MindCrime Reviews #1: Rocka Rolla by Judas Priest

Seeing as how Firepower comes out tomorrow, which I will definitely review, it’s time to go back to the beginning and talk about Rocka Rolla.

Before I start, I should mention that this is not a heavy metal album, it is a hard rock album.

Track #1: “One For The Road”
This is a pretty good track to open the album up. It’s got a catchy groove that stays in your head and Halford doesn’t quite sound like Halford yet, but he still sounds good. The song is a good way to show you what you’re in with this album. 7/10

Track #2: “Rocka Rolla”
This sounds more like Halford. It’s showing some early traits of Priest, it’s got a great solo, and the bass playing in this song really sticks out for me. 8/10

Track #3: Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat/Cheater
This is basically a bunch of different songs that make one solid composition. It’s definitely a great one, at that. It, total, clocks in at 9:30. It’s got a very psychadelic and progressive rock feel to it, and Halford’s vocals are pristine. The music itself is catchy and stays in your head. It’s also just a very strange song, with quite a bit of whammy abuse. Glenn And K.K. do an outstanding job in in this song, and overall just an amazing piece of music. 10/10

Track #4: Never Satisfied
This song is basically an anthem for ambition. This is a very strange song, and I’m not a big fan, but it’s still a relatively solid song. 6.5/10

Track #5: Run Of The Mill
This one runs 8:34. This album jumps around a lot, it goes from a four and a half minute song to a three minute song to a nine minute song to a five minute song to an eight and a half minute song to a six and a half minute song to a song that’s barely two minutes long.
Anyway, it starts off very soft. It gets a little bit more hard rockish a little bit later, but it’s basically bipolar progressive/psychadelic/hard rock all in one song. It showcases every member’s skill, and is for sure the best track on this entire album and one of the best songs this band has ever made. 10/10

Track #6: Dying To Meet You/Hero, Hero
This one is a bit cheesey. But it’s still a great song, it’s calm in parts and it’s less soft in other parts. It’s got everything for this album. 10/10

Track #7: Caviar And Meths
It’s just a brief, 2 minute instrumental filler to end the album. It’s decent, but not amazing by any means. 5.5/10

Overall rating: 80/100

It’s a pretty good album for a debut. It’s still a weak point for them but it’s good.

Comments

Decent review all around, one thing I recommend is elaborating on a couple of your points, things like saying that Never Satisfied is a very strange song could be elaborated upon by saying something such as the main riff sounding very much like Black Sabbath or that parts of it seemed to have a section with solos that didn't seem to follow the general beat at all, that kind of stuff. By stating that it's strange, you aren't really giving enough information on the track. You don't have to do this with every song, but I think a slightly more in depth explanation of some of them would be better. Also, it's funny, One For The Road's opening riff sounds a lot like Tribute by Tenacious D - visitor (3/9/2018)

Ha it does sound like that. Anyway, thanks for the comment, I’ll try to elaborate more in the future. - visitor (3/9/2018)

Also, you're right about Judas Priest being pretty good, I still don't like them much, but I can still see that they are a high quality band in many respects, so thanks for that - visitor (3/9/2018)