Released: August 8, 2000
By the time Rob Halford named an album Resurrection, the word did more than sell the premise. Fight had kept one boot in metal, 2wo had pulled him into industrial electronics, and Judas Priest had continued without him. The central question was hard to miss: could Halford reclaim traditional heavy metal without turning his solo band into a copy of the group he had left?
The title track takes that question head-on. Processed voices give way to a fast, tightly clipped riff, Bobby Jarzombek’s double kick snaps into place, and Halford turns the previous decade into a first-person account. Even the lyric’s reference to walking into a “Fight” is pointed. His voice makes the same case. He moves from a firm midrange into a high, serrated scream that completes the chorus and gives the hook its identity.
“Made in Hell” reaches farther back. Its churning, factory-line rhythm supports a lyric about Birmingham, steel, and the birth of metal, tying Halford’s history to the music’s industrial roots. Patrick Lachman and Mike Chlasciak use short palm-muted figures and quick harmonized leads and riffs that leave room for the vocal. Roy Z thickens the guitar lows and gives the kick drums the hard click common to turn-of-the-century metal. Beneath that finish, the writing still depends on clearly defined verses, bridges, and choruses.
“Night Fall” lowers the pace and lets Halford shape the melody through his darker register before opening the chorus. “Cyberworld” goes the other way, using rapid picking and a restless mechanical pulse for lyrics caught in the early Internet age. Ray Riendeau usually locks his bass to the guitar pattern, adding weight beneath Jarzombek. The drummer’s fills and double-bass runs remain fluid even when the arrangements get crowded.
The album’s most convincing answer comes through “Silent Screams,” a seven-minute song Halford co-wrote with Bob Marlette during the 2wo period. It begins in a restrained, reflective mode, then breaks open around a blunt central riff and stacked vocal parts. Halford moves between confession, threat, and character voice. By the disillusioned-god passage, the arrangement has turned private damage into theater. The industrial unease of 2wo survives inside a firmer metal frame.
Bruce Dickinson’s appearance on “The One You Love to Hate” works because their voices remain distinct. Dickinson brings a rounder, airborne tone; Halford answers with a narrower metallic cut. They trade compact lines and join on the chorus while Pete Parada’s drumming drives a simple stomping riff underneath them. The song lasts barely three minutes and ends before the pairing becomes its only attraction.
Some later songs loosen the earlier precision. “Slow Down” stretches a sturdy midtempo groove across nearly five minutes, while “Twist” and “Temptation” depend more heavily on repeated hooks. Halford keeps changing his attack—clean croon, coarse command, sudden falsetto—allowing the band to alter the mood within its basic vocabulary. “Drive” adds a dirtier riff and openly sexual charge, another reminder that reclaiming metal did not require tidying up his identity for old listeners.
So, could Halford return to traditional metal without becoming a substitute version of Judas Priest? Yes. Resurrection makes his years away part of the material. The rapid riffs, twin-guitar lines, and piercing screams are familiar tools, but “Resurrection,” “Made in Hell” and “Silent Screams” use them to explain where he had been and why he came back. The record’s point is ownership: metal still belonged to Rob Halford, and he knew exactly what to do with it.
Written by Rob Joncas for DeadNoteMedia.
Artist information and music courtesy of the band.
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