Judas Priest's Nostradamus

The new Judas Priest album, Nostradamus, has just arrived in the office – and as expected it’s an absolute monster.

There are two CDs – dubbed ‘Act 1’ and ‘Act 2’ – and if nothing else you’ve got to admire Rob Halford and co for coming up with such a massive, challenging offering in these days of disposable ephemera.

If we had to take a reference point from Priest’s past it would be Beyond The Realms Of Death – the brooding and threatening track from the band’s 1978 album, Stained Class.

Much of Nostradamus has that sort of flavour.

There’s plenty of twin riffing from the guitars of KK Downing and Glenn Tipton, natch, but there’s loads of light and shade as well – perhaps more than you might expect.

A lot of the epic tracks are preceded by gentle, reflective acoustic workouts (kind of like what Black Sabbath used to do with things like Orchid and Embryo), with Halford adopting a deep-toned singing style. Elsewhere Rob proves his trademark silver-throated scream is remarkably intact.

Towards the end of ‘Act 1’ there’s a song called Lost Love which edges dangerously into twee, Greg Lake-style territory. But then, after some mysterious church chorals and demonic whispering, the next track – Persecution – explodes into your ears like the mutant offspring of Breaking The Law.

Nostradamus might be pompous and overblown, grandiose and ridiculous – it might even be spectacularly humourless and self-important – and it’s sure to divide the rock and metal community.

But y’know what? While it’s early days – there’s so much to take in – we’re tempted to give it a cautious thumbs-up.

Jon Hotten is reviewing Nostradumus for the next issue of Classic Rock (out on May 28). It’ll be interesting to read his reaction.

In the meantime, a couple more new releases are also popular fixtures on Classic Rock’s death deck at the moment.

The Tygers Of Pan Tang’s Animal Instinct is a great return to form for the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal legends.

Even though guitarist Robb Weir is the only remaining original Tyger this is a pedigree offering, combining the rough’n’readiness of the early, Wild Cat era of the band with the glossy approach when they had John Sykes on guitar and Jon Deverill on vocals.

Live For The Day is a huge, crunchy anthem; If You See Kay is equally gigantic with some of the grittiest talk-box sounds you’re ever likely to hear; Bury The Hatchet’s rampant, surging riff is NWOBHM incarnate.

However, if you fancy something a little more challenging, we should point you in the direction of the mysteriously titled angL, the second solo outing from ex-Emporer frontman Ihsahn.

The nefarious Norwegian has created a dense and involving opus that will please fans of his former band with its grunts, growls and guttural guitar sounds (most notably on the genuinely scary Malediction).

But there’s a whole lot more besides. Unhealer, for example, chills and soothes in equal measure, the guest vocals of Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt echoing those of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder before the diabolism kicks in.

Meanwhile, over on the reissue front, we can't get enough of Finally Back: The Very Best Of 20 Years by Railway!

If you've never heard of this German band, they could be described as the missing link between the Scorpions and Accept, combining the commerciality of the former with the brutality of the latter – and adding a cheese factor all of their own.

Lets Rock!!!!!!!!!
Peace
Bluezman