Right now I'm listening to Judas Priest's 2001 studio album Demolition - an album that is, generally speaking, not popular with Priest fans and critics alike. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the majority of Priest fans do enjoy this record, and the only one's vocal about it online are the haters. If we're being honest, that's probably not the case sadly. I also listened to 1997's Jugulator in my car this morning, and now I just feel like writing an article about the entire Tim 'Ripper' Owens-era of the band, my thoughts and my connection to it as a die hard Judas Priest fan.
Well I first picked up Jugulator back in my Sixth Form college days, so I would've been 16 years old and the year would have been sometime around 2008. Priest have always been one of my favourite bands - as the 31 year old man I am today, I'd stick them behind Purple and Sabbath. But during my college days they were my favourite band. And when I heard that the band went through a period during the '90s and early 2000s without Rob Halford as their vocalist, I was actually more curious to hear those 2 studio albums they put out than anything else. Obviously the thought of anyone other than Rob fronting Priest ran though my head too, but it didn't put me off wanting to get my hands on both Jugulator and Demolition.
So, I obtained a copy of Jugulator from the Amazon marketplace (probably) and immediately looked through the CD booklet. The reason why I did that and not actually play the damn thing was because I used to often order CD's to my mum's office, which was just around the corner from college. I'd drop in to the office to pick up my discs and look at them during my free periods. Anyhow, the first thing that I noticed was the horribly pixelated artwork. That confused me, until I opened up the jewel case and saw that it's just the actual artwork zoomed in. Why they didn't just use the whole picture is beyond me. And when I opened the booklet itself, there was Glenn Tipton, KK Downing, Ian Hill and Scott Travis, accompanied by a much younger American guy with short hair, but still leathered up to the gill with studs and spikes in true Priest fashion and trying to look mean. It was a weird sight to behold, Priest without Halford - even if Tim Owens was still kinda dressed like him minus the obvious fact that Rob is gay and Tim is straight.
Whatever. I got home, put it in my stereo and listened. And truth be told, I loved it from the get-go as a teen! The music was much heavier, more detuned and brutal, but still had that critical Judas Priest edge. As an adult however, it's kinda gone down in my books over time. Not to the point where I dislike Jugulator - because I really do still like this album. Like I said, I listened to it earlier and I still enjoyed it quite a lot. But it's gone from a great album to a good album over the past 12 or so years for me.
I won't criticise Tim's vocals. I actually think he's an awesome singer, and he does his own thing on Jugulator while still pulling off impressive Halford-style screams and wails when necessary. His vocals still manage to sound like Judas Priest vocals on this record, if that makes any sense. You'll automatically notice that Rob's no longer present, I cannot deny that. But Tim still sounds like a Priest frontman, and that isn't as weird as it may seem at first, because the man sang in a Priest tribute act prior to him joining the real thing. It's how he was scoped-out in the first place. I'm not saying he's better than Rob because let's be honest, Halford will always be the voice and face of the Priest at the end of the day, but Tim's no amateur, even if he was unknown at the time.
There are however, some shortcomings that have brought the album down a notch for me all these years. The music's way heavier than anything else the band had ever recorded up until that point, and probably ever will. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Like I said, the teenage me loved it, and part of that reason was because it's as relentless as the band ever got. But the melody's not really there any more, and Glenn Tipton and KK Downing's awesome lead twin guitar solo teamwork has been almost entirely replaced with Slayer-esque tuneless guitar wankery. I don't really take issue with heavier riffage, but having Slayer-worship solos simply don't do it for me on a Priest record. It's just a waste of talent.
The lyrics are often terrible, frankly. Glenn wrote all the words to the songs, and it makes zero sense to me that he couldn't just let Tim handle that matter. Considering the man does a good job vocally throughout this record, if he'd written his own material and vocal arrangements, he'd have probably done even better. Instead we're treated to much darker than usual lyrical matter - which is fine, because the music is heavier, but they're just cringe-worthy at times. Especially on songs like the title track, 'Decapitate' and 'Death Row'. Glenn's just not a lyricist - well, not a good one at least. Just listen to his 1997 solo effort Baptizm of Fire for further evidence of this (FYI, I sorta like that album musically, but the lyrics definitely sucked).
The good news is that I still think most of the riffs are either cool or even awesome at times. Yeah, the guitars are detuned for the first time, and they often border more on groove/thrash metal overall, but considering Jugulator's predecessor, 1990's Painkiller was the heaviest thing they'd made up until that point, it almost feels like a natural progression. Add to the fact that there was a 7 year gap between the 2 albums, and a lot had happened in that time. Metal had gotten more detuned and groove-based, and even when Halford left Priest in 1991, he formed the Pantera-influenced band Fight. So I never found it hugely surprising that Jugulator sounds the way it does - except for the solos of course.
There's also some legitimately great tracks here. The first is 'Cathedral Spires' which seems to have gone down universally as a classic amongst the entire band catalogue. It's a lengthy 10 minute epic, with an outstanding vocal performance from Ripper himself, an extremely memorable chorus/outro and a very dark, brooding atmosphere that they've only ever matched with 'Death' from Nostradamus. They'd done dark shit before, yes, but 'Cathedral Spires' is it's own kind of dark, if that makes any sense. Meanwhile the title track is very silly lyrically, but the riffs are pummelling and memorable throughout, and I still really dig it to this day overall. I like the twisted introduction to 'Blood Stained', and it's brutality. 'Burn in Hell' has some really cool picked guitars, a bangin' main riff and some catchy vocal arrangements. Again, 'Death Row' is dumb lyrically, but it's a nice thrasher. And 'Bullet Train' is like a fucked-up 'Painkiller', in a good way. Yep, I still like this album. For me, it tops Turbo, Ram it Down, Nostradamus and Redeemer of Souls. Maybe even Angel of Retribution.
And that brings me to 2001's Demolition, which has now finished playing for me. I remember picking it up a few months or so after Jugulator, and while I did somewhat like it back in those days, I definitely wasn't listening to it nearly as much as it's predecessor. Jugulator has plenty of fans these days, but you'll regularly see Demolition as the bottom of the barrel turkey in many fans' ranking lists. For me, I think Turbo will always take that place (I don't care what anyone else thinks!), but I can't deny that Demolition has it's faults - more so than Jugulator.
I watch the YouTube channel Sea of Tranquillity all the freakin' time, and whenever Judas Priest are discussed and Demolition comes up in conversation, I don't think I've heard Pete or a single guest give it any sort of praise. I do understand most peoples' critisms for this record; yeah, it does have some slight nu metal/alternative metal tinges here and there, with some sound effects, a few riffs and maybe a vocal melody from Ripper in places, but there's still a surprising amount of tracks here that I still enjoy to this day. 'Machine Man' is total cringe lyrically ("So you mother-FUCKERS want to race?! You've all got loser tattooed on your face!", yeah, shut up Tim!), but the riffs are tight as hell and create a rock-solid speed metaller for me. I still think 'Feed on Me' is cool. It's riffs are definitely more Jugulator than anything else, but that's no con for me. 'Jekll and Hyde' is kind of a fun groove metal track, and 'Hell is Home', while sounding more like Tim Owens solo number than it does Priest, is a great song in it's own right. The vocal arrangements are really great. I also like 'One on One' for it's stomping attitude.
There's certainly some duffers on here though. The ballads 'In Between' and 'Close to You' are way too modern and annoying, and not comparable to past Priest ballads like 'A Touch of Evil' or 'Beyond the Realms of Death' in any way, shape or form. I mean, they're not terrible as such... just really 'meh'. But then you've got a legitimately sucky track like 'Metal Messiah', which see's Tim quasi-rapping all over it - and it's fucking embarrassing. Nu metal was very much still the flavour of the day in 2001, and this old school-loving metalhead has never had much of a soft spot for that particular subgenre. Meanwhile 'Devil Digger' is just boring as hell, and I even wrote in my review that Tim goes for an almost Marilyn Manson-like approach to the chorus. I still think I was right when I wrote that. The album in general is also too bloody long - 13 songs and a 70 minute run time. No Priest album needs to last that long (I'm also looking at you Nostradamus!). From what I understand, the whole band were barely functioning like they used to at this point. Glenn and KK were likely at each others' throats now, and this whole album was again written largely by Tipton, and also produced and recorded at his studio. Tim once again had no songwriting input, and that's a real shame.
On the whole though, there's always been enough songs on Demolition that I enjoy to the point where I still sorta like the album overall. It sits firmly within the 6/10 range for me, and I think it always has. Maybe it's bias, but there's countless hardcore Priest fans out there that fucking hate the album. But I dunno... I can still pick out a few gems in that tracklisting as you can see.
I'd also like to give a shoutout to the 2 live albums this era of the band spawned, '98 Live Meltdown from 1998 (duh) and Live in London from 2003. Honestly, both are fucking great, and both also come with 2 CD's and a shit load of tracks. I'd say I probably enjoy '98 Live Meltdown that teeny bit more because I think Tim's vocals are ever-so-slightly stronger, and the production is a tad different. But according to my review page, I only gave it a 0.1/10 higher score than Live in London, so both are basically on par with one another. Of course, '98 Live Meltdown was recorded during the Jugulator tour, so naturally you're getting a few songs from said album mixed in with the oldies, but Glenn and KK detune their guitars so that the classics match the heaviness of the Jugulator cuts. This means they blend in fairly well with the Halford numbers, for me at least. It also means the Halford numbers are much heavier than they'd normally be, but it gives me more reason to listen to this live album for that reason alone - it's unique. Also, the live version of 'Bullet Train' here is fucking awesome. I don't care what anyone else thinks.
Live in London has a few Demolition songs thrown in again, but again, the guitars are detuned throughout and I for one quite enjoy hearing 'Hell is Home' thrown in amongst 'Painkiller', 'Electric Eye', 'Grinder' etc.. I'd also like to point out the fact Tim sounds great on both albums. He really handles the Halford songs brilliantly - and he should, because he's a super fan originally from a Priest tribute act after all. You can really hear that the man was giving it his all during his time in the band, and he also adds some nice little touches of his own to the classic songs. Just listen to 'Rapid Fire' from '98 Live Meltdown, Tim screams up a storm in a way that Rob didn't ever do. And it works. Unleashed in the East will always be the king of Priest live albums (despite the fact most of it was re-recorded in the studio!), but I love these 2 live offerings with Ripper, and I listen to them far more than I do that underwhelming Priest... Live! LP from 1987.
Unfortunately - and Tim Owens has talked about this already in interviews - his tenure in the band has been kind of forgotten. None of the 4 albums I've discussed have been reissued at any point, nor are they available to hear on Spotify or other streaming services. And it's a shame. Jugulator is a very good Priest album - not quite great, but almost. Demolition is a somewhat decent record with some flaws. Meanwhile '98 Live Meltdown and Live in London are 2 fantastic live albums. I'm lucky I got my hands on all these CD's way back in college, because I just looked on eBay and they've shot up in price. If you're a new fan to the band, I'm sorry to have to say that you might be forking over a lot of dough to obtain all of them. But hey, there's always YouTube.
Anyhow, I'd love to see all this stuff reissued in the future. At the very least, they should be on Spotify. I'm not hearing any rumours of it right now, but I have noticed that on the official Judas Priest merchandise (both EU and US) they're currently selling 2 Jugulator t-shirts (I just bought one of them myself in fact). That might not mean anything, but it may count for something. I mean, they're selling a couple of shirts representing an album you cannot officially buy anywhere, with songs they haven't played live since Tim Owens himself was in the band... maybe, just maybe that means a reissue is in the works?! Or am I being way too optimistic?!
The good news is that KK's Priest do at least exist as a band. KK Downing has obviously been out of Priest for well over a decade, and Ritchie Faulkner has firmly taken his place since and isn't backing down any time soon. Anyhow, he formed KK's Priest a couple of years ago, and according to Tim Owens, KK kept in regular contact with him ever since Rob returned, hence why Tim is the vocalist for the new band. And they're performing 'Burn in Hell' in the live set, so Jugulator is still somewhat alive in 2023. They did release an album, Sermons of the Sinner in 2021 - I like it, but it's not necessarily a throwback to Ripper-era Priest, despite the fact it has KK and Tim on it. The live sets consist of original songs and Priest classics, so right now it's the closest thing to Tim being back with the Priest.
Rob Halford will always be Judas Priest's frontman, and I really can't knock what they've been doing this past decade. 2014's Redeemer of Souls was good, but 2018's Firepower was awesome. And they're still touring all the damn time. I'm seeing them again in March next year. But the point of this article is that I've always kind of embraced those years with Tim at the helm, and you can't just erase an entire era of the band's history. There's even a 2012 boxset titled The Complete Albums Collection... but guess what? Jugulator and Demolition are missing. 'Complete Albums' my arse!
