KK'S PRIEST Sermons of the Sinner | Weekly Heavy Metal Album Review

Released by EX1 Records on October 1st, 2021

Quick Background

Downing officially left Judas Priest on April 2011. In 2019 he performed Judas Priest classic songs live with former Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens who had replaced Halford in the 90's and then also kicked out for Halford to return. In January 2020, Downing signed with Explorer1 Music Group to record new music. Downing assembled  Tim “Ripper” Owens, Hostile guitarist A.J. Mills, Voodoo Six bassist Tony Newton, and DeathRiders/Cage drummer Sean Elg to create Sermons Of The Sinner.

Sermons of the Sinner

KK’s Priest Sermons of the Sinner features 10 new songs, one being a short intro, and clocks in at 50 minutes. The one minute intro "Incarnation" gives away to the blasting "Hellfire Thunderbolt" which is basically an Accept song, and that's not a bad thing. It's a fast tempo straightforward traditional metal track. KK’s Priest sound like Judas Priest of course, but the interesting thing is that they also sound modern and so in a way it resembles more Primal Fear than old Judas Priest. It is kind of a funny paradox since Primal Fear themselves are a Judas Priest homage. Ripper Owes shows what he is known for with powerful vocals and going for the high notes. I have always appreciated his voice and I like the Jugulator album quite a lot. So vocal-wise the album works well. The title track is a nice call-back to Painkiller era. The fast tempo and super high pitched singing are the hallmarks of it. "Sacerdote y Diablo", despite some over repetition of the track title, is a high energy, groovy and fun song. It does remind me of Jugulator era. "Hail for the Priest" is a super melodic and yet heavy track, it's pure classic Priest sound. And talking about classic "Return of the Sentinel" is the sequel to the iconic song out of the Defenders of the Faith 1984 album. It's indeed a nice way to close the album and it's one of its best tracks. Obviously being familiar with some of the riffs and melodies as they are variations of the original, helps a lot. It is also a proggier version of the classic song, it goes to 9 minutes with some acoustic passages and tempo changes. To add to the comparisons, there's one thing that KK's Priest does better than Judas Priest, the bass. Much more interesting basslines and moments where the bass is high on the mix. Also the guitar solos are top notch throughout the album and the production typical clear modern metal.

The Picky Guy

The lyrics are just awful, I mean how old are those guys? These are lyrics from teenagers in the early 80's. I think "Wild and Free" lyrics probably came from their grandkids. The other thing is, I know that KK Downing is part of the birth of heavy metal, but there are so many clichés in this album that even if coming from him doesn't go down well. "Metal Through and Through" is pretty much Manowar's "Warriors Of The World United" but worse and longer, and "Brothers of the Road" is modern version of "Born to be Wild". And those are just two examples that bothered me the most. 

Wrap Up Opinion 

I'm totally down to listen to some of those tracks live while mixing them up with classic Judas Priest songs, specially if they bring back some songs never played by Halford and company anymore such as the Jugulator tracks. But other than that I am not sure I will be going back to this album very often. For those reasons it is still a good album, 77/100, but really borderline in the good category. It's fun though, so check it out for yourself. 

SCORE: 77/100

Genre: Heavy Metal

Released by EX1 Records on October 1st, 2021

Rating System

99 - 100 Perfect
94 - 98 Excellent
87 - 93 Great
82 - 86 Very Good
77 - 81 Good
66 - 76 Mixed
58 - 65 Bad

wordcount = 617