There’s joy to be had viewing Invincible Shield in the context of Priest’s wider discography, too. What would the young renegades who started out with 1974’s Rocka Rolla think, for instance, if they could see the black-clad, shred-heavy septuagenarians they’d be 50 years down the line? How heartening for listeners losing faith around 1997’s Jugulator or 2001’s Demolition to find out about the resurgence that’d run deep into the 21st Century?
Ultimately, though, this is a record with the kind of undeniable quality that will captivate fresh-faced newcomers just as much as weathered veterans. It’s there in Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner’s clashing six-strings on Fight Of Your Life, in Ian Hill and Scott Travis’ rumbling bottom-end on Vicious Circle, in Rob’s gleefully melodramatic refrain – ‘Vengeance is mine!’ – on grandstanding final track The Lodger.
In truth, it’s always been there. Long may it continue to be.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate
Invincible Shield is out now via Sony