over the two disc set. That is a ton of music to take in at once.
I have no problem with the subject matter of Nostradamus that was used for this disc. I thought if Judas Priest wrote the right songs, this album could be something special.
The first disc starts off strong enough, with the first couple of songs. Prophecy, and its intro, Dawn of Creation are pretty good tracks. I also next two songs, Awakening and Revelations. Revelations is full of those trademark guitar riffs that Judas Priest is known for.
Things start to get a little theatrical with the songs The Four Horseman, and War. It picks up the pace again somewhat with Pestilence and Plague. The song doom laden song, Death sounds more Black Sabbath like, than it does Judas Priest. This lengthy metal track has some killer guitar work, but you have to struggle through parts of the song to get to it.
Disc 1 continues to drag on, and I must admit, I had a really hard time getting through the latter half of this disc.
The first song on Disc 2 that I enjoyed was the mid-tempo track Alone. This song is a little long, but pretty good. The rest of material on this disc I felt was very average until I heard the title track, Nostradamus. This song could have easily been on Painkiller. Sadly, their are not enough songs like this, in this two disc set.
If you are looking for another British Steel, or Painkiller album, Nostradamus is not it. If you have an open mind, you may find some songs to enjoy. If you are looking for instant, memorable hits, you will not find those on Nostradamus. This isn’t Judas Priest’s best work by any means. This album has the potential to grow on you, if you give it the proper chance. Nostradamus isn’t a complete disappointment, but I hoped for more from Judas Priest.
You can listen to the song Nostradamus, and download it for free, from the Judas Priest myspace page.
Rating:
Out of 10
Track Listing:
Disc: 1
1. Dawn Of Creation
2. Prophecy
3. Awakening
4. Revelations
5. The Four Horseman
6. War
7. Sands Of Time
8. Pestilence and Plague
9. Death
10. Peace
11. Conquest
12. Lost Love
13. Persecution
Disc: 2
1. Solitude
2. Exiled
3. Alone
4. Shadows In The Flame
5. Visions
6. Hope
7. New Beginnings
8. Calm Before The Storm
9. Nostradamus
10. Future of Mankind
Judas Priest is:
Rob Halford – Vocals
K.K. Downing – Guitars
Glenn Tipton – Guitars
Ian Hill – Bass
Scott Travis – Drums
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I thought this disc was awful and I gave it a few shots and it just got worse. I put it away from now and I’ll give it another chance in a month or so, but I doubt that my view will change.
We may have to agree to disagree with this one. This disc has a lot of Judas Priest fans divided down the middle. Most have not given this one a favorable review. I love Judas Priest, but I guess regardless of the subject matter, I expect the metal masters to have some hard driving hits in there. As many times as I spun the two CD’s, I struggled through quite a bit of it. I had a hard time giving this one a rating. I enjoyed the Angel of Retribution a lot more than this disc, if that tells you anything. =)
Rob. I gotta say that I truly enjoy your site and read it almost everyday. I agree with damn near everything you load on to it. I’m pretty sure I’m your age and I’ve seen many of the same bands you have in the past, along with the awesome new bands you give serious thumbs up to. Black Stone Cherry 3 x over, Airbourne, Endeverafeter, Stone Rider and even Tesla in the last few months. They are some great artists/ performers to say the least. However to put the latest Priest recording lower than these bands is just sad! I always thought you knew your shit when it came to emotional kick youR ass metal? FWIW. I live 1 hour from Rocklahoma and went last year. This year I’m giving it a break and catching Priest Live to kick my ass!!!!! For I”m a “true” DEFENDER OF THE FAITH.
Listening to this album for the first time, I couldn’t help having flashbacks to the movie “Spinal Tap”, where the group drags out “Jazz Odyssey” and contrives ridiculous concepts around “Stonehenge”. A lot of the lyrical content such as “I am Nostradamus” just comes across as hamfisted stupidity. Perhaps this album will grow on me after a few listens. I expected something artsy from this concept album, but I also expected more variety from the songs. Also the story doesn’t seem to be clicking in to me as being very interesting. There are great metal concept albums out there: Iron Maiden’s “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son”, Dio’s “Magica”, Jag Panzer’s “Thane to the Throne”, Iced Earth’s “Framing Armageddon”…. all of which have good flow, some decent songs that are consumable outside of the context of the story/album, and some good ups and downs. “Nostradamus” seems to be mostly down, too rambling, not enough bite-size chunks, and only has two or three songs that reached out and grabbed me right away. Again, maybe it’ll grab me more over time, but right now I feel kind of ambivalent and disappointed with it.
I’ll have to go back and listen again, paying attention to the songs that you pointed out. I’ve only listened to it once, and need to give it another chance. But I hated it the first time. 6.5 is much more generous than I would have been.
I admit that my rating is low for this disc, but deservedly so. I have given this disc plenty of chances before reviewing, and it just doesn’t work for me.
A 6.5 out of 10? Now that I have to disagree with, Rob. Just looking down the list and you gave Warrant’s lame Ultraphobic a rating of 7. C’mon! Granted, Nostradamus is not the typical in your face pump you up Priest album. Nor have they every really been a “party” type music band. Its more like watching a major motion picture like Lord of the Rings in your mind. Oh’ its not perfect by all means. But I’ve been spinning this CD for almost 3 weeks now and the more I hear it the more I realize just how great it really is. And I know any “true” Priest will agree with me. Long live The Metal Gods \M/