| Judas Priest - A Touch Of Evil: Live |
| Written by Liu |
| Thursday, 30 July 2009 16:16 |
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Epic British heavy metal gods Judas Priest are in a rather odd place now. They've been coasting by mostly on the strength of their back catalog since most of their output for over 2 decades now has been anything but spectacular. Despite this, they still put on an entertaining live show (I witnessed this firsthand almost 4 years ago), so a new live album might still deliver the goods. A Touch Of Evil: Live has an interesting idea behind it. Instead of an album filled with songs that are available on their other live albums, they've selected songs that haven't appeared on any live albums yet. A novel idea, though put into dubious practice. Some of the songs are undeniable classics, among them Beyond The Realms Of Death, Painkiller, Riding On The Wind and Dissident Aggressor. Then there are the questionable choices. There are two songs from the rather safe comeback album, Angel Of Retribution and two from the abysmal disaster known as Nostradamus. I haven't even played that album since writing my review of it last year and these two live versions sure don't make me wanna give that album another chance. The performances of the songs are a rather mixed bag, especially from Rob Halford. The songs were culled from their 2005 and 2008 tours and a disparity in quality is the result. Among the better sounding selections are Riding On The Wind and A Touch Of Evil. On the other end of the spectrum there is Painkiller. I've heard quite a few different versions of this song on various bootlegs and I can safely say that this is the worst version you could possibly expose your ears to. Halford's vocals are inexcusable here. Throughout the song he is rasping his lungs out, like a lung cancer patient on the verge of total collapse. Its appalling that they chose this particular performance of the song for inclusion here. Probably my biggest problem with A Touch Of Evil: Live is that its just a single disc release. Judas Priest's catalog is so rich and deep that limiting a "songs never before on a live album" set to one disc is criminal. They didn't even have to stick with those songs. A second disc with set list standards like Electric Eye, Living After Midnight and Victim Of Changes would have been welcome. Hell, toss in a few Ripper tracks too. Cathedral Spires would had fit in nicely with the rest of the songs. But maybe it is a blessing in disguise since they were touring for that dreadful Nostradamus album in 2008, so it could have been drowning in those sad excuses for songs. Hardly an essential release here and a far cry from the standard set by 1979's Unleashed In The East. Die hard fans may possibly get something out of this. Everyone else would be wise to skip this til it hits the used bin, which should take about a week, tops. 01. Judas Rising 02. Hellrider 03. Between The Hammer And The Anvil 04. Riding On The Wind 05. Death 06. Beyond The Realms Of Death 07. Dissident Aggressor 08. A Touch Of Evil 09. Eat Me Alive 10. Prophecy 11. Painkiller Score: 5/10 |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 30 July 2009 16:46 |