Album: Rocka Rolla
Artist: Judas Priest
Released: 1974
Genres covered: elements of blues rock, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, and hard rock.
Tracklist:
- One for the Road – 5/5
- Rocka Rolla – 4/5
- Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat/Cheater – 5/5 (specifically, 5/5, 2/5, 4/5, 5/5 respectively)
- Never Satisfied – 5/5
- Run of the Mill – 4/5
- Dying To Meet You – 5/5
- Cavier and Meths – 5/5
- Diamonds and Rust – 4/5
Overall:
5 out of 5.
Where do I begin with this..
Well, as someone who has listened to Metallica, Slayer, some Mötley Crüe, some Led Zeppelin, some Aerosmith, a ton of AC/DC, and some Def Leppard (I’ve never listened to Judas Priest though), I’m listening to this album and I don’t see it; I don’t see how anyone could say this is a terrible album.
This album is a 5/5 for me, though barely, because there’s definitely some things I don’t like such as that distorted nonsense on the third track (
Deep Freeze) or the singer’s voice which is quite irritating and distracting at times (especially on the last track), but I can’t see any respectable rock/metal listener giving this anything below a 4/5.
Something worth mentioning is that I gave this album a 2/5 when I first listened to it. This is absolutely not the case anymore and I don't know what I was thinking when I rated it such.
ALL of these tracks are great, but my favorite is
Cavier and Meths though
One for the Road is a very close second. The guitar work on this album is among some of the best I've ever heard, especially
Run of the Mill,
Never Satisfied, and
One for the Road for their absolutely KILLER riffs. My least favorite is probably
Deep Freeze, though from the perspective of the album as a whole, I appreciate it for it being markedly different and adding much needed variety.
On the subject of variety, there's not a ton of variety between the tracks, though the singer (and even though I note my displeasure at his work on a few songs) changes his voice a lot for some songs, and even that distorted nonsense on the third track is certainly different; the variety is not really an issue for me because I find that the entire album flows SO well it’s unreal. Every song seems to complement the previous track.
For example, the track
Run of the Mill is half slow, intense blues jam and half dramatic, operatic rock ballad, and it complements well with the faster, mostly instrumental and riff-heavy
Never Satisfied.
Following that is
Dying To Meet You, which opens as a slow, mostly lyrical song that appears to be a continuation of the operatic ballad (although even slower) from
Run of the Mill, but turns into a completely different, much faster song that features possibly my favorite lyrics on the album.
I just adore the bluesy-ness of this album, and I may never be able to stop listening to it. So happy with this album. I’ve bought a ton of albums recently trying to explore classic bands I’ve never listened to before, and I haven’t always liked what I’ve found, which is really disappointing at times. This album is the furthest thing from disappointment, and I’m absolutely ecstatic that I bought it/discovered it.
Also, the reissue cover, which is the version
I have, fits perfectly with composition of the album as a whole: an awesome cover, for an awesome album.