https://www.rollingstone.com/music/...ical-heavy-metal-scriptures-book-1339369/amp/
I've been a fan of Judas Priest for years, leaning more towards the earlier 70s material as that is better than the later albums which are much more commercialised and inane in content (although some of the 80s song are good). They do have great guitar work and I love Halfords singing. One can't really dispute that the best of his singing is some of the best in hard rock / heavy metal, his personal life notwithstanding. I've not listened them in months however.
One thing I notice with the announcement of his new book is the use of religious and specifically Christian imagery and concepts, but it's in an appropriated manner. Why does he feel the need to do this? I can't help but notice the fascination that he and to be honest music subcultures like metal and goth evidently have. It was the same with his autobiography, titled "Confess" and with him pictured in a praying hand position on the promotional images, and then this new book "Biblical" looks to be more of the same with it's promotional marketing appropriating (one might say inverting) Christian iconography and ideas. It is also evident in several Judas Priest songs, so this is not new territory.
Many think of Judas Priest as not particularly satanic, at least in comparison to later bands (such as the black metal genre) which are much more overtly extreme. However, in my view Judas Priest were just more subtle about it, and their music opened the door for more extreme developments.
The album Stained Class (1978) is arguably their best album, but it is undoubtedly very dark and nihilistic. And that quality, as well as the calibre of musicality is precisely why it's revered. It has a very appealing dark aesthetic, which is glamorous if you are drawn to such things. It is also infamous due to the suicide court case (The documentary Dream Decievers catalogues this well, fairly balanced, however the impression it makes is that the parents, in particular the born again Christian mother are fools, although they don't help themselves tbh). Like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, particularly in the 70s, were concerned with the darkness of humanity but, unlike Black Sabbath, they never acknowledge the existence of God. I honestly cannot think of a song in which they do, and I have all of their classic discography. Whereas Sabbath, despite their dark imagery, at least have songs like War Pigs, After Forever, Lord of This World and the song Black Sabbath itself which is a warning about evil. Judas Priest on the other hand just deals with darkness in a mostly nihilistic way, extorting the dionysian ecstasy of chaos. They do sometimes have songs which tell of a saviour but it's in very fantastical sci-fi terms. Exciter and Painkiller (which is essentially just an updated version of Exciter) are the prime examples here, and I think many would look at the superficial allusions to a "savior" and Apocalypse and think it just a sci-fi take on Christian eschatology. However, on closer reading in my opinion it is evident that this is surface level only, and in fact subtly satanic. Maybe not even that tbh because the Painkiller cover literally has the fallen angel from the cover of their second album, Sad Wings of Destiny, which depicts Lucifer in hell. And the song lyrics of Painkiller are describing him. So... yeah.
All of the above makes one side eye them when they use Christian allusions, especially as Halford claims to be Christian. Now, he is clearly a troubled soul, that is very evident if you know anything about him, so I can only pray that he resolves these troubles and truly follows Christ if he has an inclination to do so.
