Today's Judas Priest is like one of those vintage cars you see in Cuba. Original engine replaced with metal from Hungary. Body restored with industrial-strength putty. Upholstery of the finest imitation ocelot. And most important, a gleaming, fully modern rearview mirror! It may not go as fast as it used to, but it's damned impressive.
Having left the band long ago, classic drummer Dave Holland departed the earthly plane this January. Eternal guitar foil K.K. Downing left seven years ago. Founding axman Glenn Tipton finished this album, then disclosed he has Parkinson's and won't return. Was Downing asked back? Nope! You can't refit a Chrysler carburetor on a Raba.
Regardless, "Firepower" cranks, forward and reverse, like a bloody tank, and the key lies in some smart accessories. The band tag-teamed the production, tapping the past with golden-era Priest knobsman Tom Allom (who also engineered the first Black Sabbath album!) and supercharging 2K style with
the factory precision of mixmaster Andy Sneap (Machine Head, Testament, Soulfly). So yeah, it roars, the main beneficiaries being drummer Scott Travis and bassist Ian Hill, who plainly dig their long-running alliance, whether grooving primally on "Lightning Strike" or executing sophisticated accents on the proud "Rising From Ruins." Several notches above the sound of 2014's "Redeemer of Souls" album, you bet.
The third main team, that of guitarists Tipton and Richie Faulkner, sounds confident and skillful, if not as insane as some metalheads might prefer. They contribute few nice cleanpicked introductions, though. And speaking of introductions, the grand instrumental "Guardians" should have been seamlessly frontloaded onto "Ruins," but the mp3 sequencing separates the two tracks with a grievous gap -- a major drop of the football, considering the meticulous care exhibited elsewhere.
Rob Halford may not have gotten to indulge his conceptual chops the way he did on 2008's bizarre "Nostradamus," but his clarion voice receives a proper workout, and he even tries out some subtle new timbres. Since this is a retro effort designed to massage old fans, one ought not deprecate the songwriting, which steals liberally from catalog assets such as the rhythm of "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" ("Flame Thrower") and the lyric of "Out in the Cold" ("Lone Wolf"). Trolling further afield in search of sympathetic ears, Priest also pilfers a lead riff in "Firepower" from Deep Purple's "Burn," the metal-jig framework of "Traitors Gate" from every Iron Maiden song, and even a sludgy transition riff from the goldurn Sex Pistols ("Evil Never Dies").
Fave tracks: the determined, chorus-hooky "Never the Heroes" and the choppy charger "Spectre," with its tuff riff. You won't be thinking much about selections, though; you'll just play it until you drop, which might not be that soon.