This is an album I’ve been meaning to pick up for some time now. It originally released in 2005 back when I was in sixth form, and there was a huge deal because it was the first album to be released since Rob Halford had rejoined the band as their banshee-in-chief.

I knew little of Priest at the time, bar Breaking the Law and You’ve Got Another Thing Coming – which I’d only heard thanks to V Rock on GTA: Vice City. But as is the done thing, when a new album releases, a tour shall follow, and myself and a bunch of friends made plans to go see them in all their leather clad glory.

Once those tickets were booked I borrowed both Angel of Retribution and Living After Midnight (Judas Priest’s ‘Best of’) from my mate and played them both on heavy rotation. No-one was going to catch me down the front not knowing any of the songs. This is a pre-gig ritual I still maintain to a certain degree.

I don’t know whether it was just the modern production values or the fact I was fairly new to the Brummie metallers, but Angel of Retribution seemed to me to have the best songs across those two albums. Lead single Revolution was catchy as all hell, Halford screaming his lungs out in the opening Judas Rising was amazing to me, the light and shade of Angel spoke to my internal prog rocker, and Deal With The Devil was the epitome of cool to gangly, awkward, oversized T-shirt sporting, 17 year old, metal-head Phil.

The gig itself was a joint headline venture with Priest’s German counterparts The Scorpions. The latter opened the show and were awesome. I remember thinking Priest wouldn’t be able to follow it. Oh how wrong I was. From the red spotlight scanning the crowd from the centre of an electric eye back drop at the beginning of opener Hellion/Electric Eye, to the third encore when Halford rode out on stage on the Harley Davidson, they blew me away. Admittedly it was only the second gig I’d ever been to (the first being Velvet Revolver), but I loved every second of it.

Since that gig I’ve grown a greater appreciation for Priest’s older material over the years, but as a complete album, Angel of Retribution is probably one of my favourite metal albums full stop. Even including the ridiculous prog metal closer about the Loch Ness monster.