Carmilla1

Yeah some songs on Rocka Rolla are pretty nice actually. Just listening to Jugulator now actually - Cathedral Spires is a very nice song. I'ts an interesting album. Heavier than their earlier work but I can still hear an echo of that old style. The opening track has a hint of Exciter about it I think. Owens is a good singer - great range... Think I like Halford most, but there's' no denying Owens.

Yeah I think there are some merits to most of their albums at least. I tend to gravitate towards their 70s material the most - mainly Sad wings, sin after sin and stained class - those are true classics. But also Killing machine/hellbent for leather and some things off British steel though it depends what mood I'm in for the latter - I don't think it's their best despite it being the most well known. Screaming for Vengeance is good (I have the live DVD of that tour actually) as is Defenders of the faith although I haven't listened to those ones for a bit. Turbo is a low point for me and Ram it down has some interesting stuff but it sounds like the life's been squeezed out of it and so seems a bit lacking. Painkiller is good too but my real love is old school Priest from the 70s so I don't like it quite as much.Have you listened to Rockarolla? I've just been checking it out and some of it sounds good and like it could have been really promising if it had been a little more refined. A bit of a mixed bag stylistically speaking too.I've not really bothered much with the Ripper Owens period or Halford's return, though I did listen to Nostradamus and found it pretty interesting on a musical and conceptual level, though I'm not sure I love it. I did toy with the idea of seeing them on their Epitaph tour but didn't - I wish I did now though

I used to love the idea of metal and good rock music getting popular in the mainstream but only because I think there is such a dearth of decent music in the charts nowadays. But there was shit in the 70s, 80s and 90s too and I don't think that rock and metal had much critical acclaim in the mainstream when it came out but was immensely popular nevertheless. Besides, it doesn't really make sense for me to care what's in the charts right now as I haven't bothered with that since I was 12, starting to listen to Bach and Mozart (!) then 70s and some 80s classic rock and 'proto-metal'/ 'metal founders' if that's what you want to call it.. It would be nice to see good music getting recognition on a public scale instead of mediocrity as seems to be the case right now though tbh.

I had a little listen to what you suggested and I like what I hear. Some interesting things going on and warrel Dane has a good voice. Will be exploring their stuff more I think.

As extra background, I listened mainly to classical music such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Wagner, Purcell, Handel etc (too much to write here!) from about the ages of 12 to 16. Then I started exploring my dad's music collection more - mainly classic rock like Led zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Purple, Sabbath and lots of others from the 70s. I discovered Priest myself and they were the ones who really started my further interest in metal so I am always keen to praise them as they, along with other 70s bands, were my 'first love' as it were.

Thanks for the recommendations. Will check them out

Hi I'm from Sheffield in the north of England, studying at the University of Sheffield. I'm mainly into classic rock - the kind of stuff which made the foundations of heavy metal such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. I like Judas Priest 70s stuff especially - a bit underrated I feel. Their work on Sad wings of destiny, Sin after sin and Stained class in particular should be considered classics of the genre.I also like thrash - only the most obvious ones like Slayer , Megadeth and Metallica tbh but I'm looking to explore more.Like some stoner rock/metal too like Electric Wizard and Monster Magnet.https://metalforum.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif