Momentum wasn’t on Judas Priest’s side as they readied their 12th studio album. Though the Brummies had spent the first half of the 80s revered as the metal gods that they were, the decade’s latter years were damaging. Turbo got lambasted for its experiments with radio-friendly glam metal. Then, when follow-up Ram It Down tried to course-correct, reviews dismissed the effort as “tired”, sounding like the band on autopilot.
Big moves needed to be made for Judas Priest to survive the 90s, and against all likelihood they were. Rather than fade into obscurity or sappy balladry like many of their contemporaries, the band saw the rising tide of thrash metal and, with the help of debuting drummer Scott Travis, hopped on. The resulting album was the fastest they’d ever made, chock full of hard-headed riffs and squealing solos, while Rob Halford shredded his throat with blasts of falsetto.
