Like my grandfather used to say, "Opinions are like assholes...everybody's got one...."
I haven't let any discouraging words from those who've not been able to embrace "NOSTRADAMUS" dampen my spirits or my interest in what this opus sounds like start to finish. At best, all I've been able to do is get 30 second long snippets courtesy of those "Have A LIsten" booths at Borders...where you scan the CD you're interested in sampling, and you get at least a taste of what's happ'nin'. Mind you...I've only gotten those snippets from the first CD, as it doesn't permit you to get snippets from the second CD.
In spite of that, I'll grant everybody this much....sure...it's different. Wanna know what? I expected it to be different. Priest have been all about BEING different from word 'go...' it's what has helped separate them from their peers and KEPT them separate from every other metal band that's emerged since.
As for "NOSTRADAMUS" being Priest's downfall?? Psh...HARDLY. Those of you who've been into Priest for 20 years or better might recall much the same thing being said when they released "Turbo." I remember the flak they got for how different an album like "Point of Entry" was from "British Steel." So...all in all, people have been tossing the proverbial "coffin nails" at Judas Priest as far back as 1981...and yet...here they are in 2008 supporting a Top 40 album and STILL touring to the adoring throngs that attend. Go figure....hardly sounds like a band suffering any real "downfall" to me.
Given Priest's penchant for expanding their own horizons, as well as the parameters of heavy metal music itself, I've long come to expect there to be some discord and variance in thought and opinion from one release to the next....know what else? So do Priest....they themselves know better than anyone else that pleasing every Priest fan en masse is next to impossible...let's remember something folks...Judas Priest are artists in every sense of the word...as such, whatever it is they create and put out there simply HAS to please them FIRST....if anything about "NOSTRADAMUS" didn't please them, they'd still be working on it. As for producing it themselves, well...that's their right and prerogative....when you consider what producers want for their time and efforts these days, I can't say I blame 'em for taking the reins creatively on every front imaginable. Thus far, I've found no real fault in how the songs sound, and for all this talk about Ian's bass being utterly lost in the mix....I dunno....I haven't heard Ian's bass THIS forward since "Defenders of the Faith."
Priest know what they're doing folks...a band doesn't last and survive some 35 years being aloof and devil-may-care about their efforts. You might love or hate what they do as it comes...but one should never deny a band's opportunity to grow and change.
