JUDAS PRIEST — Rocka Rolla (review)

JUDAS PRIEST — Rocka Rolla album cover Album · 1974 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
Yes this album sees JUDAS PRIEST very much in their formative years experimenting with different ideas and staying close to their influences and although this is far from the peak of their career, I have always rather enjoyed listening to this album for its quirkiness and reminder that while metal was still in its inchoate stages of development, there were many strange ideas that would be abandoned in favor of faster and heavier riffing which would create the first true heavy metal music.

ROCKA ROLLA which is the debut album by JUDAS PRIEST was released all the way back in 1974 and has a clear bluesy hard rock a la Led Zeppelin influence throughout most of its tracks but there are many surprises as well which is probably why this album doesn't get as much love as the others following. One strangeness occurring here that I have always adored is the psychedelic freakout frenzy that makes up the heavy psych / proto-metal tracks “Winter,” “Deep Freeze” and “Winter Retreat.”

I put this album in the same category as I do the debut albums by Rush and the Scorpions, that being an anomaly in their respective careers that would never be repeated yet are performed extraordinarily well. This album was actually recorded live in the studio and although the production is not the best in the world, its the rawness and melodic deliveries that keep me re-visiting this album from time to time. A mishmash of ideas to be sure but always pleasantly laid out with Rob Halford already hitting some of those high notes.

If you're only into headbanging this is surely not going to thrill you in the least but if you can embrace eclectic musical ideas that have a grain of the JUDAS PRIEST that would be developed in the next couple of years for their more popular “Sad Wings Of Destiny” then you might actually like this quirky album that shows a side of JUDAS PRIEST that really wouldn't be explored again until they dabbled in the progressive side of rock on their much later release “Nostradamus.” Maybe it's the horrible bottle cap cover that scared everyone off. By all means get the remastered version with the cool missile monster on the cover!
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