http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/report ... ead-at-69/

So I guess Dave Holland died a couple days ago? I'm not exactly in mourning given his molestation charge combined with his frankly mediocre abilities but I'm not gonna dance on his grave either.

I love how the article calls him "the Charlie Watts of heavy metal" which is so right on.

Of course Stones fans will say "Charlie does that little hiccup on the cymbal and it's all understated genius" no it's not, Charlie Watts sucks as did Dave Holland.

Wow, didn't expect that. And actually, it was a rape charge, which is a lot more serious than most celebrity accusations, and five counts of molestation (indecent assault). And he was convicted on all counts. He was in prison for eight years.

But yeah, it all seemed just sad for everyone involved. He was desperate old hasbeen, gave a young man he obviously found attractive drum lessons, took advantage of him and rightly paid the consequences when he was found out (although Holland always maintained he was innocent). What else can you say really? Except he's so bad most of Defenders, Turbo and Ram it Down is a drum machine.

People who say Dave Holland is a bad drummer has never heard Trapeze. No one is saying Ian Hill is a bad bass player, although all he has done since 1980 is play the root note. The simplified rhythm section was a decision by the band at the time, has nothing to do with playing abilities.

Well you can't just brag about his drumming in Trapeze and not post a couple of example tunes.

Shame he ended up being a rapist though. Hard to listen to songs like Highway knowing that.

Well, he wasn't convicted of that until way later. He had already been out of the band since 1989. So it's not like he was a serial rapist or something during his playing and recording with Judas Priest. He maintained his innocence until the end, and apparently was going to write a book about his life and career, as well as touching on the whole ordeal.

""I was convicted of a crime that I didn't commit and like so many others in similar situations to the one in which I find myself, an offence that never even existed in the first place..." (Dave Holland)

????????? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?????????

Yeah, who knows what really happened. I don't remember or really know much about the case. That article was saying the victim wrote about the abuse in a letter to his parents. Him being a special needs student kind of makes me more inclined to think Holland was guilty. Sucks hearing about something like this from a member of one of your favorite bands.

EDIT: I actually wasn't aware that he was the drummer for that band Trapeze. I've heard of them, but haven't listened to them yet. They're another one on the long, ever-expanding list of bands to check out.

Tripe? It's far and long ways away from the classic albums from days past that is true. Mediocrity is dependent on the persons tastes and what they perceive as below average is dependent on the individuals mind and personal taste. More power to you with you're opinion. Let me have mine.

Brag? I just said he was a good drummer, despite only playing simple stuff with Priest. It doesn't much matter what I post though, since people will still say he sucks just so they won't have to admit to being wrong.

Glenn Hughes - bass, vocals
Mel Galley (later Whitesnake) - guitar
Dave Holland - Drums

So they just released a new song from the album.



Yeah, this song fucking rules.

The verses are not that great but the solo is decent and the bridges before and after it are pretty good. It IS superior to Lightning Strike for me.

Agree, verse is a bit underwhelming but the chorus is totally alright.

The twinguitar melody part has the same chord progression I guess Tipton fucking loves to make every now and then, but the melody itself sounded nice.

Overall, I like Lighting Strike better, it had more going on and more energy, but this isn't bad and I look forward to hear more tracks from it.

Does anyone hear the vocals massively jump in volume in the chorus? Like they forgot the compression bus on the backup vocals.

Sounds very safe. I dunno. During their Nostradamus years I was hoping they'd be more stripped down, and now that they're stripped down I want ambition and experimentation.

Maybe I'm too picky, but there's definitely something missing here.

Man the chorus in "Firepower" makes me go

Safe but decent. Sounds very "by the numbers" to me.

Standard, yes, but it has enough bite and energy to keep me interested. That being said, the production still doesn't sound good to me.

Why yes, "Firepower" is a pretty boss tune. If there's at least one other song like it on the album, I would classify it as a success.

You know what would be funny? If KK and Tim Owens made an album.

I always wondered why they haven't. And hire the other members of Halford's solo band to fill out the lineup too, just for grins.

Sounds absolutely killer and it’s unbelievable that we are getting a successor, musically, to painkiller 28 years after its release. Loving everything about the new album and I already loved Redeemer of Souls, unlike some people, but firepower seems to be on a different level. One way or another I am glad they didn’t retire after their epitaph tour as was the original plan.

That was really good actually. Safe and conventional, but at least they're having fun and sound like they mean it, which I couldn't say for most of their other recent works. Hope the rest of the album is like this.

Honestly why would people expect unique new stuff from a forty year old band , let alone a band that was always a bit safe even in their youth ? Unique stuff from vintage bands tend to produce lulu. It’s heavy metal at its finest form from one of its masters , and to be honest returning to the pseudo thrash/classic metal combination of painkiller with , again, a killer production is way above my, at least, expectations.

Well it's not so much expecting new shit as the fact that this is essentially Judas Priest 101, with literally every cliche you expect. The surprise is just how fun it actually is.

Pretty fun, actually. Halford sounds great - not my Priest but, yeah, Halford's still got it.

Finally!! Finally a Judas Priest song worthy of their name! That was fuckin' refreshing! There is hope.

Safe Judas Priest themed metalrock.

Look, I know it's against all ideas of progression and experimentation, but since Judas Priest's albums are so different, if in their twilight years they do a "safe", "by the numbers" album: I'm really not going to complain.

Also Tim Owens, K.K., Roy Z.: I'm up for that too.

I haven't heard any new JP another than that silly I AM NOSTRADAMUS song they were playing when I saw them at the Metal Masters some 10ish years ago. This is definitely better than that. Maybe sounds a bit stiff in the studio, but I think this would kick ass live. Halford sounds great. 14 tracks on the album sounds excessive, I feel like these classic bands that struggle for consistency really shouldn't be breaking traditional 45 min album lengths (AMOLAD as an exception).

This seems to be the tracklist:

1. "Firepower" 3:27
2. "Lightning Strike" 3:29
3. "Evil Never Dies" 4:23
4. "Never the Heroes" 4.23
5. "Necromancer" 3:33
6. "Children of the Sun" 4:00
7. "Guardians" 1:06
8. "Rising from Ruins" 5:23
9. "Flame Thrower" 4:34
10. "Spectre" 4:25
11. "Traitors Gate" 5:43
12. "No Surrender" 2:54
13. "Lone Wolf" 5:09
14. "Sea of Red" 5:51
Total length: 58:20

Some intros, no "epics". They have the latter over Maiden, at least.

Definitely not pushing the envelope in any way, but fuck me it's a fun song. Much more inspired than anything on RoS. I'm pretty excited for it TBH.

I'm wondering how much Glenn actually plays on this -- seems to be a bad omen.

14 tracks is really excessive. Why do bands choose to do this?

Perceived value for money? But also I suspect Guardians and No Surrender to be intros, so you could say it is 12 tracks. That's still longer than an '80s album of course. But an hour isn't too excessive these days.

Because the songs themselves are so mediocre, quick, and easy to crank out. Perceived value![/bitterOldMan]

Maybe they can also charge more for downloads since iTunes sets prices with no artist input?

"Firepower" was definitely better than "Lightning Strike." It's got me a little more excited for this one. I'm hoping they're are going to be some surprises on there. It's been a while since I sat and listened to Redeemer of Souls but I thoroughly enjoyed it back when it came out. I think Angel of Retribution was a much stronger album in comparison, but if this new one is shaping up to be Redeemer of Souls pt. 2, I wouldn't mind.

Not to mention Take on the World, Breaking The Law, and United.

"GLENN TIPTON/JUDAS PRIEST DIAGNOSED WITH PARKINSONS"

http://judaspriest.com/news/fullstory.a ... A946FC96D0

Ten years ago Glenn was diagnosed to have the onset of the early stages of Parkinson’s - from then until recently Glenn has lived his life as the great heavy metal guitar player he has always been, maintaining by his own definition a standard of quality and performance that is incredibly important.

Right now Glenn is able to play and perform some of the Priest songs that are less challenging but due to the nature of Parkinson's progression he wants to let you all know that he won't be touring as such -

True to the metal spirit of 'the show must go on' Glenn has requested Andy Sneap to fly the flag on stage for him

“I want everyone to know that it’s vital that the Judas Priest tour go ahead and that I am not leaving the band - it’s simply that my role has changed. I don’t rule out the chance to go on stage as and when I feel able to blast out some Priest! So at some point in the not too distant future I’m really looking forward to seeing all of our wonderful metal maniacs once again”

Rob, Richie, Ian and Scott have this to say:

“We have been privileged to witness Glenn’s determination and steadfast commitment over the years, showing his passion and self belief through the writing, recording and performing sessions with Priest - he is a true metal hero! We are not surprised by Glenn’s insistence that we complete the Firepower tour and thank Andy for joining us to make Glenn’s wishes become real - As Glenn has said we also can’t wait to have him with us at any time any place on the road..... We love you Glenn!”

Shit news.

Shit news indeed. So the diagnosis of the early stage happened 10 years ago? Wow. So that sort of puts the talks about retiring around the Epitaph tour into perspective. Anyway, Parkinson's must be all the more brutal for a guitarist and it's great that he kept playing while he could. I'm happy that Andy Sneap gets to play with them, though Priest without both Glenn and K.K. sounds absolutely wrong. But it does sound like the Firepower Tour will be their last.

And yes. One of the metal heroes just got even more metal.

Firepower was pretty damn boring and the positive reaction leaves me totally confused. I guess this is how other people perceive me when I rave about a new Metallica song.

It's basically Painkiller + valium

edit: I thought Lightning Strikes was kinda cool. The latter half of the song was pretty fun. Extremely fun, actually

And Take These Chains!