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.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tension Between Rot And Genesis Sludge Metal
ANTHESIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recycle Brain Crust Punk
C.P.G
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cartography Of The Mind Deathcore
TETHERED
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us