Quite - my hearing's fine. How's yours?
Halford has hardly been singing live lately. They're even frank about it - report of a "backstage experiencer".

"We went to the sound engineer (the person responsible mainly for Rob's music and voice). Everyone could play with the sound sliders for a while. As it turned out, Rob doesn't have to sound great live. He doesn't even have to sing. He has recorded vocal tracks and all you need to do is move the appropriate slider to make his previously recorded voice sound exactly as if he were singing live right now."

As long as the fanatics are happy with paying for an echo - and they certainly are. But don't tell me he's either singing live, or more absurdly, that his singing now is the same as 40 years ago, when "he didn't hit every line perfectly either". He hit it nearly as perfect, but most importantly, he delivered.

People pay to see audio/visual echoes all the time. They're called movies.

I caught Halford opening for Maiden on the 2000 tour and even then he was reading off a teleprompter and wasn't exactly hitting all the notes, but I think he was having a bit of an off night in that department. And yeah he clearly uses echo and delay and all that. But not singing at all? Doubtful.

Delay/Echo effects doesn't cheat on the voice pitch or performance. It's only effects. And these effects are indeed part of the original vocal tracks as well :





Saw them in 2022, okay it's 2 years ago but still... close enough from the stage to catch details of their performance. Rob did sing 100% of the time. Was he using a teleprompter? Maybe, certainly no more than 2 seconds at a time on rare occasions if he did, which I really don't care.
A teleprompter is a tool to help singers sing and that's what we want to hear.
Was he perfect? No, but it was an incredible live performance for someone in his 70s
He made high-pitched screams at different moments, like at the end of Faulkner's solo while fooling around him at the closing of a song. Or even between songs. Hardly any backing track could have helped him on these "improvised" moments
I even have a few clips I shot myself, including a portion of Turbo Lover where we can hear his voice very clearly. There's maybe one tiny audible hiccup at some point but it's pretty damn convincing to me.
I'm attending every Iron Maiden tour and I can tell that Rob's voice is in better shape than Bruce Dickinson's recently and it's no backing track, wizardry or AI trickery.

So yeah, a few people trolling around here. Give some peace to Rob, goddamnit.

If you want to be extremely technical, he probably does sing "some". However, most of what I see here is lip-syncing:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JudasPr ... 5/?app=fbl

Even when these guys are dead and gone, I'll accept A.I. generated Judas Priesta albums. That's how little I care.

I'm still waiting for A.I. posthumous Thin Lizzy too.

the grand majority of vocal recordings in the past 40 years at least have delay on them at some point or another. it is really not a big deal at all.

I don't mind those kinds of effects, delay and echos. Pitch shifting and all that is dodgy. And lip-syncing is a fuck no.

Remember that it was 1 april yesterday, he isn't fucking lip-syncing.

So you think they're switching between different tapes then? Because there's clear differences in between shows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E1NmXp4PLk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g029sYvRvTM

Gotta admire you switching from: "he can't sing" to "he's lipsynching" though.

Brian Downey's Lizzy tribute band is actually bloody great. Worth checking out.

I follow Brian's band on facebook. I agree they are phenomenal but they don't play across the pond.

My post Painkiller pick is still Firepower. I do like this album though. It takes 2nd place.

I want to say Firepower is superior, but it has a some points against it:

1) Firepower has a couple of skips (Flame Thrower, Lone Wolf). Invincible Shield has none.

2) Invincible Shield has an overall stronger vocal performance from Rob. And considering he was in his 60s one album previous and in his 70s now, that's impressive.

3) Invincible Shield has slightly more surprises (the Turbo-esque intro and build up of Panic Attack, Crown Of Horns)

I'm still not quite sure which is better at this point.

I give meaning to give them both listens back to back for better context, I’m still leaning more on Firepower but Invincible Shield has been growing on me like I figured it would. I certainly agree with the above mentioned points.

A lot more of these songs stick with me than on Firepower - definitely their best newer album I think. Just fun.

I've taken my time since it came out to digest it and have a fair opinion. But the truth is that I don't think I have much to say that hasn't already been said. In a way you can appreciate all the content as a self tribute, composing the way they know with severe nods to old works and with little experimentation (songs like "The Lodger" are really appreciated, besides making the overall result more dynamic). There are quite a few songs that I already liked from the first listen, especially the three openers, and others that have grown on me in a fantastic way like "Escape from Reality" and "Giants in the Sky". Overall I consider it a 7/10, very respectable for a work that you release 50 years after your debut. About if it's the best thing they've done post Painkiller? Not for me, that honour goes to Nostradamus.

Not sure if serious.....

My post Painkiller pick is Angel of Retribution. But I will admit I am appreciating the Faulkner era more and more.

Same. The opening track and side 2 are great stuff.

I have a hard time with most of the ballady interludes because the vocals are so stiff and ostentatiously operatic but with a playlist like this…

01 Dawn of Creation
02 Prophecy
03 Revelations
04 War
05 Pestilence and Plague
06 Death
(07 Conquest) (optional deluxe edition bonus track one)
08 Persecution
09 Exiled
(10 Visions) (optional deluxe edition bonus track two)
(11 Calm Before the Storm) (optional deluxe edition bonus track three)
12 Nostradamus
13 Future of Mankind

…I can understand the praise the album gets sometimes. It's still an unusual experiment for them (not too unusual as some older songs like "Out in the Cold", "Lochness" etc. already hinted at this direction) but it's nicely gloomy and memorable. Playlist tinkering is highly recommended.

For me its post Defenders and my pick is the new one with Redeemer right behind it!
I only got into Redeemer a week before this one came out cause for reasons I cant explained but a voice said listen to Redeemer and Firepower again!

When Redeemer was released bought it,listen once called it crap cause no KK.
Liked Firepower when released but then it kinda faded and its the least favorite of the Faulkner three!

It took til a week before the release of Invincible Shield to finally appreciate Richie Faulkner,even tho i saw them in 2015.
Like I said,I was of the no KK not interested.
Well I'm glad that voice in me head said give it another try!

Richie is amazing!
The last time I played the crap out of new a Judas Priest album (which I still do) is Defenders,now this one is right there with it.

I leave you with a quote from Soul_Sucker_666 review of this album cause he hit the nail on the head:

"Closing, I want to emphasize that "Invincible Shield" is a privilege and a luxury for anyone who identifies as a metalhead. We should all be grateful for receiving this music from Judas Priest at this stage of their career. Heavy metal is more than just music – it's life itself, a passion, and a way of life. And "Invincible Shield" is the undeniable proof that Heavy Metal never dies."

Well said bud!


Cheers folks and Rock Hard Ride Free

The Metallian!

Priest fucking killed tonight. Setlist was great and Halford sounded awesome for the most part.

Gates Of Hell? Hell yeah!

I don't think Priest realize how much zoomer music lovers love Firepower and Invincible Shield. I really think they ought to do a tour where it's 1/3 Firepower, 1/3 Invincible Shield, and 1/3 normal hits. Thats pretty much 6 songs each and there's really only 4 songs the causals that fill up arenas want to hear anyway.