One song embodies heavy metal like no other: “Painkiller” by Judas Priest.
The song’s iconic drum intro, which had all 9,000 fans in the on Monday Vienna City Hall immediately knew what was going on, sounded towards the end of a furious performance by the British genre legend: the guitars howled, bass and drums drove, singer Rob Halford (72) screamed like a young boy – pure adrenaline, you can’t get more metal than that. Before that, other veterans also impressed.
“Metal Gods”
Judas Priest, who released their first album in 1974, released their 19th studio effort a few weeks ago. The strong LP “Invicible Shield” cemented the band’s reputation as “Metal Gods”. Only Halford and bassist Ian Hill are now still there from the line-up that first made people sit up and take notice 50 years ago. Guitarist Glenn Tipton recently had to say goodbye to touring life after falling ill. But with Richie Faulkner, who came in 2011 to replace the departed (or fired, depending on your point of view) second guitarist KK Downing, they have a fantastic replacement on board.
Chosen for you
What’s more: The 44-year-old Faulkner brought fresh “Firepower” (also an album title from 2018) and – supported by live musician and producer Andy Sneap – built the foundation for Priest classics like “You’ve Got” with his instrument live Another Thing Coming”, “Turbo Lover”, “Breaking The Law” or “Hell Bent For Leather” (with Halford on the motorcycle). It was one more than 90 minutes of dynamic, powerful (driven by drummer Scott Travis and Hill) performance without breathing. The strength of Judas Priest lies not only in their uncompromising heaviness, but also in their varied songwriting.
Three new tracks from “Invincible Shield”
“We’re just lucky, we always come up with great songs,” said Hill in an interview with APA before the show. “Of course you have to motivate yourself, you can’t rest on your legacy, but try to make every album different. Richie, Glen and Rob are the songwriters, I can’t say too much about it, but that’s the way: we want to no fillers.” As proof of their relevance even after five decades, Judas Priest played three new tracks from “Invincible Shield” at the concert, which easily kept up with the well-known hits.
Before Halford and Co. celebrated the high mass of heavy metal, two other heavy metal and hard rock institutions showed their unbridled enthusiasm for playing. Uriah Heep, often pigeonholed as “oldies”, surprised with a crisp, timeless set: with “Gypsy” (from 1970) they even sang a “headbanging song”, as guitarist Mick Box, the last of the original line-up, noted with a smile. After the hit song “Easy Livin'”, Uriah Heep had the town hall sing along to the “two chord folk metal song” (box) “Lady In Black”.
Chosen for you
Saxon, founded not much later than the headliner, were pioneers of the so-called New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) in the early 1980s. The original members on strings have long since said goodbye and the drummers have taken up the reins (or rather the sticks), but singer Peter “Biff” Byford has led the band relentlessly through ups and downs. With “Hell, Fire And Damnation” they recently delivered another decent album, three songs could be heard in the town hall, sandwiched between NWOBHM hits like “Wheels Of Steel” or “Heavy Metal Thunder” – with a 73-year-old Frontman whose voice has not suffered over the decades.
“Metal Masters” was the motto of the event. The three acts have proven that metal is not only fun, but also has qualities – and also suits older men.
(By Wolfgang Hauptmann/APA)