12. Before the Dawn (**1/2/****) - I know what you're thinking, "Gee, these songs are mighty heavy. I wonder if they ever just tone it down and sing about love....pure love without it being queermosexual or about Satanic possession." Wonder no longer for this song is about pure love. Then unwonder cause it so wuss-rock and makes Halford look pussy-whipped and we all know that's biologically impossible. It's about them begging a woman to stay and something about birds singing and some trite bullshit. However, despite it Halford does believe the trite lyrics and that's most of the battle of getting an audience to like the song and the acoustic guitars are decent. But for the solo, you ever wonder what the lava from the movie Volcano would like in guitar solo form.....wonder no longer on that as well. Basically, the only reason that song is rated as high as it is purely based off of Halford's sincerity, only reason.
13. Hell Patrol (***/****) - Well, not all the songs off the Painkiller album can be mind-blowing, shit-your-pants-out-of-fear awesome. I'm not saying I don't like Hell Patrol, I just like the other songs much, much more. Once again, this song is about another metal character coming in and fucking shit up but not doing much killing this time around. It does have a nice, solid groove but you can feel that the band isn't putting in as much effort as they did with the other Painkiller songs. However, this era was one of the peaks of quality Priest so even the weak songs are still better than a lot of their stuff.
14. The Ripper (***/****) - This, by far, has the most unique intro in all of Priest-dom. It opens with a riff that sounds like stabbing with Halford doing his metal scream in a dive-bomb fashion. Then it's just the guitars and vocals as Halford sings about us being a surpise, a shock followed by another metal scream. You wish this song will be like that throughout but the rest of the band kicks in and it kinda becomes convential. This doesn't make it a bad song but after the intro, one could be forgiven for expecting something more. Oh well, the chorus still rocks and before I forget, the song's about Jack the Ripper. Yes the one that killed all those hookers in Ye Olde England.
15. Screaming for Vengeance (*/****) - I can't fathom why the Screaming for Vengeance album is held in such high regard in the eyes of a Priest fan. The only good songs off of there is The Helion/Electric Eye, Pain and Pleasure & Take These Chains. A lot of the songs flat out suck. I already gave my opinion of You Got Another Thing Coming. Riding on the Wind is unmemorable. Bloodstone is more like Shitstone. Then there's the title track...to call this song lazy is an insult to the other tracks that the band has phoned in. There's only good part in this and to save your time, here it is. It's in the chorus where Halford is singing "Screaming for Vengeance" and there's a metal scream after that. It does work well in that context but still doesn't excuse the fact that this is a bad song.
16. Out in the Cold (**1/2/****) - This song is one of the most obvious instances of pandering to the mainstream in Priest history ever. If it wasn't 6 and a half minutes long, I'm sure it would be a single and hopefully it would've charted higher than You Got Another Thing coming for it's a better song. Granted, it still is a flawed song that goes way too long and relies too much on the synth but it's kinda fun, especially on that concert tape of a 1986 show where this was the opening song. The stage is full of dry ice fog as the opening synth riff hits. Then when the Halford starts to sing he emerges from the fog and it's a good sight to see. Wish the song was as good as that.
17. Revolution (***/****) - This is another song that I recommend by the skin of its teeth. It's a good song but only due to the strength of Halford's vocals push the song over the top past the faceless guitar riffs and preditable structure. Another good thing about Revolution that this is short and doesn't wear out it's welcome. I mean I don't have much to say about it, it does it's job and it does it well and that's good enough for this.
Ok, that's done. What would I change on the album track-listing? I'd replace Delivering the Goods with Take on the World and Screaming for Vengeance with Pain and Pleasure. That's the only changes I would immediately make. Also, don't expect an album review using song-by-song review. It's just way too time-intensive for me. I would do individual song reviews like singles or stuff like that but only one.
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