If the 90s was a decade of great change in metal, then the 2000s was the decade of the comeback. From Iron Maiden roaring back to power with Bruce Dickinson on Brave New World, to the likes of Slayer and Megadeth finding a triumphant second wind, heavy metal was rediscovering its roots after the wilderness years of grunge and nu metal, where even the standard-setting bands of the genre hit a rough patch.
“It was a weird time to be a metal band,” affirms Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill. “In the 80s, especially in America, you had all the Teslas and Skid Rows. All great bands, but it’d become fashionable and inevitably eventually it has to go out of fashion.”
Losing their iconic frontman, Rob Halford, probably didn’t help Priest’s prospects in the 90s either. Today, more than two decades on from his return to the fold, it’s hard to imagine Priest without the Metal God howling up front. But following the phenomenal success of 1990’s Painkiller – and its ensuing gruelling world tour – Rob shocked everyone by quitting the band with which he’d been shaping the metal world for 20 years.
“I didn’t quit!” Rob cries in mock indignation, recalling the turbulence of the early 90s with typical grace and good humour. “It was a case of LSD – Lead Singer’s Disease! I was in a great place and having a blast – Painkiller was one of the most successful tours we’d ever had. But we were all very knackered by the end of it and we agreed we’d take a break. So I said, ‘OK guys, I’m gonna go off and do a thing.’ I’d actually said it around [1986’s] Turbo and was told, ‘OK, so long as it doesn’t interfere with what Priest are doing.’”
But although Rob was keen to explore other avenues in a solo project, it wasn’t that simple. “The only way I could do that, at that time, was to send a ‘leaving member’ notice to the label,” he says. “It was just a clause in the contract basically. But everything blew up. ‘What do you mean you’re leaving?!’ ‘I’m not!’ It got so ridiculously out of control. I think it was a knock-on effect from how knackered we were. We probably should have just walked away and gone, ‘See you in a year.’”
Instead, Rob was out of the band and Priest forged on without him. Recruiting vocalist Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, they continued exploring the harder edge of Painkiller via 1997’s Jugulator and 2001’s Demolition. Meanwhile, Rob had cycled through the thrash-flavoured Fight and electronica-enhanced alt metal of 2wo before settling back on his staple sound with Halford. But something was missing.
It was greatest hits box set Metalogy that rebuilt the bridges between Rob and Priest, reforging one of metal’s most iconic bands when long-time Judas Priest manager Jayne Andrews called a meeting between the parties.
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