Fight

Another day, another thread

So what does everybody think of Halford's first post-Priest outfit Fight? I personally love their "street" metal sound - heavy, chunky, full of groove but still thrashing in a Pantera/Cro-Mags type of way. The common opinion is that "War Of Words" is the stronger out of their two LP's and I tend to agree. Certainly the experimentation does not run as wild on the debut and the songwriting is much stronger. The double-whammy of "Into The Pit" and "Nailed To The Gun" really gets the album going and "Immortal Sin" is stinkin' heavy!

As for the second album I still like it but there this where the "too much modern stuff" card comes into play. Some ideas and riffs from that album work and so just do not. Overall not as consistent as with the debut.

Now does anybody have the recent boxset that Halford put out? What are your opinions on it and particularly the remastering/remixing done by Roy Z? I'm kinda torn on it - while Small Deadly Space sounds great with that type of sound I feel that War Of Words got BUTCHERED! That album had a fat, powerful guitar tone - on the remix it's far too grainy and in the background. That is another problem - Halford's vocals are WAY too loud in the mix on the remaster - it really detracts from the power of the record. Also I do not like the way drums sound on the remaster/remix. Again the original release had a fat, full drum sound - the remaster is more "on point" but loses on much of the power of the drumming (especially when double bass is concerned).

I have to add that I am comparing the remaster/remix to a japanese edition of "War Of Words" if that is important.

Anyways - any fans of Fight? Any thoughts on the albums? Any opinions on the remastering/remix?

I loved War Of Words from the get go. That one just blew me away. I don't think there are any weak songs on it. Loved it so much I went out and bought Small Deadly Space on the day of release ...... and was totally disappointed. There was just something not right to my ears. I tried to get into it and held onto it for awhile but it never did click.


I eventually traded it in. I still see it from time to time and think about getting it again to see if my opinion changed on it, but something else seems to garner my attention more and I get that instead.


And I don't have the boxset so no comment on it.

I bought WAR OF WORDS as a new release and loved it. Yeah, it was very obvious that Halford was trying to cop that Pantera style "street/groove" approach but y'know what? He pulled it off as far as I'm concerned.

I saw Fight in Asbury Park, NJ during the tour for that album and it was quite an experience. First of all I was totally geeking out on the fact that I was standing six feet away from ROB freakin' HALFORD in a tiny little club on the Jersey Shore. In addition, Rob was in PHENOMENAL voice that night. I had seen him four times with Priest prior to that night (and once with the Halford band afterwards) but I can honestly say that I NEVER heard him sound as good as he did at that Fight gig. My brother and I still talk in tones of awe about how he nailed the high note/scream in "For All Eternity" that night. (I swear when he wailed "FOOOOORRR ALLLL EEEEEEEEE-TERRRRRRRR-NA-TEEEEEEEEEE!" my brother and I were freakin' out and lookin' at each other like "Holy crap, he RULES!" Hahaha) The band was on fire too. It was definitely one of the best shows I ever attended.

Unfortunately I wasn't as fond of A SMALL DEADLY SPACE. Bought that one as a new release, didn't care for it much, traded it away soon afterwards. Years later having that hole in my mostly-complete collection of Halford works bugged me so I re-acquired it, listened to it a few more times, wondered why I bothered, ditched it again. I know that album has some fans but it simply never grabbed me by the nards. Therefore S.D.S. and Two's VOYEURS are the only two pieces of Rob's studio work that aren't represented in my collection.

The "K5: War of Words Demos" disc Halford put out a couple of years ago is a decent listen too, though kind of unnecessary when you get right down to it since the demos of the album tracks aren't radically different from what ended up on the finished record. I got that one mainly for the handful of "unreleased" tracks that didn't make the cut for the album.

Either way... WAR OF WORDS is still one of my favorite records of the 90s.

On par with the above three comments. War of words was fantastic. Nailed to the gun still sounds like one of the best guitar riffs in metal to me. I Agee that there are no weak tracks on it. I sold SDS shortly after I got it. Was disappointed as well. Didn't get into his music again until Halford.

Here I am again, thinking a band's "maligned" release is actually good....IMO, A Small Deadly Space is a strong, heavy album. It did not mimic the Pantera-ness of War Of Words, but was still a strong record on it's own.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Here I am again, thinking a band's "maligned" release is actually good....IMO, A Small Deadly Space is a strong, heavy album. It did not mimic the Pantera-ness of War Of Words, but was still a strong record on it's own.

this mirrors my opinion as well. i prefer Small Deadly Space over War of Words.

i also favor Crucible over Resurrection for that matter.

I do not really think A Small Deadly Space is a bad release. It a heavy album and it's certainly not nu-metallish (I have seen it described as that too!). It just does not compare to the power and might of the War Of Words.

Love War of Words. I have the original, the CD/DVD autographed package from a few years ago and the K5 demos.

Small Deadly Space was disappointing. The songwriting's not as strong, and the mix sounds horrible. It sounds like they recorded the guitars way too hot; they sound fuzzy, like the signal's overloading. I'd be interested in hearing the remix/remaster of this one.

i love the dirty guitar sound on SDS. it doesn't sound all polished & clean like WoW does.

It should be also noted that some vocals parts are WAY different on the remix/remaster of A Small Deadly Space. Check out the original version of "Beneath The Violence" and the remix/remaster. Halford goes for a totally different approach on the remixed/remastered version.

I didn't care for War of Words when I first got it. I think I might have purchased it as a new release even. I held onto it for awhile and eventually got rid of it.

Fast forward a few years and I found a used copy for dirt cheap. I gave it another shot and liked it very much.

I've got A Small Deadly Space too, but haven't spun it in awhile. I'll need to break it out again and give it a fresh spin. From what I can remember, I didn't care much for it for whatever reason, but maybe things have changed since then.

I bought 'War of Words' as a new release and I loved it, listened to it all the time, and still think its a great album.

'A Small Deadly Space' was ok at best, and its an album that have in my collection because its part of Halford's discography, but to me it was a huge disappointment.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Here I am again, thinking a band's "maligned" release is actually good....IMO, A Small Deadly Space is a strong, heavy album. It did not mimic the Pantera-ness of War Of Words, but was still a strong record on it's own.

I agree. It's hard to compare the two because they're different animals, but both albums are really good in their own right.

Also as an addition to what I said I have to stress - I HATE WITH A PASSION changing what has already been laid to tape. Remastering? Fine! Remixing? Sometimes fine. But changing a whole vocal approach of a song? Not cool.

I don't even like remixing...it messes with what I am used to.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I don't even like remixing...it messes with what I am used to.

I can understand a remix in some cases. See the case of Sabbath's "Born Again". That record, by all accounts, is not supposed to sound that way - it's a production botch. But in the case of Fight no such thing happened. It's just Halford/Roy Z messing with a record. I hate that.

Yeah, I never understood why Rob felt the need to suddenly remix/remaster his entire solo catalog (aside from the fact that he was re-releasing them under his own label and therefore needed a selling point)... most of those records sounded just fine to me the way they were, they didn't need messing with.

The thing is that the remixes/remasters of Ressurection/Crucible were not really as blatantly obvious as with Fight. Just turning them louder - plus on those he added bonus tracks so I can understand them.

With Fight I really do not get it. Those records were well produced. War Of Words still sounds like a booming monster (at least my japanese CD does!).

I enjoy all of Rob's different projects (even Two gets a listen every once in a while), but the guy's kind of a trend chaser. He felt Priest were turning into dinosaurs musically, so he hopped on the Pantera train with War of Words, then grunge came along, and you can hear it's influence on Small Deadly Space (mostly in the dirty, fuzzy guitars), then he hopped on the industrial bandwagon with Two (and famously declared that "metal is dead" in interviews at the time), then when that flopped and he realized people were only going to accept him as a metal vocalist, he returned under the Halford moniker (somewhat reluctantly, I suspect), and that signaled his inevitable return to Priest. I think he's probably a bit bored, creatively, with traditional metal, but accepts that it's his lot in life. His present day stage presence (staring at the floor, reading lyric monitors) seems to support this theory. Just my take on it.

Infinite wrote:

I enjoy all of Rob's different projects (even Two gets a listen every once in a while), but the guy's kind of a trend chaser.

Heh, this reminds me when I saw Fight perform in 1994 and Halford came on stage dressed in loose, baggy t-shirt and shorts, announcing his presence with a soft "Hey, whassup?" before going straight to the music. They sounded great but it was so far removed from the old Judas Priest persona he had that it was almost hilarious

Infinite wrote:

His present day stage presence (staring at the floor, reading lyric monitors) seems to support this theory. Just my take on it.

I think he has health problems, honestly. He's 60 years old, if you watch him walk he has a slight "hobble" to his gate. I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel and he stood in one spot the whole time, leaning on a cane. Then another time on TV he sang an entire song sitting down on a throne behind/above the drums. I'm thinking he may have developed some sort of muscular or spinal condition...he honestly barely moves anymore on stage...kind of like Mick Mars.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Infinite wrote:

His present day stage presence (staring at the floor, reading lyric monitors) seems to support this theory. Just my take on it.

I think he has health problems, honestly. He's 60 years old, if you watch him walk he has a slight "hobble" to his gate. I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel and he stood in one spot the whole time, leaning on a cane. Then another time on TV he sang an entire song sitting down on a throne behind/above the drums. I'm thinking he may have developed some sort of muscular or spinal condition...he honestly barely moves anymore on stage...kind of like Mick Mars.

It's probably that hundred pound chain-covered trench coat he's always wearing that's weighing him down.

Infinite wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

Infinite wrote:

His present day stage presence (staring at the floor, reading lyric monitors) seems to support this theory. Just my take on it.

I think he has health problems, honestly. He's 60 years old, if you watch him walk he has a slight "hobble" to his gate. I saw him on Jimmy Kimmel and he stood in one spot the whole time, leaning on a cane. Then another time on TV he sang an entire song sitting down on a throne behind/above the drums. I'm thinking he may have developed some sort of muscular or spinal condition...he honestly barely moves anymore on stage...kind of like Mick Mars.

It's probably that hundred pound chain-covered trench coat he's always wearing that's weighing him down.

I've seen him hobble when wearing regular clothes...

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I've seen him hobble when wearing regular clothes...

You may be onto something. The guy's not getting any younger.

Infinite wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I've seen him hobble when wearing regular clothes...

You may be onto something. The guy's not getting any younger.

Yeah...that's not to say that your theory about the super-heavy stagewear isn't valid...it probably contributed.