The Metal Minute: CD Review: Halford - Halford IV: Made of Metal

Turbo truly deserves a thumb bite, the head of the matter is Judas Priest is held to such a high standard by the metal community they're demanded by de facto to be nothing less than British Steel, than Stained Class, than Screaming for Vengeance or Hell Bent For Leather.Judas Priest is the image of heavy, the automatic brand name when you discuss the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.Deviation from the script is not tolerated.Ask Ripper Owens.Hell, there are still some purists out there who rebuff the louder 'n hell Painkiller, shudder to think.Rob Halford understands this full well, at least when it comes to issue his solo work.Under the Halford moniker, you may not get Downing and Tipton, but you do get the scorching (and of late well-respected) Roy Z and Metal Mike Chlasciak, who entertain like the devil on Made of Metal.Hey, when you're the Metal God, you don't surround yourself with a romance of fools.Thus, if you are said purist, rejoice, lad and lass, because Halford IV:Made of Metal is the textbook primer of classic metal you're salivating for.Forget the operatics and the symphonics.Made of Metal is straight-up vintage Rob Halford and Priest, so often you get a slowed-down reworking of "Electric Eye" with "Rush of Go" on this album plus a deliberate hail to red times ala Stained Class and Sin After Sin on "Hell Razor." Put your trust in Uncle Rob, because he knows what you're craving.He takes Priest's halcyon "Before the Morning" and speeds it up in the thread of Stratovarius on the quick-stepped "Fire and Ice."Then he atones for the strangely addictive misdemeanor of "Turbo Lover" with the cyber-slick pumper "Made of Metal," one of Rob's most memorable non-Priest tunes outside of "Nailed to the Gun" from Fight.With 14 songs, Made of Metal is a bit of an endeavor, largely because Rob Halford takes a few outside chances in the interest of creating a leaner, more diverse listening experience.This way getting Bon Jovi jiggy on the verses of "Roaring and Lightning," which heavies up on the choruses and solos before the song gets too oily for its own good.Like Bon Jovi, Rob Halford takes a shot at the cowpoke metal ditty on "Till the Day I Die."Roy Z and Metal Mike are up to the project in creating blues slides and grimy lines for Halford to ante up from a near-whisper into a great metal hoedown catcall.Far less melodramatic and more testicular than Bon Jovi's "Blaze of Glory."One of the elements most critics are lacking with this album is the inherent romanticism Halford exudes.Sure, Rob's delivered the goods to many a love rocker in his career, but Made of Metal reveals a tender, muse-stricken intimacy to the Metal God.He's in free-frolic mode beneath the rocking stanzas of "I Live We Suffer a Chance," "Fire and Ice," "Thunder and Lightning," "Heartless" and "We Own the Night."His seven-minute self-flogging mini-epic "25 Days" is nearly heartbreaking.Bless you, Rob, it's nice to see such lovestruck humanity sieved out with the molten lava.Halford tempers his vocal patterns throughout the full album, withholding his screechfest "The Mower" for a grand finale.Hinted at from the source of the album by the proto-power chugger "Undisputed," "The Mower" becomes a cathartic finish to a marathon of pure heavy metal and bobbing rock delivered as only Rob Halford can do without a flinch."The Matador" may be Halford's smaller-scale vie to emulate Nostradamus with more efficiency, but in the end, Made of Metal is alike that coveted chair in the warmest piece of the house:it rocks.Rating:****

Halford - Halford IV:Made of Metal2010 Metal God RecordsRay Van Horn, Jr.It's fairly unanimous hardcore metal fans have blown raspberries at Judas Priest's triple-dog-dare-you epic Nostradamus, even if the Grammy committee tagged honors upon it.Some fans even venture a dagger of hatred into the Priest's Angel of Retribution album from 2005.While 1986's