It’s March 2024 and Invincible Shield becomes Judas Priest’s nineteenth studio album. Interestingly it lists Glen Tipton in the line-up sharing guitar duty with Richie Faulkner though one wonders how much Glen is able to contribute given his Parkinson’s disease. Either way – it’s good that he is able to play to some extent.
Before I give my verdict on Invincible Shield, a little historical context. I go back to 1978 with Priest when purchasing Stained Class from the large Asda store close to where I lived in South Yorkshire. The store had a small record section.
Stained Class to this day some forty six years later remains an album I listen to frequently. Indeed I still lap up Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin and Killing Machine (or Hell Bent for Leather depending on where you are….). What a run of classic albums.
British Steel I thought was not as good as it has been hyped up to be. I like very much Point of Entry. However (just my opinion……) Screaming for Vengeance sounded rather “samey” and after that I didn’t buy another Priest album until Angel of Retribution in 2005. That did little for me – as did seeing them on that tour. They were terrible and we left early.
Now some nineteen years later I decided to buy Invincible Shield, I admit mainly out of curiosity, promising myself I’d give it a fair crack of the proverbial whip and listen with an open mind. I have done just that. And after a good number of spins, here’s what I think…..
The first four tracks I find to be generic, cookie cutter and interchangeable heavy metal with no imagination. They all sound the same and follow the template. Riff, similar solo, riff, more or less identical drum patterns. Halford’s vocals are strong however.
Gates of Hell and Crown of Horns are both (to me) classic Priest of the late 1970s. Much more variation and strongly written than the opening four tracks showing some imagination in with the power, which is delivered at a better pace and builds in some melody also. The vocals toned down a bit which helped with the atmospherics. Overall a more “mature” approach if you will.
Have a listen to Gates of Hell:
Next it’s four more tracks of generics before the closer, Giants in the Sky rescues things to some extent conjuring up in my mind some similarities with say Victim of Changes from all those years ago, though the mid-section Spanish flamenco style acoustic break sounds very much out of place.
I wanted to like Invincible Shield more than I do hoping that Priest may redeem (forgive slightly related pun) themselves in my mind though that’s not happened. May be I’m getting old now and like Spinal Tap’s appeal becoming “more selective” perhaps that’s happening to my listening preferences as I age.
To summarise: Invincible Shield, in my opinion, lacks variation and inspiration relying on a formulaic approach. Steady, not spectacular.
No doubt it’ll sell very well and good on the band for having success for decades – though I’ll regress back to the 1970s and spin up Sad Wings of Destiny and Stained Class again and again.
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