Ram It Down

Judas Priest in 1988 were, to be honest, in something of a mess. An ill-advised attempt to improve their already colossal success in North America by aping the burgeoning hair rock scene had resulted in the divisive ‘Turbo’ album, alienating much of their traditional fanbase. The subsequent tour to promote the record had indeed resulted in the band’s biggest audience takings of their career, but after the empty hairspray cans were thrown in the trash and the last dregs of the booze rider had been drunk, it started to sink in with the band that they were now faced with two major problems in regard to their fanbase:

1) The newer fairweather fans who had turned out on tour that year were now turning their attention to Bon Jovi.

2) Their core fans were now feeling considerably less inclined to support a band who had managed to go from making some of the best and biggest selling metal albums of the era to cheesy radio rock overnight.

Priest’s 80’s ‘imperial phase’ was on the wane. The band needed to shore up their reputation, and fast. What to do?

Record some songs with Stock, Aitken and Waterman, of course. Such a move seems bizarre even now, but when it emerged in the press in early 1988 that Judas Priest – the band who had written ‘Dissident Aggressor’, ‘Victim of Changes’ and ‘The Sentinel’ - were now in the studio laying down tracks with the masterminds who had been behind such acts as Bananarama and Jason Donovan, the fanbase’s opinion started to not just sour but fully moulder. Gauging the situation, the band wisely shelved the recordings, and returned to finishing off their new album instead.

Ram It Down was released later that year… and to be honest, upon hearing much of this album, the listener would be well entitled to wonder if the S/A/W songs might have actually not been the low point of Priest’s recording career after all.

For some context here, it is worth briefly mentioning the background to the Ram It Down sessions. Firstly, longtime drummer Dave Holland was on his way out of the band, and would quit after the subsequent tour. For the recording sessions he was either absent or not fully participating, which led to the decision to utilise a drum machine on much of the album (if not all of it). Secondly, Priest’s song writing sessions for the ‘Turbo’ album had produced a large amount of songs, enough for a double album, something that had been rejected by the record company at the time. This meant that there were many unreleased songs laying around in the archives, some of which were more complex and intricate than the fare offered on the previous record, alongside others which would have slotted in well enough in terms of style and content.

Given the situation, the way ‘Ram It Down’ was put together was perhaps an obvious route for Priest to take. The fanbase is disgruntled, the drummer’s probably going to quit soon, another album is due, the press is saying we’re becoming a pop band… go back to those unreleased songs, write a few more, sprinkle some lyrics around about how metal we are and how we’re devoted to rock (more on this aspect later), program a drum machine – it’s the 80s, we used guitar synths on the previous album, why not keep that technological edge – and then hopefully we’ll get things back on the level a bit. Job done, guys!

Hmm.

Yeah. About that….

If ‘Screaming For Vengeance’ could be described in one word as ‘confident’, ‘Ram It Down’ can only be described as ‘desperate’. Priest were clearly a band unsure of themselves and casting around wildly at this point to shore up their reputation, mend fences with their established fanbase, and try to re-establish the balance between metallic grit and commercial leanings that had served them so well in breaking North America earlier in the decade, and they are flailing on all fronts here. ‘Ram It Down’ is easily the band’s most inconsistent release since ‘Point Of Entry’ at the start of the decade. Like that album, ‘Ram It Down’ is stylistically stranded between metallic heaviness and commercial radio play, but this time there’s no sense that the band will eventually strike that balance right with a ‘Screaming For Vengeance’, as the high points of ‘Point Of Entry’ in retrospect indicated. This is an album which contains some of Priest’s most intense guitar shredding and one of their most sombre and brooding epics, but which also contains songs that sound as desperate to get on the playlists as anything on ‘Turbo’. And also, like ‘Point Of Entry’, there are moments which make absolutely no fucking sense at all.

So much of ‘Ram It Down’ is embedded in the ‘Turbo’ sound and era, but desperately trying to re-establish itself and prove its ‘metal’ credentials. The song titles say it all – ‘I’m A Rocker’, ‘Monsters Of Rock’, ‘Heavy Metal’ – this is a band trying to force itself to reach previous heights and convince its audience that they are more dedicated to heavy metal than ever before. Halford’s lyrics hit an all time low here, not even having the innuendo and directness of the better songs on ‘Turbo’ and fully diving into the self-referentialism that had started to rear its head as far back as ‘Defenders’. It’s forced, desperate and completely cringe inducing to hear. Priest’s best work, lyrically, never needed to proclaim how authentic it was, or how dedicated the band were to the heavy metal scene – it was authentic enough as it was without the need to say so. ‘Defenders Of The Faith’ is just a darn confident record that does its thing. ‘Ram It Down’ loudly proclaims its ‘metal’ credentials everywhere, but comes across as empty posturing.

Defenders of this album sometimes make the case that the harder songs on here point the way forward to the rebirth of ‘Painkiller’, and indeed they have something of a point when it comes to the two most intense songs on the record. The opening title track begins with a terrific Halford scream and then goes full bore for the listener in much the same way ‘Freewheel Burning’ did four years previously, albeit in an even more over the top manner. Drum machine and cheesy lyrical content aside, this is a tasty number with some great riffs and a powerful chorus, and the second half of the song sees Tipton and Downing trading guitar solos in a more savage manner than they had done at arguably time since ‘Stained Class’. It’s a great way to open the album, even if it gives a rather misleading impression that what follows is going to be another metallic tour de force in the style of Priest’s best work, and it’s one of the few places where the album truly rises above its limitations and actually sounds triumphant. ‘Hard As Iron’ sees the drum machine programmed onto the ‘double bass’ setting and again boasts some classic riffs, a mean attitude and a confidence that for the most part is absent elsewhere here, along with another classic double entendre title.

Two swallows however do not make a summer, and while the aforementioned songs (along with ‘Blood Red Skies’) both harken back to ‘Defenders’ and presage ‘Painkiller’ in terms of their vibe and approach, it’s all too clear from listening to the rest of the album that Priest were still bogged down in the remnants of their attempt to become Def Leppard. Most of the other songs here are just commercial dreck (‘Love Zone’, ‘Come And Get It’), failed attempts at writing upbeat anthems (‘I’m A Rocker’), or downright abysmal (‘Love You To Death’ is not just the nadir of the record but possibly of Priest’s entire career). We’re talking complete dreck, bottom of the barrel stuff here, and what’s more most of these songs wouldn’t even have made the grade on ‘Turbo’. The riffs are lame. The lyrics are cringe inducing. The song structures are clunky. It all feels forced, uninspired, and very much like a band that had run out of ideas, direction and inspiration. The closing ‘Monsters Of Rock’ is a blatant re-write of ‘Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith’ and while it has some decent riffs and sounds more powerful than most of the rest of the album, it still lacks the conviction of the song it’s copying.

Then there are the moments where you’re wondering just what exactly the band WAS trying to aim for here. ‘Heavy Metal’ starts off with a Van Halen ‘Eruption’ style guitar solo which then segues into a complete mess of drum machines and cliched platitudes. The band finally hit bottom with a ‘cover’ – more like a reinterpretation – of ‘Johnny B. Goode’ which is widely acknowledged as a low point of the album, and which – inexplicably – was put onto the record in place of the vastly better original composition from the sessions ‘Thunder Road’, which would eventually turn up as a bonus track on the remaster of ‘Point Of Entry’ and would have upped the album’s rating by a few points here had it been included.

Amidst the dregs and tumbleweed, however, comes one of Priest’s greatest epics, and the only true classic on the record. ‘Blood Red Skies’, with its eerie and atmospheric intro, defiant spirit and menacing riffs is a brooding science fiction epic that benefits from Halford’s most powerful and emotive vocal performance in years, and is the one time on the album where the band rediscover their previous glories, sounding commanding and imperious throughout. The lyrics are observant and well written, the guitars have bite, the drum machine is prominent.

Oh. Yeah. The drum machine.

The idea of using the drum machine on ‘Blood Red Skies’ in such a prominent way was apparently to underline the technological themes of the song, but it just ends up dominating the music to a degree that the listener finds hard to ignore. In fact the drum machine pretty much dates the album straight away and is at least as irritating at times as ‘Turbo’s synths were. Some songs are less affected by it (the title track, for example), but in general it’s yet another factor that drags the album down, and only adds to the general mediocrity and cheesy feeling of much of the material. Using a drum machine for virtually every song here might have seemed a good idea at the time, but then again so did the guitar synths on ‘Turbo’, and those were almost instantly dated from the moment that record came out. Priest seem to have used the drum machine on ‘Ram It Down’ in much the same way and with similar intentions to the aforementioned synthesisers – crudely and with seemingly not much thought as to how it might sound to future listeners. Sure for 1988 this might be a contemporary, up to date sound to incorporate into your album, but somehow one gets the impression that Priest in the mid to late 80s maybe didn’t spend as much time as they could have done on integrating new technologies into their sound in a way that would still hold up over three decades later, as some other bands of that era managed to (such as The Sisters Of Mercy).

Priest really were rudderless here, and at a loss for what to do at the end of a decade where they had spent most of it ruling supreme. ‘Turbo’, for all its shiny pop metal artificialness, had at least shown some coherency in its direction and the sense of a band that were willing to make a stand, even if the driving force behind that stand was ‘play us on the radio because we want to pull all the chicks’. By ‘Ram It Down’ the band were running on fumes, and this is reflected in the song writing, the lyrical direction, and the production. Priest were a band urgently needing rejuvenation, and indeed this would come far sooner than ‘Ram It Down’ might have indicated. Overall, this album is probably worth a listen if you want to understand the ever evolving story of Judas Priest, but more as a curiosity. Go onto Youtube and put on the title track, ‘Hard As Iron’, ‘Blood Red Skies’ (and if you want some cheesy fun ‘Monsters Of Rock’), add ‘Thunder Road’ in as well, and you’ve got a reasonable EP. But otherwise, not recommended.

Thing is. throughout my life I have been surrounded by people who tried to make me think 'Ram It Down' was better than 'Turbo'. I have always loved 'Turbo' though (Read my on review on it for more) And as we all know (now) the original plan was to release a double album in 1986 called Twin Turbo. But the record company said no. And some songs were discarded and we got the single 'Turbo' album in 1986 instead.

In 1988 Priest released the remaining tracks, with a few new ones, under the name Ram It Down. And I can understand for simpler people 'thicker sound' and 'more guitars' imply a better album. Some people are easily pleased. I however tend to steer clear of people with such a narrow vision of musical/compositional/artistic value. If metal were that simple eh. 'Just use more guitars, make the sound bigger and it doesn't matter if the songs are good'. Sure, Ram It Down was more 'metal' than 'Turbo'. However a lot of songs here blatantly suck. And they suck hard.

But the good first! The titletrack 'Ram It Down' is damn brilliant! An uptempo speed metalish song which anyone would have been glad to have written. Yes, it is that good! Closer 'Monsters of Rock' is doom-rock at its best. What a pounder. Heavy and catchy!

Third place goes to an odd song. 'Blood Red Skies'. It's not even a mindblowing song but the atmosphere this song has is remarkable. It just drags you into its world. This is atmospheric metal at its best. 'Heavy Metal' is a fun song. A song which could've fit any Priest album during their 1980-1988 run as it really would have worked with the production from any of those albums. So intrinsically it is a pretty good song. Heck, it would have been their BEST song, had it been on 'Point of Entry'! ! 'Hard as Iron'? Well, it is very metal and does the job as being 'metal enough' but it's okayish as a song and would have been a decent filler on any of their 'truly great' albums

You might think by now "Morbert you fkn love this album then?" Well, the thing is, I just only mentioned half the album... The rest of the album kind of.... sucks. I can only describe it as filler. The 'Johnny B. Goode' cover being the absolute lowest point. Utterly terrible! 'Love Zone', 'Come and Get It', 'I'm a Rocker', 'Love You to Death' etcetera .... blah blah, all disposable rock drivel. Could've worked for Kiss perhaps as they were in their Crazy Nights phase at this point, being far from a good band.

The trouble with 'Ram It Down' is that there is absolutely no vision behind it. Say what you will about 'Turbo' but it had a clear goal. Same goes for their next album 'Painkiller' (which turned out to become a top 5 album from them, quite remarkable!) 'Ram It Down' just didn't decide what it wanted to be and achieve. Faceless, hesitant.

In the end, to me it falls in the same category as Twisted Sister's 'Love is for Suckers' (again: read my review on that one). It's not bad because it has a few really, REALLY great songs. But the amount of filler is killing it as a whole. This is one of those album which I will never sell my original 1988 viny copy but I won't play it either as a whole anymore. Instead, the mentioned 5 songs are in my JP playlist and that is good enough for me.


Highlights:
- Ram It Down
- Heavy Metal
- Hard as Iron
- Blood Red Skies
- Monsters of Rock


Skip the rest!

Judas Priest's "Ram It Down" is such an interesting beast in so many ways. It's really a fascinating record, even if it's not exactly the greatest. It's a rare case of an album between other albums that are entirely different and is also a near perfect blend of both of them. "Ram It Down" just could not let go of the overly cheesy, near cringe-worthy song writing that "Turbo" had, but...there are also instances of what would be coming next all over this record too. As a result, the album is an entirely mish mashed blitz of songs that volley you from one feeling to another with little to no forewarning. This would also be the final Judas Priest album to credit drummer Dave Holland, although KK Downing has stated that this album was mostly recorded with a drum machine, which makes it hard to precisely pick out what exactly he's playing on and what he isn't. As a drummer myself, there are definitely songs on the record that I'd be willing to bet were done with a drum machine, but it's not like Holland was a remarkable drummer to any degree, which makes it harder to tell.

One of the major problems I have with this album is that the guitar tone is very thin. It's buried pretty far back behind the programmed drums and Halford. Even when there's a lot of cool things going on, a lot of it you really need to focus on to notice. It is also well known that "Ram It Down" contains a lot of songs made while writing "Turbo." A lot of the 'heavier' songs they made for the record were moved here instead. However, if you didn't know that, you'd have sworn that a song like "Love Zone" was a "Turbo" outtake. The song is...nauseatingly catchy. I do not, to any degree, enjoy "Love Zone," but I'd be lying through my teeth if I told you that the chorus and some of the guitar hooks didn't instantly get caught in my head for days after hearing it just once. It's that kind of song. Halford has a great performance across the track. "Love Zone" really doesn't have much substance behind it, and despite great vocals, a super catchy chorus, and nice guitar work, I find myself sick of it all to soon. There aren't many songs like "Love Zone" that I can say I dislike, but I also find undeniably catchy.

"Love You to Death" is another "Turbo"-like song that actually came from the Turbo sessions this time. The riff on this song is actually quite sinister. Halford, as always, is a perfect mood fitter. His sly yet threatening vocals fit the riff really well. However, this song also has no substance. It's extremely rinse and repeat. So while "Love You to Death" probably isn't going to be a painful listen, there's just not enough going on with it to keep you coming back to it. It's a serious waste of potential to a song. "Come and Get It" is the real snooze-fest of the album. It's another "Turbo" inspired track that is just wearing the clothes of a true Priest song. The opening riff and solo harkens back to better times, but as the song progresses, it's deeply simplistic and repetitive. Halford is just rambling about tough-guy stuff while that same riff just loops over and over again. "Come and Get It" isn't as painful a listen as some of their absolute worst material, but it's close to as cliché and formulaic as Priest ever gets.

"Blood Red Skies" seems to be the song that stuck the most off of this record and...I can't say I get why. It's really, really, really boring. The acoustic start is nice. Halford hits some great high notes, but also hits some of his lower and more emotional notes that he hadn't shown off in quite some time. Guitars on this song are almost non-existent. They're just holding one note at a time, and during the verses, they're quite literally not there at all. It's just Halford going on over some fake drumming and this electronic clicking sound. Then the chorus comes where the guitar stupor their way onto the song. The chorus is okay, but uninspired. It absolute does not make up for the nothingness you have to sit through to get there. The song is a screaming dud of a track that is also WAY too long. It's a pretentiously long song considering the absolute lack of effort that went into it. The closer "Monsters of Rock" is a bit of a better 'epic' than that. First of all, it's an appropriate length. The song actually has an atmosphere to ride with and the guitars are more noticeable. The track still suffers because it stays at one frustratingly stomping pace the entire way, but there is at least substance here. "Monsters of Rock" is another track that was very close to being really good if it got a bit more love and attention. It's just a few transitions or varied parts away from being an unsung classic.

The title track is definitely as good as the album gets. While I wouldn't call it a must listen to Priest track, it's got an adrenaline fueled pace and a frantic melody from Halford. His high notes are done as exclamation points in the perfect places. The solo is one of my all time favorites, and is up their in terms of pure catchiness in a guitar solo as "Exciter" from "Stained Class." It's just good fun staple Priest material. Unfortunately, the rest of the album can't measure up to even the title track's standards. The only other track I enjoy from this release is "Hard as Iron." Now, I do want to say that the unfortunate thing about "Hard as Iron" is that the moment their next album was released, it made "Hard as Iron" obsolete. "Hard as Iron" is another fast paced track with blazing guitar and a fierce chorus. It's exactly like what they'd go on to do on their next release. But everything that they brought to the table on the upcoming "Painkiller" is a better version of this. "Hard as Iron" is solid ground-work for greatness with a skillfully done solo and really fun chorus. It just REALLY makes me want to switch to songs off "Painkiller" instead. I'm not sure if you can consider that a fault of the song, though.

At its best "Ram It Down" is a solid mixed bag of tracks that the same band would essentially go on to one-up in their immediate next release. At its worse, it's a rehashing and maybe slight upgrade of an album that was already despised upon this one's release. So really, it just can't get out of its own way. It's a record that won't offend, but also won't be remembered. Out of their entire discography, this might be their most intentionally overlooked and passed over releases. It's the C+ child in a rather large family filled mostly with either valedictorians or drug addicts. When the parents meet other parents, they'd spend hours talking about the drama surrounding their worst kids or the successes of their best. And then one of the others will suddenly remember and say "Oh, how's "Ram It Down," by the way?" The parents will respond "Oh, they're fine" and the conversation will move on. Never mentioning them again as the attention moves to other children. "Ram It Down" is definitely worth a listen, but there's very good reason why it doesn't come up in conversation much.

An album that many fans consider expendable but it's earned a place in my collection. Ram It Down is nothing more than a prelude to what Painkiller would be in terms of sound, however, this album still retains those Turbo songwriting scraps because some songs were taken from the 1986 sessions. Anyone would believe that this album is inconsistent but I truly find a similarity with Defenders of the Faith since both albums present an extraordinary side A with hard headbanging songs, while the B side is more normal and relaxed with more singalong songs than anything, comparable to Heavy Duty, Some Heads Are Gonna Roll or Night Comes Down.

Concerning musicianship, the protagonists are undoubtedly guitars and vocals. The bass and drums are not as audible as they may, as the autopilot effect can be noticed a bit, and much more noticeable in “Love Zone”. The two guitarists are in great shape and the title track's soloing is an example of being at the forefront of power metal, not the sense of the lethal technical shredding but the speed and rawness that it's handled with. Lyrically you find clichéd songs like “Heavy Metal” but that doesn't bother me at all because the musical content weighs more than you can believe, and this constant thing is solidly maintained throughout the album. The production is quite homogeneous, no song has any irregularity that makes out of tune along the rest, they're all connected; it's also solid and very polished, the guitar chorus resembles Screaming For Vengeance, although the drums seem like an intermediate return between Defenders and Turbo.

Songwriting is very varied, fun, entertaining and spectacular. After those criticisms respect the band taking a glam sound on previous offering, I think they gave an aggressive response to their fans, just look at the lyrics of Heavy Metal and Come And Get It. There's a power ballad that clearly outlined as one of their magnificent works; the first two minutes of “Blood Red Skies” emanate a disciplined Halford that transports you to the choruses of Dreamer Deceiver, but instead of repeating the formula, this time they innovate with the secondary and moderate use of synthesizers and programmed drums that give it a sinister, futuristic air. Although this power ballad has a Turbo atmosphere, I still like it because the sound hits the mark and proves that Somewhere In Time is not the only album that can succeed with synthesizers. I'd wish this same sound on Turbo, but it would only break the tradition of presenting a totally different album respecting the previous one, and that's what they do best, contrary to AC/DC which know how to pre-fabricate perfect clones.

This album is very very very 1988, and while they didn't invent anything new at that time; the title track, Hard As Iron and Blood Red Skies are worth tons of pure gold. As much as people tell you that it's dated and "only rocked in its moment" and "artificial drums made age it poorly", this underrated disc deserves the same credit as overrated ones like British Steel. This album already gave signs of the way the band was taking, it's the embryo of Painkiller. Those contemporary critics who dare to call it one of their worst simply have no idea. If this is considered "bad", then where does Demolition belong?

Golden highlights: Ram It Down, Heavy Metal, Come And Get It, Hard As Iron, Blood Red Skies, I'm A Rocker

Originally the boys in Priest were going to do a double album, called Twin Turbos, until they're label made them do separate releases, which resulted in 1986's "Turbo" and this album 2 years later. The common consensus is that "Turbo" is disappointing and too 'glammy' and that this album is better because it's more metal. I'd argue that this album is the weak, disappointing one.

The album's best material is located mostly on the first half. The title track sucks you in immediately with a piercing scream from Rob and launches you into near thrash intensity. The second track, simply called "Heavy Metal", starts with a nice solo before going into that trademark Priest "steel" sound. When the rhythm kicks in for the first verse the bass hits you in the chest and the band maintains a sinister vibe throughout, similar to "Metal Gods". Things take a slight turn, though, with "Love Zone", which sounds like a "Turbo" leftover given a more metallic coating. Very so-so. Same goes for "Come and Get It", which sounds like it went through the shredder or something, that opening riff cuts through, and not in a good way. It does improve for the pre-chorus though, so not a total bust, but it does give off a bad first impression.

The next two tracks, however, may be the most interesting. "Hard as Iron" is pre-"Painkiller", without a doubt; it wouldn't have been out of place on that album, although it would've been one of the weaker tracks. On here, though, it stands out in a good way, and it shows were the band was heading, with almost speed metal ferocity. "Blood Red Skies" is the epic of the album, skirting an 8 minute length. It harkens back to Priest's 70's period, while still being of its present era, with an emphasize on synthesizer sounds.

It is here, unfortunately, that the album teeters off into the void of boredom. "I'm a Rocker" and "Love You to Death" do nothing for anyone; they are as mediocre and forgettable as they come. "Monsters of Rock" sounds like bigger deal than it is, but it doesn't pick up much at all and ends the album unceremoniously. The worst song here is the cover of "Johnny B. Goode", a baffling inclusion on this album. The song sounds like it belongs on a Mega Man soundtrack, which isn't a bad thing, but considering that this is originally a Chuck Berry rock 'n' roll classic it seems somewhat tasteless.

Looks and first impressions can be deceiving, kids. Before judging "Turbo" give it the time of day. You may find yourself enjoying it, I know I did, which I can't say for this.

Judas Priest formed in 1970, but wouldn't gain mainstream success until the mid 80s with "Turbo". While the album gained commercial success, it had mixed reviews from critics. That's because the band literally sold out. With generic guitar riffs, generic production, generic lyrics, virtually everything on the album was bland and generic. When the band released their next album "Ram It Down", it still had its radio-friendly moments. However, compared to their previous work, they had a bit more edge on the style.

The overall style on this album has more diversity. The guitars have less of a sterile sound and comes with more distortion and power. The drums also have more beats and sound to them, compared to the barely acceptable sound in "Turbo". And Rob Halford's vocals have improved. His voice comes with more dramatic shouts and clear power. However, there are still the occasional bland moments in the album. In "Heavy Metal", the song does begin with a fantastic solo guitar. However, it then kicks to typical 80s synths, a bleak guitar riff, poor drum performance, and average lyrics that won't impress any decent poet. The overall song sounds more like glam metal.

The ballad "Blood Red Skies" is one of the highlights of the album. We start off with a space-like atmosphere. We then hear an acoustic guitar playing a nice, emotional riff. Halford's sings the intro part very nicely, and the screaming he does has a dramatic tone and fits perfectly in this section. We then move on to the second part, where we hear an industrial-like drum with a loud guitar. This section is one of the more powerful moments on the album, as it gives off an epic atmosphere. Hatford's vocals here are also more powerful and epic voice in this section, as he sings about how he will continue to fight, even when he loses. The lyricism on this part is excellent with poetic descriptions of continuing to fight, and are executed well with the overall atmosphere. It's one of the best songs off the album.

The album, however, does have a complete sellout song, and that's "Love Zone". It's one of the shortest songs off the album, not even clocking in at 4 minutes. Everything on this song feels like a leftover from "Turbo". The guitars have a more generic riff that doesn't sound special, the drums are sometimes ignored, as it occasionally gets a little quieter in some parts of the song. Hatford's vocals also sound forced with the mediocre 80s hair metal atmosphere, and the lyrics he sings are a typical love story you'd heard from other 80s love songs, just in a glam metal style.

While the album still kinda maintains the sellout style of "Turbo", the band still went for a different style. The overall production is a far cry from the sterile one in the previous album, and Hatford put a lot more effort in his vocals than before. While it's not perfect, especially when compared to "Painkiller", it's still an overall good album that I would recommend.

I’d like to respectfully dedicate this review to MA’s contributor Diamhea, may he rest in peace.

With ten studio albums already under their belt (glittering belt, for Mr. Halford), Ram It Down arrived at a strange point in Judas Priest career. Commercially, they were at the top, touring world-wide and selling out arenas and whatnot. However, the most hardened metalheads out there were starting to lose their faith in the Priest, as the appalling Turbo seemed to be the end for the Brits high octane metal of old. Not many knew about the Twin Turbos project that never materialized, as their label decided against it. Thus, the fear remained that Judas Priest had sold out for good. But their eleventh studio release brought hope in the form of a chromed fist pounding the Earth, to demonstrate that no synthesizer could slay the metal in the Priest's heart.

Indeed, some of the heavy/speed metal tunes recorded for that double album that never came to be, appear here, and a couple of them prove to be excellent. First and foremost, “Ram It Down” itself is truly a treat; a speedy opener that drenches the listener in adrenaline and awe, with an exciting and explosive multi-part solo by Glenn and K.K. in their signature 'now its my turn' formula. I remember listening to this material for the first time, after already experiencing the mighty Painkiller. The title-track deceived me into dreaming (ha!) I was in for a previous form of the famed 1990 album. But then, “Heavy Metal” appears, and after another monstrous introductory solo, the remnants of Turbo rear their ugly head for the first time on the record. The riffs are ok, but the song has a strange industrial/synth feel that doesn't really scream 'HEAVY METAL!' as it should. The mid-section solo is badass, again, but there's just something weird about the sound of the vocals uttered in this one by the Metal God, and the robotic percussion doesn't convince.

Indeed, it is known a drum machine was used here even if Dave Holland is given credit. I have my doubts he could manage that super fast double bass in “Hard as Iron” in a live environment, my favorite song here along with the title-track. But the drums sound too robotic as well. Fortunately, this would be Holland's last album, replaced by the much superior and less polemic Scott Travis. In any case, the songs (and the percussion in particular) have too much 80s reverb for their own good, and perhaps that's why the band declined to use Mr. Allom's services for their 1990 masterpiece. It's not too bad of a production, but makes the music extremely dated, even more so than Defenders of the Faith and all the previous records all they way back to their 70s. Just check out “Love Zone” or “Come and Get it”, which unsurprisingly sound like Turbo leftovers.

I haven't stressed enough the fact that “Hard as Iron” kicks major ass, a speed metal obliterating tune that's been criminally forgotten by the band and its vast majority of fans. It would find itself like a fish in the water in Painkiller, and I can only imagine how it would slay even more with Tsangarides (may he also rest in peace) mixing. “Blood Red Skies” is another industrial-ish track that originally lasted over ten minutes (that version came as a bonus track somewhere, later, but I haven't listened to it yet), and this album's incarnation at almost eight minutes long became their longest studio track of all their 80s material. It's a dark, cyberpunk-influenced composition, that despite feeling kinda alien to the rest of the Priest catalogue, somehow it manages to inspire respect and be enjoyable. It starts as a tranquil ballad and then some electronic beats change its face entirely at the 1:15 mark. Mr. Halford's vocals become sexy whispers (uuuhhh) amidst its synthetic mid-pace, as he describes a Terminator-esque dystopia… while sounding closer to Cyndi Lauper than to what King Diamond was doing at the time. It's strange to admit it, but I dig this tune.

The rest of the album carries on with its lows and mild highs, though side B is stronger than side A, and not only because of “Blood Red Skies”. “I'm a Rocker” is a typical rockstar-life anthem, but it's a solid composition, and I enjoyed the band playing it live a couple of years ago. Doomy and slow-paced closer “Monsters of Rock”, seems to pay homage to Black Sabbath in some way, as it describes the advent of heavy metal music… oddly, in a much more metal way than track no. 2, “Heavy Metal”. “Love You to Death” you can do without. And finally, the much publicized and polemic version of Chuck Berry's “Johnny B. Goode”, which seems to be loved and hated with equal measure. I'm on the first group here, I honestly like what they did with it, with the melodies after the main solo combining nicely with the classic rock guitar work that preceded them.

It feels really strange for me to say this, but I think our beloved Halford's vocals in this one are the element which excites me the least, whereas Ian Hill's bass tone is strangely satisfying (when audible). Tom Wilkinson's artwork promises some rapid fired metal, and some rapid fired metal is what you get here… sporadically. Ram It Down may not be perfect, and has some really embarrassing moments, but it's a big step towards eliminating the bitter drink that was their previous studio release, as well as setting the bases for their ultimate creation at the turn of the decade. Like the solid metal clenched fist, the first of many cover images crafted by Mr. Wilkinson for the Priest (for good or bad, relieving Doug Johnson's iconic style), Ram It Down pounds with the might of the often ignored jewels it holds, and bears some solid metal numbers enough to warrant some listens.

Ram It Down is rather an interesting release. Riding off of the success of Turbo, Judas Priest decided to take the remainder of songs they had (which were heavier and faster) and put them into another full-length release. To many, this album was better than Turbo (not my opinion, personally), but to the masses it was still kind of generic and kind of stagnant. Though I would say this is probably my least favorite Judas Priest album, it still manages to be awesome, despite some minor flaws.

To get my issues with Ram It Down out of the way, there are two things that hold it back: The production and the drum machine used on the album. The production on Ram It Down, while kind of 80's sounding and cool, just manages to sound somewhat bad. I think there may be too much reverb, or the aforementioned drum machine is dragging it down. For whatever reason, Dave Holland decided not to commit to Ram It Down, so a drum machine was used. Though it does play more complex stuff than Holland ever did in Judas Priest, It sounds extremely lifeless and annoying. It made my first listen to the album almost unbearable, really. However, I got used to it over time, though it still gets on my nerves sometimes.

Besides those two hitches, the actual songwriting and performances on this album are spot on. This is probably Rob Halford's most high pitched vocal delivery (in a consistent manner) since Stained Class, and he definitely is the main highlight of Ram It Down (like he is in most Judas Priest albums.) The riffs provided by K. K. and Glenn are good, but they aren't as memorable as they could have been. Ian Hill is still kind of plodding around like usual, being pretty hard to hear (which is also normal). And then of course, there is the crappy drum machine.

Everyone talks about "Blood Red Skies" as the main highlight of Ram It Down, which I'd have to agree with. I didn't really like it at first, but I grew to enjoy it immensely (this is the only track where the drum machine actually sounds pretty good.) "Monsters of Rock" is also a highlight: The drum machine creates an interesting pattern, and Rob Halford gives kind of a subdued but powerful vocal performance (the songs about actual monsters of rock, not some rock star sort of thing.) The other main highlights are the title track and "Hard As Iron." They are fastest songs on the album, and they work to near-perfection. I don't mind the cover of "Johnny B. Goode", but "Thunder Road" was originally supposed to be where the cover is on the album (and it is a much better song, believe me.) The other songs, while being cheesy, still manage to be quite "Heavy Metal" (get it!?) The two live tracks tacked on to the reissue are fine, I guess.

Though it still is a great album, Ram It Down has a few glaring issues which hold it back from a higher rating for me. The production and its drum machine are quite irritating, but if you can get past these issues, there is a heap of boiling hot metal lying in wait. It is their worst, but it still provides for a great listening experience. Priest has always managed to be consistently awesome from the beginning to their near end.

Many fans seem to overlook "Ram it Down" as it lacks a consistent stylistic theme. It seems contain musical elements from both Turbo and Painkiller. I happen to like the Turbo-esque elements myself, and I think the songs that resemble the Turbo style are stronger on this album than they were on Turbo. And, interestingly, the speed metal elements of the album, in my opinion, are just as strong as the songs from Painkiller.

There are a few weak songs here though, most notably "Johnny B Goode", which, along with the crappy promotional video they released, turned a lot of people off, myself included. But actually, I don't mind their version; it's just an obviously bad cover version of a classic song. The other forgettable track here is "Love You to Death". These two songs stink, but the other 8 songs are top notch.

The title track alone is so damn good that even if every other song on the album sucked, I still might be inclined to give it a passing score. "Ram it Down" is pure fucking speed metal and it contains some of the greatest dueling guitar solos I've ever heard from Judas Priest. You can really hear how Glenn and KK have continued to improve their abilities as they showcase many playing techniques here that you've never heard until this album. The title track, "Heavy Metal", and "Hard as Iron" are full of all kinds of skillful and interesting guitar tricks, such as sweep picking, classically influenced arpeggios, dive bombs, whammys, tapping, and pedal work. There's some very nice stuff going on with the lead guitars here indeed.

At this point Dave Holland was about ready to leave the band, and although he is credited as the official drummer, much of the drumming was done by a machine. I personally think that the drum machine here was a great success, and I have no complaints at all about it. Though I often prefer organic, human playing styles, I think in this case their lack of a drummer worked out for the best. The samples they used really sound great and they really pack a punch. They have a pretty strong reverb effect going on, which is a sound I have always loved. It resembles the times, as a lot of metal bands in the 80's were utilizing this type of effect to create a big, arena rock kind of sound.

"Love Zone" and "Come and Get it" both resemble the style of Turbo, but the riffs on these songs are much better than the riffs from the songs on Turbo, and the rhythms have a real nice headbanging, fist pounding drive. The choruses are real catchy too. "Blood Red Skies" stands apart from the rest of the album as an epic masterpiece that sends chills down your spine. Keyboards are used on this track to create a really emotional and symphonic mood. Rob Halford sings with passion, and the lyrics are just magnificent.

For me this is one of Priest's best albums, despite the unfavorable reviews it has received from some. Definitely a highly underrated album and arguably the most underrated metal album ever produced.

Boy, oh boy, do people love shitting on this album. Martin Popoff calls it the worst album of Judas Priest's career (has he heard Point of Entry or Demolition). I have both of my feet planted firmly in the "fuck you, this is underrated" camp, but it's by no means perfect. For one thing there are three absolute duds here, Love Zone (which rips off the coda riff from Back In Black), Love You To Death (forgettable), and I'm A Rocker (slightly less forgettable) which someone in management thought was a good idea to bring back live as a deep cut, as opposed to the far superior Hard As Iron or Blood Red Skies.

This album has a very oddball sound to it, it feels a little slick and overproduced, but then there are times when it's a few decibels (or a few joints) away from sounding like Under The Sign of The Black Mark, tonally anyway. In addition, no one can seem to conclude just how much drumming Mr. Holland had laid down on what would be his swansong album with Priest and how much is a drum machine. It certainly sounds like a real drummer on the title track and Hard As Iron, which has enough double bass drumming to make you think Scott Travis joined the band early. I know that sounds like the exact opposite of Dave Holland, but I have a difficult time believing that drum machines in the late 80s were capable of some relatively intense rhythms. Ram It Down feels like a sonic successor to Defenders Of The Faith while adding in the more polished production of Turbo. Perhaps that was the direction Priest should have went to begin with.

Highlights: I'm a sucker for a quality deep cut that nobody talks about, and in this particular case that cut is Hard As Iron. One could make the case that this was the last song written for the album and it was here we see the flashes of the Painkiller to come. What I'm trying to say is, this song totally could have been on Painkiller. The title track as well, and I think Scott Travis taking a barebones single bass drum approach would have made a great method of switching things around without sacrificing the intensity. I kinda wish they would have had Scott flat out go back and re-record the drums on this album, or at least the songs Holland didn't play on.

Of course, no review of Ram it Down is complete without talking about the metal mantlepiece known as Blood Red Skies. Priest tried to reinvent the wheel many times, and some attempts were better than others, but it is so, SO satisfying when they get it right. This is Judas Priest getting it right in almost every regard. Even if this is a drum machine song, it gives Priest a daring new canvas to work with that they otherwise might never have had the opportunity to use. Take Jimmy Miller sitting in for Charlie Watts on You Can't Always Get What You Want for example. But that impassioned, vengeful vocal performance from Rob! The wild yet somewhat classical solo from KK! That bass groove that fits in the pocket so well (at least in my headcanon it's a bass groove)! The brilliant weaving of keyboards and guitar chords! Blood Red Skies is a song every power metal and symphonic metal band should fastidiously study.

Would I call Ram It Down an essential purchase from Priest? Not quite, but it certainly isn't as bad as it's detractors claim it is. Your Priest collection won't quite be satisfactory until you get your steely fingers on this one.

"Ram It Down" followed "Defenders of the Faith" and "Turbo". These albums had been completely different, but they had at least one thing in common. They evoked strong emotions, for better or for worse. By contrast, "Ram It Down" was the "I don't care"-album. The suicidal change of course between its two predecessors was not yet forgotten. Thus, the here presented album had a tough job right from the start.

Tipton and the other dudes had a bad conscience - and this with good reason. The lukewarm piss called "Turbo", euphemistically called "experiment", was still in their minds. Thus, the opening title track sent its thundering greetings right from the outset. It delivered pure metal, while the lyrics were completely irrelevant. One rather had to read between the lines. The composition was constantly screaming: dear metalheads, forgive us the release of "Turbo", we will never do it again. For those simpletons who still had not understood the strategy of reparation, the next song had the most primitive title a metal band can choose: "Heavy Metal". Yes, we understood that a formation, which had run into serious trouble, wanted to be headbanger's best friend again. Yet it is not a matter of minutes to regain lost trust.

Leaving aside the question whether Judas Priest were still authentic or not, the opener tried to build a bridge to the fanatic "Freewheel Burning". Due to its velocity and sharpness, "Ram It Down" was fairly comparable with this classic, but it failed to reach its compositional excellence. Just compare, for example, the bridges of these two tracks. Here we have the toothless "Shout it out, we're all together now" trilling, there we are overrun by the determined "Look before you leap has never been the way we keep" vocals that sounded like a machine gun. Nevertheless, due to the metallic purity and some high-pitched screams of Halford, the song was much better than any softener of the "experimental" predecessor. (Please note my politically correct wording.) The aforementioned "Heavy Metal" also hit the mark. Driven by a bulldozing bass, the song lived up to its name. The lyrics were as stupid as those of "Turbo", but to be honest, the value of lyrics stands and falls with the quality of the composition itself. This might be a little bit irrational, but it was great fun to scream painfully primitive lines like "All heads are banging" or "Fists pumping everywhere". Although the song bordered on parody, it worked. Doubtlessly, the imperious screams "Heavy metal, heavy metal, what do you want?" had an impact.

It was no coincidence that these two songs kicked off the A side and it was also no coincidence that the sinister "Blood Red Skies" kicked off the B side. This large-sized number combined profound heaviness with an apocalyptic atmosphere, did not lack of epic elements and generated a majestic overall impression. "Metal God" Rob was in his element while delivering expressive vocals with some high-pitched or elongated screams. The performance of the other guys was also convincing, but Halford left his mark in the most impressive manner.

Three strong songs marked a big improvement, but unfortunately, this was no EP and the further seven pieces were as ordinary as their titles. "Come and Get It", Halford sang "I'm a Rocker" while standing in the "Love Zone" and some unknown "Monsters of Rock" realized that they were "Hard as Iron". Excellent poetry. Anyway, mid-paced pieces passed by, sometimes a little bit sleazy, sometimes a little bit heavy, sometimes a little bit commercial. "Come and Get It" scored with a pretty sharp bridge, but self-declared "Metal Gods" must be able to deliver more suspenseful pieces. The howling guitars at the beginning of the closer were also promising, but the number did not turn out well. Its slow-moving chorus and the computerized beats left me cold. The same applied to "Hard as Iron" (enjoy its completely misplaced earthquake sample) and to "Love You to Death", because its guitar lines sounded like some of the worst compositions of Gene Simmons. Yet I am not talking about Kiss and I do not want to speak about the Chuck Berry cover as well. Just one remark, it is a ridiculous if a band praises itself for its regained heaviness while delivering this happily rocking piece. However, here is the quintessence of the review: the appropriately produced "Ram It Down", the last album with Dave Holland on drums, did not have a massive impact. I don't care.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! says the metal god, and I concur! For this mess of headbanging metal can only be addressed and reacted to by a scream. The strange period of Judas Priest releasing radio-friendly metal and roaring heavy fucking metal on the same albums, Defenders of the Faith and Screaming For Vengeance being the heaviest and Turbo and Point of Entry being.. well.. catchy? More on that on those reviews, Ram It Down is the focus, and they try certainly try to justify the title by shoving both the heavy and friendly into one album intended to be a second on a double album. Twin Turbos may have changed the whole perspective on Turbo (considered the sellout album of Priest) and Ram It Down (the album before the masterpiece) since they would have balanced each other. But Ram It Down feels like they tried to go in the direction of Painkiller, while keeping the synths in the mix, and god it's so catchy and heavy at the same time somehow!

Now this album to me is special because it shows Priest want to be taken seriously again and they show it very well for the most part, Glenn and K.K. unrelenting in their dual guitar onslaught, Halford tearing his seventies incarnation roaring into the late eighties with banshee cries only he can create, Ian thumping away with his simple but perfectly matching bass licks working with the guitars and.. drum machine.. oh god.. Dave wasn't ever my favourite drummer from Priest but this is awful.. He could play a beat, he could keep and change tempo, he did justice to the albums and songs he was on and deserved better than to be credited on an album where a machine butchers his beats like a fat ugly hog. The machine does well enough, but it just sounds so lifeless. I'll try to keep from freaking about the drums through this review and focus on the fact that this album is an evolution and return to form that would show they know all too well how to move forward with their sound with passion instead of marketing.

The opener/title track gives you a good idea of what to expect from there on out, pulsating metal that's either uptempo and heavy or really fucking happy as shown in the middle of the song. While the Turbo amounts of cheesiness are still here for the bridge, this whole song is a sure sign of what's to come on the next album and starts the album off with a bang. Halford's scream starting off the track gives me chills every time, with how well the guitars chime in and drum machine starts blasting it is one of Judas Priest's finest tracks ever created in my opinion (It just needs real drums!) It personifies metal in every sense, chanting on about decibels no doubt the band would reach and one up on the consecutive tour but acknowledging the guitars in metal scream as much as the singers and it only solidifies this anthem and when they cheerfully ask me to shout it out midway through I gladly oblige, especially since Halford refuses to use his lower octaves through the majority of the song. But I really don't care god damn I love me some metal god screams! Halford really belts it out at incredibly high notes through most of the album. He relents to use a sort of "Come on everybody let's rock!" style when not wailing, and he seems to shine the most for me in Blood Red Skies, his screams thrown into the mid-tempo chanting anthems like Love Zone, Come And Get It, Heavy Metal and I'm A Rocker (Which lyrically seems to sound like they all want to do what they want and no one is gonna stop them, ironically what Halford does shortly after Painkiller) really do fit perfectly but man nothing for me can top Rob Halford's greatest moment on vocals. Blood Red Skies is nothing but passion and power. The acoustic rendition of The Hellion urging him to soar which he certainly does once he gets the chance and doesn't stop till the drum machine(the only song where the drum machine works almost as good as real kit could have), haunting guitar leads and thrum of the bass guitar fade with his cries, leaving Halford's shining moment forever ingrained into my mind.

Pounding drums actually are a staple of this album even though fabricated throughout the majority of the album, but it works very well in making Ram It Down, and Hard As Iron feel like they should have been on Painkiller. I may have bashed them but at the same time, it seems to work well with the synthesized guitar parts when they rear their automated heads. The ridiculous sound of the drums and synths may be annoying but with the level of happy go lucky they induce, the inclusion of their hilarious cover of Johnny B Goode doesn't even phase me, as it is two hundred more times catchy that good old Chuck could have ever made and I don't mean to dwell on the Metal God so much this album but damn does he go nuts with screams on this song and it fits perfectly!

While this album is cheesy in some moments and a bit frightening at times, Monsters of Rock being an extended version of the horrifying segment in Night Crawler and the whip crack at the beginning of Love You to Death drives home a darker side to the leather look I choose not to delve into, Glenn and K.K. really show they know how to shred and make true heavy metal riffs that accompany Ian on his journey to disappear and yet always be noticed in each song written by Judas Priest (his bass-work actually being more prominent on here than usual). The songs are solid and even the live bonus tracks really shine as grade A performances of songs not heard in their live repertoire often, with Halford showing his pipes again and the dual leads showing their shredding capabilities. Ram It Down shines as a bridge (with manufactured parts) that stands on its own but really gives us a great taste of the speed metal shred fest up next. They show happiness and heaviness go hand in hand, even though they ditch the happy one album later, and it makes for one of my favourite Judas Priest outings.

Apologies for being such a huge fanboy throughout this. Rob Halford is my idol as a vocalist and all time favorite singer with Judas Priest being my favorite heavy metal band of all time and my first coincidentally. So for just for a hint of negativity, the flow of the album is kinda wonky from time to time, switching from speed metal to rock anthems a couple too many times, thus the 85% rating. It could have been at least 92% if structured better and had real fucking drums!

I'm a pretty big Priest fan, they're the band that got me into metal. They have a very deep catalog, and several great albums. This isn't a great Priest album. This is just bad. Along with Turbo and Demolition, this seriously contends for their worst album. The only really good thing about this album is the guitar playing.

Starting with that, yes the guitar playing is superb. It had probably been ten years since Priest's guitar playing would have been considered even somewhat technical. This is different. Priest had been learning in this decade, and they showed a good deal off in the solos on this album. The riffing is also Priest's usual level, a bit more advanced, but still at the same quality. The only real problem is that the synthesizers are still present on this album. Priest did not use the synthesizers well on Turbo and they really aren't much better here. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate synthesizers. Priest just didn't use them well.

Halford's singing on this album is essentially to par as well. He doesn't sound like usual here. Halford was beginning to incorporate the shrieking he would utilize on Painkiller. He isn't all the way there, but he's close. To me, this isn't as good as that sounds. Halford had one foot in the old and one looking forward, so it doesn't sound ideal.

Ian hasn't been a force in their sound is some time, and this is no different. Holland apparently was ill and unable to do some of the drumming, so they got a machine to do some of the songs. I don't too much mind this, as he really didn't do much more than a machine anyways. This is also Holland's last album, which is pretty good. His replacement was several notches better, and Holland ended up being a less than great individual. I often ponder if this is part of the reason Priest has never made the Hall of Fame. The people in the Hall have inducted a couple of metal bands. I have wondered if Halford's defense of Holland isn't part of it. The Hall of Fame would loathe to induct a convicted child-molester, but it would be hard to leave out one of their longer-tenured members, especially one that a major member seems to consider a friend.

The biggest problem is the songwriting. It's just awful. Turbo was cheesy, this is just dreadful. You have a song about Golems and what is easily the worst cover of Priest's career. Diamonds and Rust and The Green Manalishi were gems, Johnny B. Goode is horrid. I have no idea how this got nominated for any sort of award. On a related issue is the total lack of focus. Some of these songs are left over from Turbo, and it wrecks the consistency. Priest were known for unnecessary love ballads, but they also weren't usually this aggressive. The end result is like Take These Chains on Painkiller, It makes no sense.

I do enjoy Hard as Iron from time to time, and the title track isn't horrible. This caught Priest in a transition, and it shows. I honestly think Turbo was probably better, at least it had an idea in mind. This is Priest in Limbo, but they did get better. Their next album is much better, and calling this Painkiller Jr. just insults Painkiller. Anyone who criticizes the lyrics on Painkiller really needs to read these. My recommendation is that Priest fans might want the two tracks I mentioned. Everyone else can do without those two, let alone the rest of this garbage heap.

After Judas Priest released their ill-conceived album "Turbo" in 1986, many of its fans began to abandon ship and join the legions of thrash metal fans. The album was a dismal failure that showed that Priest had an identity crisis in terms of musical style in the mid '80s. Realizing their near-fatal mistake, they decided to make another album as a way of saying "please forgive us, we won't do it again" to their fans. That new album was 1988's "Ram it Down", and although it still has traces of "Turbo" on it, there's no doubt that the band wanted to appease its fans while making more money. The album isn't as bad as "Turbo", but it isn't as good as "Sad Wings of Destiny" or "Stained Class" either.

Judas Priest has actually improved quite a bit on this album. Although it's slightly melodic before it gets to the solo, the opening/title track is at that ripping, blazing speed that made Priest the band that we all know and love. "Hard as Iron" is also worthy of mention, for its riffs don't sound like anything radio-friendly like the horrendous "Parental Guidance". The use of synthesizers is cut down as well. Aside from "Blood Red Skies", synthesizers on this album are almost virtually nonexistent. Oh, did I mention the phenomenal solo at the beginning of "Heavy Metal"? It's a sign that Priest is slowly returning to their roots and shrugging off the "sellout" label.

Despite these improvements, though, there is still that shadow of "Turbo" that is cast on "Ram it Down". Even the songs that are actually good on this album still have some melodic quality to them, especially "Hard as Iron". Even with the melodic sound, the songs are at least better than what they could have been (*cough* any song on "Turbo" *cough* *cough*) and are actually good to listen to. There is also the fact that there are songs on here that sound almost entirely like they were meant to be hit singles (e.g. "Come and Get It", "I'm a Rocker", etc.). But even then, those songs aren't entirely bad, they're just somewhat bland and forgettable.

But all of these would only be a chuckle compared to the song on this album that everybody should skip, regardless of their musical taste; Priest's cover of Chuck Berry's "Johhny B. Goode". Why? Just why? What's the point of that? Have you learned from ANY of your mistakes? It's like what would happen to Celtic Frost, still reeling from the failure of "Cold Lake", if Tom G. Warrior said, "Hey guys, you know what we should do? We should do something fun, like covering an old Beatles song. That'll be cool enough to put on our next album." That's what it's like. I could go on and on about how Priest made an even bigger mistake than their previous album, but I would have to type it in all caps and take up several pages, so my rant is over.

Though it's not as bad as their previous effort/disaster, "Ram it Down" still might have been a better effort. There are some songs on here that are forgettable while others are actually decent enough for me to actually listen to them, let alone, like them. It's not a horrible album, it's just not anything to crow about. Their next album "Painkiller" would prove that Priest would enjoy a new beginning, but fans had to wait until the '90s for that to happen. It's a shame, cos Priest's last release of the '80s, a decade in which metal flourished, was one of their weakest efforts. Still, it could have been a whole lot worse.

Though it's not one of my favorite full-lengths in the Judas Priest backlog, and I found the songs marginally less hooky than its direct predecessor Turbo, there is something Ram It Down did VERY right. Essentially, it would steer Halford and company back on the path they had abandoned with their divisive '86 record, and seemed the perfect staging for what would follow, the band's almost entirely unexpected, more aggressive masterpiece Painkiller. This album certainly curries a lot of the elements that seem to point at a Priest who had awoken from an oblivious torpor, shucking aside a security blanket and realizing that they weren't getting any younger, but they could still get HARDER, and thus assimilate themselves against the evolving metal landscape without betraying the traditional sound that they were so critical in helping create in the first place.

Perfect it is not, but heavy it most definitely fucking is, at least in comparison to the band's output up to its release. The guitars feel more pronounced and potent, the leads quavering, intense and more acrobatic than many others in their discography, and Rob's voice was becoming more dynamic and defined than even his youthful years. All the experimentation with the guitar synthesizers has been cast to the curb and they've gone for straight, ballsy songwriting with the huge vocal hooks that have immortalized them. Interestingly enough, they kept on long term producer Tom Allom here in conjunction with several of the band members, and though this is one of his last appearances in that role, he's managed to help get them back on track. For if I've got any complaints at all about Ram It Down, the actual studio sound is not among them, this is one of the finest 'sounding' albums the band have ever released to date, voluminous and balanced to a cutting perfection.

Where I don't strongly succumb to its charms is in the songwriting. Most of what you hear on this record was actually intended to be released with the Turbo material as a double disc which would mix and match the heavier and more glam/pop inspired material, but it eventually was decided that they'd separate the two aesthetics into their own entities. Ram It Down clearly still has a few of the hard rock songs present, like Zeppelin-groove heavy screamer "Love Zone" or the melodic cover of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode". "I'm a Rocker" would have fit in quite fluidly with Turbo since it has that same sort of percussive guitar rhythm beneath the chords, and the same might be said for the nearly 8 minute, escalating "Blood Red Skies" which adheres to the heavy use of synth from the '86 album, though effectively. "Love You to Death" wouldn't have been out of place for KISS or Jimmy Page. Strangely, though, while I liked the summery party aesthetics of Turbo, none of these particular tracks have ever really stood out to me...

But then, the rest of Ram It Down is really quite good. "Come and Get It" is one of those classic mid-paced hybrid hard rock/power anthems which would influence about a hundred German bands not the least of whom would be Primal Fear (or U.D.O.'s solo works). "Heavy Metal" opens with some flashy, frivolous leads before evolving into some of the best Halford screaming lines on the album, not to mention a chorus so dark and catchy that it compensates for just how goddamn obvious you knew it was going to be. "Hard and Iron" and "Ram It Down" itself both serve as the foreshadowing of Painkiller, what with the driving double bass in the former, the scathing and effective leads, the more aggressive sting on the vocal effects and the general sense of added majesty, anger complexity that the band would pursue on tunes like "Leather Rebel", "Metal Meltdown" and "All Guns Blazing". Had this album never existed and those tracks were bonus material on the 1990 effort, they'd fit in quite fluidly, even though the payoff of the chorus hooks is nowhere near that level.

"Monsters of Rock" was another interesting piece, with a slow build to it that I would expect from a band like Manowar, and vocal elements that also match such a manly aesthetic. Even though the chorus (like a lot of "Rock"-titled tunes) is almost laughable, this song is perhaps the most individually distinct stylistically when compared to its neighbors, and I imagine Dave Holland must have had a lot of fun laying out those resonant, warlike drums which feel like you're in some alternate universe Sign of the Hammer. In general, though, this album is rather well balanced. You've got your non-ballad power-ballad epic, your mighty and crushing pieces, mid-gait fist smashers and rapid fire accelerations. It's not difficult to understand why so many fans breathed sighs of relief when it first arrived, having had negative reactions to Turbo. I think, pound for pound, that record had more songs I enjoy in the long term, but only because of the memorable chorus sequences.

In retrospect, 1988 was perhaps my favorite overall year in metal music, with an enormous amount of acts boiling over from the underground that took the genres of speed, thrash and power metal to new heights. Like its predecessor, Ram It Down could hardly compete with what else was happening. Albums like Riot's Thundersteel or Sanctuary's Refuge Denied walked all over what I heard on this record, and some of the exciting European speed/power records like Scanner's Hypertrace, Rage's Perfect Man and Running Wild's Port Royal remain among my favorite in all of music and examples of NWOBHM/power influences taken to a greater level of musicianship and bolder conceptual extremes. Operation: Mindcrime had vocal hooks that created orgasms in my eardrums. Even Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son matured better than this record. But those comparisons aside, Ram It Down does not age poorly, and it's still fun to break out once in awhile. I mean, if you can't weight train to "Monsters of Rock", "Come and Get It" or "Hard As Iron", you are no hesher, in which case you should go listen to Adele or cuddle up to some butter-free microwavable popcorn and watch Dancing with the Stars. 'But I LIKE "Rolling in the..." SHUT UP.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Judas Priest apparently wanted to get heir act back together after the infamous 1986 album, "Turbo". 1988's "Ram It Down" was almost as equally controversial, due to it infamously being made up of "Turbo" leftovers, semi-pandering "WE ARE SOOOO METAL" rockers, and more technological interruption, resulting in what is probably the oddest in the band's discography. It's inconsistent, often lame, sometimes heavy, with a feeling of Priest going through the motions and a dated, uber-80's sound to it. Yet, is "Ram It Down" that awful?

Well, most of the band add a bit more power this round. Halford lets loose more of his traditional shrieks and wails this time around, sounding more aggressive (but also more rushed) than on "Turbo". Glenn and KK are yet again the stars here, their trade-off solos scorching, memorable, and again aggressive, though the still apparent use synth guitars gets a bit nerve-shredding. Then there's Ian Hill again. Competent, but unremarkable. He again manages to shine on quieter or heavier tracks like "Blood Red Skies" or "Come And Get It". Then there's Dave Holland...who's nowhere to be found. From what I understand, he was sick during much of the recording, though he did pound out a few numbers. He was replaced by a drum machine, a drum machine which I will not critique because it's a fucking drum machine. It makes the songs sound processed and synthetic...because its a fucking drum machine. Bad choice guys.

Luckily, some of the songs are pretty damn solid. Everybody's gotta love the title track and "Hard As Iron", a pair of fearsome, adrenaline-pumping speed metallers with killer vocals and blazing guitar dueling. Not even the synthetic drumming can bring these rabid dogs down! A personal favorite of mine is the epic "Blood Red Skies". Corny? Yeah, maybe, but man is this song beautiful too, with its experimental intro, lavish vocals and an emotional main solo. Great, great stuff. Much of what I also find decent are also pretty fillerish, too. I have a soft spot for numbers like the mid-paced "I'm A Rocker" in spite of its corny lyrics, as well as the slightly heavier "Come And Get It" with its catchy main riff and stomping vocals. The REALLY cheesy "Heavy Metal" is kind of a fun listen as well, the heavy metal pandering just goes off the charts here. Avoidable numbers are "LA LA Love Zone!" Blech! Another bad one is "Monsters of Rock", one of the most boring, plodding Priest songs ever, and probably one of their worst album finales since the end of "Defenders of the Faith".

Overall, this is one odd album. It's inconsistent, and reeks of unwanted technological inference, causing an unwanted dated feel. The bad songs downright suck, but some of the technical filler moments I think are actually kind of fun, while the trio of "Ram It Down", "Hard As Iron, and "Blood Red Skies" help bring the album up to an at least semi-respectable level. A decent keeper for Priest purists, but not a good start for new fans. Think twice on this monster of rock.

Ah, the almighty Judas Priest. can they do any wrong? Well, besides Turbo. And Demolition. And Point of Entry. That concept album was pretty iffy, too, but the least offensive of Priest's missteps in their career has to be "Ram It Down." It's really all-around not a bad album, but it's among the most filler-heavy in JP's discography. Yeah, there's rip-roaring solos everywhere you go and Rob Halford does plenty of his signature wailing, but the lyrics... good God, the lyrics are pretty abominable, akin to the worst of Manowar's "metal-as-fuck" material like "Metal Warriors." Anybody who knows Judas Priest knows that they rock; they don't need songs describing how "metal" they are. They're the Metal Gods, for Chrissake! Ironically enough, most of the songs on here are among the LEAST metal in JP's discography. "Love Zone," for example, reeks of glam metal overtones, almost more so than anything on "Turbo." That Motley Crue-esque catchy-but-simplistic guitar riff, that drum machine churning out an equally simplistic beat...it just sounds really dated. It's been said that Turbo and Ram It Down were originally going to be a double album. Admittedly, a lot of the material on here wouldn't sound out of place coupled with "Turbo."

Luckily, there are some saving graces here, like the opening titular track. It's still cheesy as hell, but dammit if it isn't enjoyable. "Hard As Iron" is also a pretty fast cooker. Nowhere near the best JP has ever done, but more enjoyable than a lot of the other schlock on this album. The following track, "Blood Red Skies", is an 8-minute epic. It still sounds totally '80s, but a good part of the '80s where music videos that took place in dark alleyways that had fog machines made sense and were socially acceptable. The cover of "Johnny B. Goode", while completely unnecessary, is still mildly entertaining but a bit overlong considering the original song is only like 2 and a half minutes. This cover is FOUR MINUTES AND FORTY SECONDS! I understand they wanna throw in a few extra solos, but an extra two minutes worth? Isn't that a bit overkill?

The title "Monster of Rock" would make you believe that it's just another song about how much Judas Priest rocks, but they threw a curve ball at us! It's a song about a monster made of physical rock, which arguably sounds just as stupid, but it's really not a bad mid-paced tune. Rob Halford gives a menacing performance, but the lyrics are still pretty bad.

Other than the aforementioned songs, most of the songs on this album have the same problem - for how much JP talk about how much they rock on this album, the material presented doesn't rock too hard, especially compared to some of their earlier works. There are no "Bloodstones," no "Sinners," no "Tyrants," no "Freewheel Burnings," not even a goddamn "Living After Midnight." Just several mediocre hard/glam rock tracks coupled with some signature Priest solos. It's far from the worst they've released, but also far from the best. Only hardcore Priest fans need apply.

Obviously, there is no need to introduce the band, but it is worth to bring nearer this diamond among other Judas Priest albums. In my opinion, this release shows the greatness and quintessence of all Priest's stuff. Being such a good album, it is also one of their most underrated work at the same time. Maybe underrated isn’t the right word, but for sure it’s some of their less well-known vinyl. Originally planned to be released with Turbo as a twin album, it was finally published two years later as Ram It Down. It’s quite interesting that all the songs from Ram it Down were recorded during the Turbo sessions. Between those albums is a deep gulf as they are completely different. Fortunately, they were separated and released singly . The next thing is that after releasing Turbo, the band moved to a more commercial sound. They needed an album that would help them go back to the top and repair their image. The gods came to fight for domination and the hearts of their fans. They have dominated mine.

This disc contains a few of my all time favorite Judas Priest songs such as I’m a Rocker, Hard as Iron, Monsters Of Rock, and Come and Get It. Each of them are powerful and fast, especially Hard as Iron (which probably is the best song here, by the way), although here we can find slower ballads such as Blood Red Skies. The reason that I was so bewitched by this is the second song, Heavy Metal. The intro solo belongs to my favorites as well as I believe it is the best solo in the genre. Recorded with the classic line-up, this material is high quality and contains 10 solid songs, all worthy representatives of Priest's creativeness.

Let’s move on further. Ram it Down has become a classic speed metal song, straight forward metal from 0:00 to the end. The next song perfectly captures the content of Heavy Metal when your head will survive after the gorgeous and ridiculously-fast intro; you will know why Judas Priests members are called metal gods. Then the tempo slows down in Love Zone, allowing a rest before the next giant song, Come and Get It, a song where Tipton and Downing spin up to fall with a flourish into Hard as Iron, the fastest and the best song on Ram it Down. After this anthem, the tempo slows to introduces a pair of slower, but very interesting ballads such as I’m a Rocker or Monsters of Rock.

Finishing, I would like to mention that this album is way better for me than Painkiller. My final remark is that this masterpiece will always be in the shade of other Priest albums and the content is inversely proportional to popularity. If you want to hear essential Judas Priest, get it right now!

With one fuck of screech and a killer riff, this album starts off with a bang that threatens to rip you to pieces like pre-Turbo Judas Priest did. Unfortunately, the rest of the album isn't as consistent as it's opener (the excellent title track) which not just opens great, but has some excellent soloing throughout the song, a thumping rhythm section, and sees Rob in excellent form, after being somewhat toned down on Turbo.

The reason for the inconsistency, I'm almost positive about, is the fact that quite a few songs on this were recycled from the Turbo album after the idea for Twin Turbo was turned down by the record company. Which makes it go from the speed metal of "Ram It Down", to speedy 80's metal almost. Despite that though, all the songs are done here in a style similar to Defenders Of The Faith with a bit of a twist, which makes it all fit together, and sound good, but unfortunately has that inconsistent filler feeling due to the pure raw energy the title track gives and the obvious change between that and the rest of the album.

As for the rest of the songs themselves, you have some excellent stand outs, and then some filler, and one very badly placed cover. The cover of "Johnny B. Goode", while done well, DOES NOT fit on this album. I know it was done for a movie, but come on Columbia, release it as a single, not placed in the middle of an album where it shouldnt be. The other stand outs start with the song "Heavy Metal" , which has an intro that is good, but almost (well to me anyway) sounds like a carbon copy of Van Halen's "Eruption" or part of Vinnie Vincent's "Speedball Jamm", not to say that its bad, just that its familar sounding, and doesn't seem to do anything that those two solos havent already done. The song as a whole is pretty good however, minus the chorus, which seems to be lacking something, but it does follow the title track well. "Love Zone", and "Come And Get It" stand out along with these with all the twin lead work, screeches and speedy vitality you'd expect from a Judas Priest album by now. "Blood Red Skies", this albums epic, is the last track that is truly excellent and memorable, which despite being slower just rocks out loud. The rest of the songs have some great parts, but on the whole arent all that great in their entirety.

I strongly suggest buying this album though, its still one of Priest's best, despite its flaws and inconsistency.

Judas Priest was in a sort of reckoning period in the aftermath of the success of “Turbo”, which unfortunately cost them some respect among their core fans. Judas Priest is credited for helping pioneer the Speed Metal style that brought about thrash metal, and rather than continue to pump out great speed classics, they elected to sweeten up their sound with some pop influences. Although “Ram it Down” is more of a transitional effort than a pure speed fest the way “Painkiller” would be, it rocks a hell of a lot harder than anything they had done in a few years and ranks high in their back catalog.

The essential speed classics are present in all of their blazing glory, incarnate in the triumphant and unforgettable title track and the equally blazing cooker “Hard as Iron. From start to finish these tracks ratchet up the technical prowess of the guitars and drums, and showcase Halford back where he belongs, breaking the sound barrier with his high frequency banshee cries. Other tracks such as “Love Zone” and “Blood Red Skies” are a bit more mid tempo, but are still riff monsters loaded with unforgettable themes and sci-fi inspired lyrics in the case of the latter.

Other tracks on here are still more in the 80s rock vain, particularly the somewhat Deep Purple inspired tracks “Come and Get it” and “I’m a Rocker”. We get something a bit slower yet menacing sounding in “Monster of Rock”, almost to the point of having a doom quality to it. “Heavy Metal” showcases further the technical excellence of the guitar players, in addition to the heavier tendencies of this total album. “Love you to Death” is a bit more in the turbo vain, though it highlights the more positive riff driven aspects of it.

The Chuck Berry cover is probably the most interesting part of this album for me, as I’ve always been fascinated at how bands can take older songs like this and all but completely change them. The guitar work is a lot less primitive than the original version, venturing well outside of the repetitive blues riffs that Chuck Berry elected to play a little bit too fast for the mainstream of his day. Essentially metal can trace some of its roots back to this music, but when one compares this version with the original, it is obvious that evolution has created a completely different beast.

In conclusion, this is a solid release for fans of older Judas Priest, although if there are some out there who liked “Turbo” and “Defenders of the Faith”, there are still some remnants of those on here. Come ye traditional and power metal fans, this is a treat for the ears that ought to get a nice loving home among you collections

Priest's 1988 album "Ram it Down" is a far cry from their previous album, being the sub-par, 80s influenced "Turbo". On this effort, Halford and the band prepare to win back the fans of the heavier side of Priest with some nice molten metal.

The album opens with the smoking title track, easily one of (if not the) best Priest song ever. The soloing is completely off the wall, and Halford's vocals are in top shape after sounding a bit shakey on "Turbo". One thing that has definitely returned on this album, especially the title track, is the energy that was last seen on "Screaming for Vengeance". The band seems really "in" to the music, and Halford's vocals are more impassionated than ever before. The second track, the aptly titled "Heavy Metal" (there's Priest for ya...), begins with a solo that tears your body limb from limb before careening into a full on assault, chugging riff with Halford's classic high vocals. The chorus is absolute destruction, albeit very simple. Overall, a very enjoyable song. "Love Zone" is quite the lame title, but the riffs are not lacking. The drum pattern here is really nice as well. Halford is back with the screeching, the lyrics also have a semblence of continuity with their cheeziness as well. The chorus on this one is nice as well, especially with the addition of the "marching" bridge into the next verse (of death). "Come and Get It" starts off a bit too typical, but the intro solo is a nice touch (once again). Halford also seems to have settled his voice down as well, but his aggression is astounding. Another nice chorus (1), + Halford's killer vocal range (2) + a riff monster (3) = four excellent songs in a row.

"Hard as Iron" is a return to speed, and is a complete riff beast. Halford's vocals are extremely cool, gotta love the doubled low parts. The riffs here have to be heard, as Priest comes up with their best track on the album since the opener. It's songs like this one that make me wonder why this album is so widely regarded as insignificant in Priest's career, albeit, it has to live in the shadow of "Painkiller". That being said, the speed found on certain songs on "Ram It Down" would have no problem standing toe to toe with "Painkiller" tracks, which is certainly saying something considering that aforementioned 1990 "Excalibur" of metal records is godly. "Blood Red Skies" slows things down a lot, but retains the quality, showcasing a different side of Halford (that one you saw on "Take these Chains" and "Last Rose of Summer"). The track picks up, and attacks with some potent riffs, but in my opinion, it lacks the power of the previous tracks. "I'm a Rocker" - lame title/excellent rock song. Pretty slow, but the chorus is huge, and the energy presented in the track is absolutely amazing, I believe that "Johnny B. Goode" is a cover (of which blues musician I do not recall...Chuck Berry was it?). It's okay, but doesn't stand up to the power of the other songs. "Love You to Death"...or was it "Criminally Insane"? An excellent build-up to a unique riff used in the verse. A real headbanger, gets one back into the music after the sub-par "Johnny B. Goode". The album ends in typical epic fashion, "Monsters of Rock". Talk about "anthem rock"...the first minute of this song wouldn't look out of place on a soundtrack to an epic battle scene. Halford's whispering is nice, the riffs here are killer. A fine end to an excellent, underrated Priest album. Get it!

The material on this album was written at the same time as "Turbo", and was even supposed to be released with that album as a double album. You can hear alot of differences, although there's still some songs that could've easily been put on "Turbo" instead. But, this album hinted at a faster, more thrash-like style which was a prelude to the next album, "Painkiller". The title track is another faster-paced gem, although the bridge before the lead breaks is a little lame (the "Shout It Out..." part), luckily you forget it ever happened with the frantic alternating leads that follow. After this are 3 standard songs, the latter 2 ("Love Zone" and "Come And Get It") should've been released on "Turbo", as they hint at the glam-metal style again. Then the first side closes with another fast and heavy track called "Hard As Iron" (a straight-forward thrash song)...

Side 2 opens with one the best JP songs ever, namely "Blood Red Skies". After an odd intro comes in with a very dark/depressive acoustic guitar riff with Rob Halford's gentle vocals, which gets progressively higher/louder until the intro ends. Then the song shifts to a stomping metal song, with Halford's wicked delivery during the verses (which are mostly only drums and vocals). The bridge then segues into the single best riff on the entire cd right before the lead break, which gives way to another pre-chorus and chorus. The song closes with some harrowing vocal delivery over some great guitar licks. But other than the following track "I'm A Rocker" (another "anthem" styled song), the rest of the album is average stuff, including a cover of "Johnny B. Goode" (a song originally made for a movie that ended up flopping, maybe they should've let "Reckless" be the "Top Gun" theme after all?!?). The closing song "Monsters Of Rock" is doom metal, super-slow and sludgy with perhaps the lowest-pitched vocals Halford ever did with the band. It's still not a very memorable song, though...

Overall, this album can also be passed on as well (unless you're a die-hard), though I'd say that "Blood Red Skies" alone makes it worth getting...

(Originally appeared on LARM, © 2002)