Judas Priest - Nostradamus
Epic

I have to admit to start this off that I have a rather big bias against this Judas Priest project. From the moment it was first announced, I couldn't help but groan at the prospect of a two disc concept album about history's greatest bullshit artist, Nostradamus. His entire legacy is based on vague prophecies that no one notices until after the fact. All things considered, I'd be more interested in a concept album about paint drying.

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets get to the actual album.

Judas Priest have always been about trying new things, usually with mixed results. They've experimented with the synth sound (Turbo, Ram It Down), chugga chord rock (Jugulator, Demolition), ball-less hard rock (Point Of Entry) and now with Nostradamus overblown epic metal. I never thought I'd openly admit this, but after many spins of this new album, I'd rather listen to Point Of Entry. Yes, that's the album with Heading Out To The Highway. Let that simmer in your head for a minute.

This isn't the first time that the band has attempted a double album. Last time some sort of miracle happened and someone, either at the label or the band itself, realized that most of the songs being written were terrible and it was released as a single album. That album? TURBO. Guess what? I'd rather listen to that too over Nostradamus. Dwell on that.

There's too many songs on the album, simply put. And of what's there, very little is of worth, barely enough to fill up a decent Ep. Half of the first disc is entirely disposable. Three fourths of the second disc deserves to be deleted and forgotten about. The good moments are entirely too few and far between. In fact, on the first disc, The first 7 songs are garbage. THE FIRST SEVEN SONGS ARE GARBAGE. TERRIBLE. FLUFF. FILLER. Pestilence And Plague is the first song that seemingly has any good ideas, but it's followed by the abominable Death. What a terrible song that is. Need to go to sleep? Pop in Nostradamus disc one and skip to Death. You'll be knocked cold within 15 seconds flat. I haven't even ended disc one and I'm already gonna name Nostradamus as Judas Priest's worst album. Priest has a lot of crap albums and Nostradamus tops them all. Worse than Point Of Entry, Turbo, Ram It Down, Jugulator AND Demolition. Hell, roll them all together and Nostradamus still reigns supreme as Priest at their very worst. IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED I DON'T LIKE THIS ALBUM.

The rest of disc one is noticeably better though you may never realize it since Death probably put you to sleep. If you're somehow still awake then you may enjoy Conquest and Persecution. Granted, if these songs had appeared on Painkiller or Screaming For Vengeance they would have been considered weak links, but for Priest 2008 you have to grade with a curve. Persecution is the better of the two and the best on the first disc easily.

Hey, guess what? There's still another disc you can torture yourself with! It's like Priest kicking you when you're already down. Somehow the second disc is populated with songs even more horrendous than the first. Egads...the things I do for you people. Basically I'm gonna skip most of this and just go to the only three worthwhile songs on this disc, Alone, the title track and Future Of Mankind. Alone is a slow chugger with a good chorus. The title track is pretty much every Priest clichè rolled into one, but at least the band sound like they have some energy while doing it. That should count for something, right? Future Of Mankind is the most complex song and is the only other song besides Persecution that approaches greatness. Imagine that...of 23 songs only two are great. Funny that.

Nostradamus is a failed experiment, pure and simple. Maybe if it was condensed into a single album like Turbo was the end result might have been more favorable (yea I know Turbo sucks, but the songs that didn't make it were even worse than the ones that did). This album will not be a part of my regular play rotation, I do predict that.


Disc I:
01. Dawn Of Creation
02. Prophecy
03. Awakening
04. Revelations
05. The Four Horsemen
06. War
07. Sands Of Time
08. Pestilence And Plague
09. Death
10. Peace
11. Conquest
12. Lost Love
13. Persecution

Disc II:
01. Solitude
02. Exiled
03. Alone
04. Shadows In The Flame
05. Visions
06. Hope
07. New Beginnings
08. Calm Before The Storm
09. Nostradamus
10. Future Of Mankind

Score: 3/10