Reunited in the studio with vocalist Rob Halford for the first time in 14 years, Judas Priest attempts to build on 1990’s blazing “Painkiller” and turns in a set sheathed in steel-studded, chrome-plated metal. Ignoring any desire to modernize or challenge listeners, the British quintet loads “Angel of Retribution” with its trademark anvil-drop rhythms, synchronized riffs and double-bass percussion. While the twin-engine guitar tandem of K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton sound rejuvenated, it’s Halford who brings conviction back to a group that had become a Spinal Tap parody. Alternating between high-pitch falsetto shrieks and ominous growls, he screams for vengeance on “Demonizer,” espouses motorcyclists’ ride-to-live credo for “Wheels of Fire” and heads towards lonesome skies on the “Diamonds and Rust”-styled ballad “Angel.” Apart from “Lochness,” a bloated epic better left to Iron Maiden, Priest mines familiar territory with a razor-blade precision and desire that own up to the messages inherent in its new namesake song, “Judas Rising.”
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