When a popular band reaches the legacy era of their career, they don’t even have to release any new records. They can tour with the songs they already have until they shuffle off their mortal coils and no one’s gonna care. Would you be pissed if you paid 500$ to see Metallica and they didn’t play Master of Puppets? Yes. Would you be pissed if you paid 500$ to see Metallica and they didn’t play If Darkness Had a Son? My point exactly.
But Judas Priest doesn’t give a fuck about that.
Even if they’re technically the second metal band to ever exist and they could phone it in and still receive nothing but lov, they’ve been releasing banger over banger and they’ve made them all count. In 2018, they released the muscular Firepower, their most badass record since Painkiller and even if these guys are all older than my dad, they’re not done yet. Invincible Shield might not reinvent their sound, but it channels all its richness and historicity.
Invincible Shield consists of fourteen songs of rip-roaring speed metal with thrash elements and Rob Halford’s ridiculously catchy and melodic vocal performances. We all got to hear the infectious opener Panic Attack already where Halford’s turns back the clocks with the high pitched Painkiller-era wails to muscular riffs and melodic, high-flying guitar solos. I wasn’t sure the first time I heard it, but this bad boy is one hell of a grower. The chorus is not the most cleverly delivered (and it’s a recurring theme on this record), but it’s not the star of the show either.
The follow-up The Serpent and the King is a power chord heavy, shriek-laced, double bass drum adrenaline jolt straight to your heart. Judas Priest is perhaps the best possible band to listen to on a cocaine binge and songs like this will make you do weird stuff like punching the air or grabbing your crotch to make yourself sing higher to it. Commanding drum performance by Scott Travis. I’m developing a passion for versatile drummers with this review and Travis can really take command of a song and dare his bandmates to keep up with him. The title song is exactly the same type of number as The Serpent and the King. Tipton and Faulnker exchange power chords and chromatic soloing brilliantly. It’s straightforward, but it’s awesome. Not much else to say about it.
Now, let me stop this review for a moment and extrapolate on this chorus problem. A lot of the choruses on this record are just the title of the song repeated over and over again or with one or two extra sentences. This is no big deal, Judas Priest made it work before. Breaking the Law is a good example. Rob Halford is also such a terrific and clever musical storyteller that he doesn’t really need a clever chorus, but when you think of classics like Electric Eye, Hell Patrol or Living After Midnight, low effort chorus just feel annoying. It’s the biggest criticism I have of the record, but it doesn’t make Invincible Shield bad or anything. It’s a badass album.
Speaking of which, Devil in Disguise is a more nuanced, bluesy number with… well, shit a fun, clever lead up to a chorus that is just the title repeated twice. But still, Halford’s sassy, charismatic performance makes this song so magnetic. He’s such a legend at surfing off his guitarists’ riff in order to create a catchy, memorable narration. Also, he HAMMERS that title with such soul, it’s hard not to pump your fist to it. Interpretation is important, kids. There are fun eighties arena rock influences to the guitar solo that will turn back the clocks for the elder statesmen out there. Gates of Hell is more on the melodic and catchy side. Nothing to say about the chorus here. It’s fucking amazing. Honestly it could’ve come up in the eighties and no one would’ve bat an eyelash. It’s unapologetically fun and emotional. Fuck, how do these granddads do it? I’m 41 and I can barely muster any energy past 6 PM (except on show night. Always geek on show night)
Crown of Horns (hello Cryptopsy Easter Egg!) starts with the killer line : “I learned the hard way that what you dream for comes from the pain you hold inside”. What the fuck? How is a rock elder more relatable in one line than guys my age are in an entire album? It’s not exactly a power ballad, but it’s the closest thing there is to it on Invincible Shield. It’s a nice change of pace from the power chord g we’ve just eaten. It’s not my favorite song on there, but it’s a good reminder of how solid of a lyrics writer Rob Halford can be. As God Is My Witness is a galloping, double bass drum fest that features another passionate vocal performance and the second fun chorus on Invincible Shield. By now, some of these songs blend together a little bit, but stand out from one another through their inspired narratives.
Some of these bridges are borderline power metal, but they feature Rob Halford’s inner dilemmas instead of dragons and princesses, so I’m pretty OK with that. You do you, Rob. I’ll be doing coke and pumping my fist.
Priest slows down again on Trial By Fire, which features some of the most crushing riffs on this record and another commanding performance by Scott Travis. I find this song a little bloated and melodramatic for my own tastes, but it’s not bad. I know I’m eventually gonna skip it, though. Escape From Reality is a more convincing mid-tempo scorcher with creative ideas that you wouldn’t expect on a legacy-era Judas Priest record. It’s back loaded with a LOT of solos for the purists, so it has a little bit of everything for everybody. Sons of Thunder could’ve very well been on Firepower. It has an anthemic, empowering quality to it that will get your blood pumping. It’s Judas Priest doing what they do best: cranking up the intensity and delivering classic metal with a bite.
Giants in the Sky is a jacked up version of their early stuff (British Steel and prior) with lush, lurid two-lines choruses. It has a muscular, marching quality to it that makes it infectious. The first deluxe edition cut Fight for Your Life has riffs that could’ve been straight up on a Cream record and thunderous bass. Halford brings back the unholy shrieks on them to punctuate an otherwise catchy and melodic narration. It’s one of his most intricate storytelling jobs on Invincible Shield too. Vicious Circle and The Lodger close out the record. I don’t know if these songs really bring anything as they explore themes that were already given satisfying songs. They each have interesting elements, but don’t quite carry their own weight. Not that Judas Priest give a fuck, mind you. Proven rock gods will just put anything they find interesting on a record and they’re not wrong.
*
I really liked Invincible Shield. Firepower was more in the registry of Painkiller, but this album explores more layers of their sound from the eighties that can be found on British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith and whatnot. It also explores other classic arena rock influences that were important on their sound but never quite materialized in a Judas Priest song before. I was disappointed at times than such riveting narrations in the verses didn’t always culminate in a stress-releasing anthemic chorus, but who gives a fuck? Judas Priest are in their seventies and still kicking some fucking ass. This should be a cause for celebration. Horns up guys! We're in for another lap!
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