Strong. Heavy. Massive. Camp. Overblown. Ludicrous.

No metal band in history has ever had such variety of contradictive qualities in such vast abundance as Judas Priest.

40 years since their first album “Rocka Rolla” (1974) into their illustrious career, Priest in many ways defined the style, sound and image of heavy metal as we know it today and they are still among genre’s elite- at once both inspirational and challenging, but as much as we want to hail the legends, we also need to face the facts.

Judas Priest hasn’t really done much in the recent decade to make us shake with anticipation and excitement over their new album “Redeemer Of Soul”.

Their last album, the lavish concept tale “Nostradamus” (2008), was easily a demonstration of ambitions over abilities.  It was an exhaustive and futile adventure; so grandiose and portentous it made the band look as they still had something to prove, which they hadn’t actually.

No doubt, Priest pushed their boundaries to their absolute limits but majority of their fans asked themselves if the metal gods lost it?

Well, “Redeemer Of Souls” answers that question immediately with the beginning of the opener “Dragonaut”.

Even without K.K. Downing who’s been replaced by one Richie Faulkner of Lauren Harris’ fame, Priest still got it, or at least some of it.

“Halls Of Valhalla” sounds like a “Painkiller” (1990) leftover, only if that was really the case Rob’s voice wouldn’t have been so low, especially during the chorus.

This album is a mixed bag. You get some really great stuff like the self-titled track, the mid-tempo “Down In Flames”, “Cold Blooded” and “Battle Cry”, but on the other hand you get the sloppy “March Of The Damned” where Rob’s voice reminds me Ozzy Osbourne, the generic “Metalizer” and the bluesy experiment “Crossfire” which is not quite an experiment if you remember the reggae introduction of “The Rage” from “British Steel” (1980).

By all means “Redeemer Of Souls” is not the Priest’s greatest album.

They have done far better albums in the past. That was before they decided to downtune, so Halford could sing the songs in a decent manner and before he started to use teleprompter on stage.

That was before they started announcing farewell tours and recanting to their own vows. In 2014 though, they are as good as they can possibly be after 40 years, so it’s not about perfection any more, it’s about longevity that both Priest and their fans are craving for.