JUDAS PRIEST — Rocka Rolla (review)

Album · 1974 · Hard Rock

5/5 · 2015-10-11
Unitron

Judas Priest - Rocka Rolla

'Rocka Rolla' is the debut studio album by legendary heavy metal band Judas Priest. 'Rocka Rolla' shows quite the different Priest compared to their more well known 80's works and even their other 70's albums to some extent. As with many early heavy metal acts, Judas Priest began with a blues-based form of heavy metal. While they would still have hints of this sound on the following few albums, this debut remains a pretty unique album in their discography.

Many of the songs from this album were actually co-written by Al Atkins, who was Judas Priest's frontman and vocalist preceding Rob Halford. However, once he had a family to take care of, he left the band in May 1973. Al Atkins later made his versions of some early Judas Priest songs on his 'Victim of Changes' solo album, which includes a longer version of 'Caviar and Meths' which was originally a 14-minute long song to be released on 'Rocka Rolla' but sadly shortened down to only the 2-minute long intro as the final song featured on the album. It's a shame, because listening to the longer Al Atkins version, it sounds like it would have been a fantastic epic. The whole history of the album and the early years of Priest are actually quite fascinating, so if that sounds interesting I would highly recommend reading about it. Now that I've finished mentioning some of the history, on to the music.

Most of the songs are blues-y hard rock/heavy metal tunes, with the heavier tracks resembling the likes of Black Sabbath. The opening two tracks, 'One for the Road' and the title track, are examples of the blues-y hard rock sound, the latter in particular being a nice catchy tune. After the 'Winter' suite, one of my favorite songs 'Cheater' comes. There's a nice galloping drum beat, blues-y harmonica, and Halford's vocals are killer. There's also the epic 'Run of the Mill', which has some nice dark diminished chords reminiscent of Sabbath. However, it changes sound quite regularly, with beautiful slow guitar/bass work that reminds me of parts of Eloy epics. There is also some fantastic soloing shortly following, and in typical epic fashion it certainly has a climatic ending with some great screams from Halford.

My favorite on the album has to be 'Dying to Meet You', which opens up with a killer blues-y bassline before getting dark guitar work. Halford's vocals sound pretty different at the beginning, being much more lower-pitched then what he's known for. His low bluesy tone shown here sounds really nice, but he wouldn't really ever sing like this again. However, the song eventually picks up in speed with Halford's classic higher vocals and more great galloping guitar.

Overall, while not my favorite Judas Priest album, it's still an amazing album especially for a debut. It's interesting to listen to this more blues-y form of the Priest, and I think it's essential listening to hear what this legendary band sounded in the beginning. Hope you found this review helpful.

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more than 2 years ago
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voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Your review inspired me to write one too. Then I remembered that I already did. I've always had a soft spot for this album because it is the only one that truly gives us a glimpse into Atkins-era Judas Priest. Sad Wings has a few remnant parts but for the early years of Judas Priest, this is like a window looking back.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks everyone, I find it interesting that this is probably the easiest to talk about Priest album despite it not being my favorite. Maybe it's because of how much history there is to it.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Great review! I love this album. I really love those albums that didn't play by any rules. They simply did what they wanted and added all kinds of unorthodox elements. Woefully underrated album

Vim Fuego wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Never heard this one. I like how you placed this in it's proper historical context.

Bosh66 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

And I agree with Adam that this is indeed a good review, Khaliq ;-)

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I'm rather fond of this one, though it still ranks fourth out of JP's five 70's albums for me. Good review Khaliq.

Bosh66 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

One of those hit-and-miss albums I play intermittently because I feel I should. In fact the best track on here in my view was only added later as a bonus - Diamonds and Rust. Far from a bad album Khaliq, but the band really took off for me with the next release.