{"id":102546,"date":"2024-03-07T00:00:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-07T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=102546"},"modified":"2024-03-08T15:16:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T15:16:29","slug":"album-review-judas-priest-invincible-shield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-judas-priest-invincible-shield\/","title":{"rendered":"JUDAS PRIEST – Invincible Shield (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

JUDAS PRIEST
Invincible Shield<\/strong><\/span>
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\nColumbia (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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To last ten years in the music business is an incredible achievement and so for Judas Priest to have reached five decades is quite some feat, especially when you consider how consistent the metal gods have been with their output. The term \u201clegends\u201d is handed out all too easily nowadays but with their 19th full-length studio album Priest are exactly that, a legendary band that we should be thankful can still deliver hard n\u2019 heavy songs of quality. It\u2019s kind of laughable that the UK band weren\u2019t inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame until recently, but then again we don\u2019t need such corporate codswallop to confirm Judas Priest\u2019s status as one of the genres most important bands.<\/p>\n

And so with Invincible Shield<\/em> we get treated to 11 fantastic tracks (14 if you pick up the deluxe version) brilliantly produced by Andy Sneap who is also the bands touring guitarist. Rob Halford (vocals), Glenn Tipton (guitar), Richie Faulkner (guitar), Ian Hill (bass) and Scott Travis (drums) roar like a colossal metal dragon, but then again that\u2019s what Priest has always done, and so you get struck by several riff building exercises, pummelling drums and bass and Rob Halford\u2019s ageless wails and screams.<\/p>\n

With opener \u2018Panic Attack\u2019 it\u2019s very much classic, full throttle Judas Priest, a track to hit us hard from the off as Richie Faulkner\u2019s leads worm their way into the veins. The shredding, as expected, continues with such monstrous cuts as \u2018Escape From Reality\u2019 and the Glenn Tipton steel of \u2018Sons Of Thunder\u2019. The formulas are recognizable as the band continually warms our souls with drips of nostalgia, but Judas Priest isn\u2019t afraid to veer into bluesy escapades such as on \u2018Giants In The Sky\u2019 which is immensely heavy in design even with its fleeting acoustic injection.<\/p>\n

There are numerous chunky, metallic monsters on display here although some may be surprised by the Queen-esque \u2018The Lodger\u2019 with its use of synths. Halford sounds as fresh as ever as those high scowls of fury bristle with electric energy. Bonus track \u2018Fight Of Your Life\u2019 and the vicious \u2018As God Is My Witness\u2019 boast enigmatic snarls, with the latter easily competing with tracks off the band\u2019s 1990 Painkiller<\/em> outing.<\/p>\n

Of course, this is nothing new, but it\u2019s not intended to be \u2013 with Priest you just want tracks to headbang too. It\u2019s a metal majesty you knew was coming. I\u2019m sick to death of reviewers mentioning the ages of the band members as it\u2019s not relevant when speaking of a band of this ilk, and the same can also be said for Saxon etc. Judas Priest are hell bent for leather hierarchy; heavy metal royalty who stick to their guns and bow to none and if you\u2019re still not convinced then check out the soaring power ballad \u2018Crown Of Horns\u2019 with its sing-along chorus, the melodious \u2018Devil In Disguise\u2019 and the sublime \u2018Trial By Fire\u2019.<\/p>\n

One may argue that Invincible Shield<\/em> lacks the vim of Firepower<\/em><\/a> (2018), but the reality is that this is another scorching Judas Priest beast drenched with chugging riffs, sky-reaching infectious melodies and the band\u2019s usual brand of metallic lashing. What more do you want?<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JUDAS PRIESTInvincible Shield Columbia (2024)Rating: 8.5\/10 To last ten years in the music business is an incredible achievement and so for Judas Priest to have reached five decades is quite some feat, especially when you consider how consistent the metal gods have been with their output. The term \u201clegends\u201d is handed out all too easily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,191],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-judas-priest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102547,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102546\/revisions\/102547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}