Album of the Week 29-2023: Halford – Resurrection
At the time when Halford’s debut album ‘Resurrection’ was released, it was frequently compared to ‘Accident at Birth’ by Bruce Dickinson, who had recently re-joined Iron Maiden. Both albums featured a return to heavy metal – with a somewhat modern bite – by iconic singers after a couple of years of experimentation. Let me emphasize that Roy Z produced and co-wrote both albums. Many people saw ‘Resurrection’ as Rob Halford’s open application to re-join Judas Priest, which of course inevitably happened. However, that reunion eventually obscured ‘Resurrection’ and its follow-up ‘Crucible’, both of which are superior to anything else Rob Halford was involved with this century.
Returning to a style that made musicians household names can be a tricky affair. ‘Resurrection’ is far from a watered-down effort to reconnect with a prior audience, however. In fact, Halford (the singer), Roy Z and guitarists Mike Chalsciak and Pat Lachman created a surprsingly contemporary tapestry of aggressive, slightly downtuned riffs, which are immediately turned into classic heavy metal by Halford’s instantly recognizable voice. ‘Resurrection’ isn’t quite as modern-sounding as Fight’s ‘War of Words’, but it has an equally tough, American-sounding foundation, enhanced by Ray Riendeau’s thick, beefy bass. The album manages to sound fresh without alienating the Priest audience, unlike Priest itself at the time.
The first half of ‘Resurrection’ spawned a couple of modern classics, among which the uptempo title track that opens the album. It’s sort of a mission statement, with its uncomplicated, yet powerful riffs and Halford screaming at the top of his head voice throughout. ‘Made in Hell’ does a similar thing with lower vocals, while ‘Locked and Loaded’ is a pounding midtempo stomper. The dark, intense and expertly structured power ballad ‘Silent Screams’ is probably the highlight here and the brief ‘The One You Love to Hate’ is even a duet with Bruce Dickinson, as if to drive the point home even more.
Why I mentioned the first half explicitely, however, is because ‘Resurrection’ takes a bit of a nosedive after the atypical, but pleasantly surprising modern rocker ‘Slow Down’. None of the last four tracks is anywhere near as good as what came before, with ‘Twist’ in particular outstaying its welcome. The 2006 remaster of ‘Resurrection’ does a bit of damage control there, breaking the lesser tracks up with interesting bonus tracks, like the speed metal of ‘Hell’s Last Survivor’, the Fight-esque ‘Fetish’ and the particularly Priest-like ‘Sad Wings’. But even then, the dropoff in quality from the first seven or eight songs is simply too noticeable.
Having said that though, ‘Resurrection’ is an excellent comeback featuring a revitalized Rob Halford and an expert backing band that combines the hungry agression of a young band with the measured experience of seasoned musicians. Some of these guys – Roy Z, Chlasciak, drummer extraordinaire Bobby Jarzombek – later proved to be specialized in successfully revitalizing older rockers’ careers, but they rarely come as energized and simply fun as ‘Resurrection’. The quality of the album and its follow-up kind of make me wish he had not reunited with Judas Priest shortly afterward, but at least he is the one Priest member who managed to put out something this good over the last couple of decades.
Recommended tracks: ‘Silent Screams’, ‘Made in Hell’, ‘Resurrection’
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