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Resurrection Halford Sanctuary Records, 2000
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Reviewed by Lucas Aykroyd
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Your average metal singer might hesitate to write off his recent solo career as a "burning hell." But Rob Halford's unusual candor on Resurrection lends it a spark that makes it easily one of the best heavy releases of 2000. Looking back, the former frontman of Judas Priest must shake his head at the irony of having spent half the 1980s confronting ill-founded allegations that his lyrics drove two Nevada teens to suicide. Today, Eminem reaps critical acclaim for rapping wife-murder fantasies, while Halford has been relegated to opening for other "best of 1984" metal acts like Iron Maiden and Queensryche. None of this is a reflection on the quality of Halford's music. After flirting with modern metal in his previous band Fight and industrial-techno grooves in the band Two, Halford has reclaimed his roots on his new album. The shades-and-Harley imagery on the cover is pure Priest. The first two tracks, "Resurrection" and "Made In Hell," eulogize heavy metal with appropriately overwrought phrases like "Son of Judas, bring the saints to my revenge!" and "The stage and the lights and the amps are ablaze, watch them burn/From all this insanity the Metal Gods will return!" These tunes even mirror the classic Priest song structure from hits like "You've Got Another Thing Coming" and "Living After Midnight." Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar solo… and just when you think Halford has nothing left to rant on about, he slams you to the floor with verse three. It may be derivative, but it still sounds fresh. The apocalyptic power ballad "Silent Screams" recalls "Beyond The Realms Of Death," and the opening riff of "Night Fall" merges the razor-edged tone of Priest's "Bloodstone" with the rhythmic vigor of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." That's a credit to Halford's guitarists, Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, who pull off several melodic dual leads that almost rival those of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. Bobby Jarzombek provides amazingly precise drumming with a whiplash snare sound. Contrary to rumor, the 49-year-old Halford can still scream the high notes and he keeps pace with Maiden's Bruce Dickinson in the duet "The One You Love To Hate." Yet he stretches himself in a different way on the second half of Resurrection, admitting his mortality and fallibility in alternative rock-tinged numbers like "Slow Down" and "Temptation." How often do you hear sentiments like "I can't have it all" instead of "raging onward to eternal triumph" in this type of music? But the attitude of the album-closing "Saviour" is more typical. Halford's proclamation, "Here I am now, I'm your Saviour/There can be only one," can be interpreted as a direct challenge to Tim "Ripper" Owens, the tribute band singer who took over vocal duties in Judas Priest in 1996. Much as many fans saw David Lee Roth's hard-rocking 1998 release DLR Band as a bid to get back into Van Halen, Resurrection may be Halford's ticket back into the leather-clad arms of his old bandmates. | October 2000
Lucas Aykroyd covers the rock beat for Wall of Sound, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and other leading music publications. He is the author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book. |
It may be derivative, but it still sounds fresh. The apocalyptic power ballad "Silent Screams" recalls "Beyond The Realms Of Death," and the opening riff of "Night Fall" merges the razor-edged tone of Priest's "Bloodstone" with the rhythmic vigor of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." |
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