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Rob Halford - Vocals Glenn Tipton - Guitar K. K. Downing - Guitar Ian Hill - Bass Scott Travis - Drums Dawn of Creation/Solitude Prophecy/Exiled Awakening/Alone Revelations/Shadows in the Flame The Four Horsemen/Visions War/Hope Sands of Time/New Beginnings Pestilence and Plague/Calm Before the Storm Death/Nostradamus Peace/Future of Mankind Conquest Lost Love Persecution

I heard about this new album “Nostradamus” coming out… a concept album. 2 CD’s… being hailed as a “Masterpiece”. Just like everyone else, I heard the promo track “Nostradamus” on the internet and was banging my head and thrusting my horns. On top of that, being somewhat fascinated by ancient prophecies and Nostradamus my interest really started to grow, and upon it’s release I bought my first ever Judas Priest record - and what a record it is! If you take this at face value for what it is, then you can really appreciate the greatness of this album.

First of all we have the opening intro ‘Dawn of Creation’ and well… it is not the Prelude to ‘Tyrant’ from ‘Sad Wings…’ but works pretty OK if you ask. The first proper cut is ‘Prophecy’ opening fire with a brutalizer guitar assault. This track is pretty strong but the chorus could have been better. Next is ‘Awakening’ an amazing bridge to ‘Revelations’.
‘Awakening’ sounds sort of ‘Before the Dawn’ and leads us to the unbelievable ‘Revelations’ the first cut in which Rob delivers the goods.
Pay attention to the colossal Metal slab clocking at 03:13 and then the amazing spanish / acoustic guitar. Then ‘The Four Horsemen’ explodes blowing your ears and gives pass to ‘War’ a pretty atmospheric tune featuring memorable passages (We shall overcome …) and lots of epics. Then comes ‘Sands of Time’ and ‘Plague And Pestilence’ and now my friends, Rob takes control of the situation… simply astonishing. By the way, special credit to the amazing riff 02:40, 100% Priest. ‘Death’ ‘Peace’ and ‘Conquest’ follows with no lesser mastery and we reach track number 9 ‘Lost Love’. Well, that could be the clear contender for the most beatiful track ever released by the Priest. C’mon, don’t tell me it sounds goofy or pompous cos the we’d have to discuss classic ones like ‘Epitaph’ or ‘Before the Dawn’. It simply gives you the goosebumps and Rob shows how can still beat all the rest even not singing the heart out of hist chest because no matter how, Robert Halford owns all the Metal frontmen togheter. Then comes ‘Persecution’ and well boys… this track simply proves that Judas could go on, if the wanted to, with a Painkiller v 0.2 but they always choose the hard way trying to improve the unreachable and that’s what brought ‘Nostradamus’. Solitude closes the first disc.

The second one is far slow paced and thus ‘Exiled’ and ‘Alone’ excels particularly at that. And it just like that, the whole set of tracks flows amazingly well. ‘Shadows In the Flame’ ‘Visions’ ‘Hope’ and ‘New Beginings’ shows how incredibly well crafted ‘Nostradamus’ has been arranged. Then comes then last couple of tracks ‘Nostradamus’ and ‘Future of Mankind’. ‘Nostradamus’ was the first promotional offering from the guys and only the first vocal lines confirms Rob Halford as the most unique voice in Metal history. He simply does whatever he wants with his voice and well, words just can’t describe the level of intensity displayed by Halford in this one. This track offers as well the most aggressive riffage of the whole recording. The albums closes with ‘Future of Mankind’ possibly the album’s gem along with ‘Lost Love’.
It starts sort of ‘Monsters of Rock’ but all of the sudden the immortal duet Downing/Tipton opens fire devastating everything in its path. This track is simply superb Heavy Metal (take ‘The Rage’ for instance) and if you liked ‘Blood Red Skies’ I can’t see why you shouldn’t love this one as well. The middle section is filled with solos simply out of this world and puts to an end one of the most solid Priest albums ever. Sure it lacks the fierceness of ‘Sin After Sin’ or the neck break speed of ‘Painkiller’ if you like, but ‘Nostradamus’ is a monumental opus only conceivable for the Metal Gods themselves.
Every track featured in here is essential. Needless to say that includes all the interludes too; In fact, some of them are really hidden gems. The guitar work is brutal and yet sort of emotive and melodic, featuring impressive riffage which could have been performed during the recording sessions of albums such as ‘Sad Wings of Destiny’ ‘British Steel’ or ‘Painkiller’ all mixed up with the addition of the new sound technology.
K.K and Glenn simply can’t do wrong. Scott Travis provides notorious drumming as usual and special credits goes to Mr. Ian Hill doing an excellent job just as in every other Priest release. I’d really appreciate a little more respect for Ian, because the Priest isn’t just Rob, K.K and Glenn. A team needs always some shining stars but you need as well someone on the background giving his 101%, being a true professional and Ian is that an even more.
Closing, shame on you to all the comrades whom scored the album below 50%!
I simply can’t understand what the heck you want people. I think it’s time to accept there won’t be more ‘Painkillers’ ‘Powerslaves’ ‘Paranoids’
‘Reigns In Blood’ or ‘Masters of Puppets’ either so we have to learn to deal with the present and say thanks heaven for having the chance to enjoy a Metal monumentum like ‘Nostradamus’. It took me time to get into it and didn’t want to rush things by stating: This albums suck, blah, blah… I really hope you guys will give it another chance and let the album grow inside you. It’s worth fighting for. If you love Judas Priest to the bone as I do, please, just try to open your mind to taste a bit different Priest album, but 100% Priest nonetheless. After all these years the guys have proved they’re the best. They’ve proved they’re unique and simply unbeatable. They’ve always tooke risks changing from one album to another and almost always succeding at that. This time, they’ve done it again and hope it’s not the last.

editor: Costas