Re-Exploring Jugulator

Have been giving some old albums some fresh ears lately - and, for whatever reason, Jugulator has been kicking my ass! Seriously do not know why I kinda dismissed this album up until now.

I still think its terrible. Never was a fan of that album. I've tried going back to that several times and I end up turning it off.

I like "Bullet Train" and "Cathedral Spires," but the album is bogged down with many mediocre songs that all have really long, dumb intros for some reason. I'd really like to hear Halford sing "Cathedral Spires" though.

That album has its share of cuts, but its faults had absolutely nothing to do with their replacement vocalist. Judas Priest's award-winning writing team has always been Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, and Glenn Tipton. Without one or two of them, the chances of Judas Priest making a good album are quite low.

It has some good qualities.

I think "Burn in Hell", "Bullet Train", and "Cathedral Spires" are good songs.

Yeah, the intros are annoying too.

Doesn't sound like an album that they spent years writing.

This is a great album! I couldn't believe how heavy it was when I first heard it. Didn't almost sound like Judas Priest at all, aside from the ripping solos. But luckily I was a teenager and still in my formative years as a music listener, so I didn't immediately dismiss it. Personally, I never really cared for Pantera, but you could definitely tell this was an era where Pantera was popular. Priest took some of that, and added just enough of classic elements to make it the perfect album to listen to in 1997.

I can't defend the lyrics, but the music is amazing. The slow, brooding, heavy, brutal riffs combined with catchy choruses and a great, great performance by Tim Owens. It's strange, but it really works.

Also, I'm a fan of "deep" records, ie. albums (usually with longer running times) with little in the form of overplayed highlights but just lots of quality depth tracks. So many great underrated songs here, unlike for instance Demolition. "Death Row" is a favourite. Love the riffs and vocal lines. "Decapitate" is super catchy and silly. "Abductors" has a great memorable chorus (growls!), heavy as hell main riff and I think Owens was even continuing this theme on his solo record, and it happened to be one of the only few good tracks on that turd (see what I mean about deep records?).

Anyway, Jugulator, I love the overall guitar tone. They toned it down for Demolition and instead added industrial metal elements and made it sound less organic. Jugulator is just raw power. A great, natural progression from Painkiller, which I also love, and thought was a major leap for Priest in sound and attitude. And "love" is actually an understatement here. Painkiller is perfection in music. And Jugulator is chapter 2 of that same book.

And I didn't even get to Cathedral Spires. That's one of my all-time favourite songs by any band any time.

10/10 record for me. Or maybe 9+/10 because I never "got" Blood Stained. It's too long and not very interesting. I also got tired of Bullet Train. There's still great stuff and lots of it even if you ignore the two.

I've always enjoyed Jugulator. The follow up "Demolition" on the other hand, not so much.

Finally some love. Thought I was gonna still be on Uncle Saxon's Island [dee plane....].

Jugulator has some great songs, but it's mostly filler.

Disagreed. What's filler here? Blood Stained? One other track? Still leaves 50+ minutes of killer metal.

Marshall Law - Razorhead is an album everyone who likes Jugulator needs to hear. Marshall Law always was a bit of Judas Priest copycat, just that this time they got everything right and even executed better. Their sound in my opinion always was meant for more aggressive music anyway.

The Ripper-era was mediocre as a whole, with Priest fumbling about trying desperately to sound relevant to the "kids" - from the downtuned, aggro tunes on Jugulator to the Nu-Metal bufoonery of Demolition.  At least we got two really good live albums out of the whole mess.  So we've got that going for us.

Always been a fan of it. I was actually amazed at how good it was the first time I heard it. I wasn't really expecting much but it still gets plenty of listens from me.

007 wrote:

Always been a fan of it.  I was actually amazed at how good it was the first time I heard it. I wasn't really expecting much but it still gets plenty of listens from me.

Same here!

WINTERS BANE - "Heart of a Killer" is a much better album overall.

Witchfinder wrote:

The Ripper-era was mediocre as a whole, with Priest fumbling about trying desperately to sound relevant to the "kids" - from the downtuned, aggro tunes on Jugulator to the Nu-Metal bufoonery of Demolition.  At least we got two really good live albums out of the whole mess.  So we've got that going for us.

They really did go further down south on that one. It dragged on for too long, and I've even napped a few times to it. That's how "inspired" it was.

There were plenty of good heavy metal albums coming out at that time. They just fell under the radar. Here's one:

I like it OK, but I don't love it. "Bullet Train" and "Cathedral Spires" are the shining moments. The rest could have been anybody...nothing about it screamed "JUDAS PRIEST". Rob did better at going modern with Fight than Glenn did w/ 'Jugulator'.

I don't know, that second FIGHT album was kindof unlistenable IIRC. I enjoyed parts of "Demolition".

Not a huge fan of the album, do like it but do not love it. Easy to blame new lad Ripper Owens, but he did not contribute to the writing of the material.

Great solos, horrible lyrics, a few gems here and there, but even if Halford had sang on this album, it would not have saved the substandard material on the disc.

Temple of Blood wrote:

I don't know, that second FIGHT album was kindof unlistenable IIRC.  I enjoyed parts of "Demolition".

I enjoyed part of 'Demolition' as well...but I also enjoyed the second Fight album.

Witchfinder wrote:

I'd really like to hear Halford sing "Cathedral Spires" though.

I don't. He has enough trouble singing his own songs these days. That end part would sound horrible with only one voice ... singing an octave down.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

I'd really like to hear Halford sing "Cathedral Spires" though.

I don't.  He has enough trouble singing his own songs these days.  That end part would sound horrible with only one voice ... singing an octave down.

1997 Halford.

Painkiller wrote:

That album has its share of cuts, but its faults had absolutely nothing to do with their replacement vocalist.

I pretty much agree, though I think Ski would've done a better job than Tim. But Tim was good enough.

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Judas Priest's award-winning writing team has always been Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, and Glenn Tipton. Without one or two of them, the chances of Judas Priest making a good album are quite low.

These days I'm in agreement with this too. I never thought KK was a major writer but something went horribly wrong on their latest album and KK's absence is the only major change I can see. It may very well be their worst album. it's heavy enough but the quality is just not there. First JP album that I had to force myself to listen to.

Lari wrote:

Marshall Law - Razorhead is an album everyone who likes Jugulator needs to hear. Marshall Law always was a bit of Judas Priest copycat, just that this time they got everything right and even executed better. Their sound in my opinion always was meant for more aggressive music anyway.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'll have to check this out.

Witchfinder wrote:

Priest fumbling about trying desperately to sound relevant to the "kids"

They did that their whole career, until they were forced to reunite with Halford to remain "relevant" i.e profitable.

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At least we got two really good live albums out of the whole mess.  So we've got that going for us.

I didn't think either live album was that great, except for "Diamonds and Rust" and "Metal Meltdown" which obviously sound re-recorded in the studio to me. I think that Epitaph DVD they did with Halford sounds MUCH better.