| Halford - Resurrection Metal Is, 2001 Gloon: With all the genres of metal today it's refreshing to see an old master give us a lesson in the first, Heavy Metal!!!! Resurrection plays as a narrative, both musically and lyrically, to Halford's life and legacy. Elements and comparisons with Priest were bound to happen, but like his famous compatriot in Bruce Dickinson, his solo career is leaps and bounds ahead of his former legendary band. Resurrection is aptly named as Halford's dabbling in Pantera worship (Fight) and industrial crud (Two) has seen him gone from the scene for too long. There are some great cuts on this release with the title track and 'Made in Hell' immediately coming to mind. However the jewel in the crown is the metal duet with another old famous pommy geezer Bruce Dickinson, the almighty 'The One you Love to Hate'. Throw in a Roy Z production job (Accident of Birth, Chemical Wedding) and there you have it a more than solid return to form for one of the masters of metal. Welcome back Rob, hope you stick around for a while. Favourite Tracks - The One you Love to Hate, Resurrection, Made in Hell Rating - 8/10 Halford 'Crucible' Metal-Is, 2002 Gloon: Crucible sees Halford and band return with big expectations. After the great reception 'Resurrection' received from metal fans world wide as Halford returned to his traditional metal roots, following it up was always going to be a challenge. With 'Crucible' Halford seems to have delivered, rather than rehash past glories or commercilise he has gotten heavier and darker. This may upset some of his older fans who were expecting Resurrection mark 2 or maybe even a further regression back to the Priest days, I for one am not one of them. Halford has shown that he has the guts to progess with his band and vision, while still remaining 'true' and loyal to metal in general. He has succeeded in modernising his sound and music where Priest and their diabolical 'Demolition' fiasco failed. There are some absolute classics in the making here, the disturbing and heaving title track, the awesome 'One Will' and the current single 'Betrayer'. There may not be any duets with Bruce Dickinson or Priest-like melodic guitar wizardry but Crucible is more than a worthy successor to Rob Halford's previous efforts, check it out and decide for yourself. Favourite Tracks - One Will, Crucible, Betrayer Rating - 8/10 |
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