It was a big year for the UK, 1951. Winston Churchill was ushered in as PM at the eyebrow-raising age of 77; the UK got its first National Park, the Peak District; Russian spy Guy Burgess hotfooted it to Moscow after being rumbled by British intelligence. This, however, would all pale into insignificance come August of that year, when Mrs Halford delivered a son, one Robert John Arthur, who, we must assume, came screaming (for vengeance) into the world.
Some 72 years later (read that and shake your head ruefully as you remember watching the video for Breaking The Law on Top Of The Pops), Halford and the latest incarnation of Judas Priest are still rattling rafters with this new album of pristine and dauntingly powerful heavy metal. So pure and full of purpose you’ll be reaching for your air guitar before the second track, the excellent The Serpent And The King, has come crashing to an end and really messed with your neighbours’ plans for a quiet night in.
