Ram It Down

Ram It Down is the eleventh album on which Judas Priest again pushes heavy guitar riffs, high-speed drums and Rob Halford’s sharp high register to the front. While keeping some of the electronic texture of the previous Turbo, the bite of traditional heavy metal powerfully returns to the core of the songs. A record showing a return to more aggressive metal. From the straight-ahead drive of the opening title track “Ram It Down” and the lift of “Heavy Metal” to the aggression of “Hard as Iron” and the dramatic expanse of “Blood Red Skies,” the album shows several powerful faces, while an unexpected cover of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” conveys the band’s playfulness. Its appeal is a strength and speed that already foreshadow the overwhelming aggression of the next Painkiller. After the experimental period, the band powerfully steers back toward hard-edged heavy metal, its own origin. Though transitional, holding sure aggression and drive, it is a powerful heavy-metal record.