JUDAS PRIEST — Ram It Down (review)

JUDAS PRIEST — Ram It Down album cover Album · 1988 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Kingcrimsonprog
Judas Priest’s eleventh studio album Ram It Down is hugely underrated in my opinion. It contains some very strong material and performances from the band.

I understand fully why this album is harshly overlooked. The band’s previous album Turbo soured a lot of people towards the band in the mid to late eighties with its commercial leanings. Ram It Down and Turbo were originally intended to be a double album together. Consequently, many people put that together and choose to ignore Ram It Down.

Ram It Down is actually a great album, much heavier than Turbo with far less of the synths or the glam/hair tinges. Some of the songs on Ram It Down are almost Thrash Metal in places, with double kicks going off, heavy palm muted riffs and it seems unfair to lump this in with Turbo as ‘that pair of sellout albums.’ Ram It Down to me, sounds closer to Screaming For Vengeance or even Painkiller on a few tracks than Turbo, and I actually like Turbo in any case.

Ignoring the style and direction of the album for a minute, the actual music is top notch. Tracks like ‘Hard As Iron,’ ‘Come And Get It,’ and the furious title track are all excellent and deliver everything you could want from Judas Priest in terms of energy, performance and vocal range and all that before you even talk about the guitar solos on the album.

Special mention too is deserved for ‘Blood Red Skies,’ which is a dynamic and interesting song with an absolutely amazing vocal performance from Rob.

Overall, Ram It Down is a great Judas Priest album and I’d urge you not to overlook it just because of its origins, if you try it you may just be surprised.
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