If there’s one big takeaway from revisiting slices of Priest’s amazing back catalogue, it is that their most recent album, 2018’s Firepower, is every bit as essential to the collection as their most revered material. That’s an almost unprecedented achievement for a veteran rock act, and it also brings us right back to Richie Faulkner whose influence is writ large upon Firepower’s nuclear riffage. In 2015, Rob described his bandmate as having “to some extent saved Judas Priest”, and you should believe it. When ‘the Falcon’ returns you should also greet him as the metal god that he is.
Verdict: 5/5
For fans of: Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Sabaton
50 Heavy Metal Years Of Music is out now via Sony.
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