"I was also at the 1986 Capital Centre concert later immortalized in Jeff Krulik's amazing short Heavy Metal Parking Lot. I grew up and out of that headbanger phase not long after, but I still maintained a soft spot for Priest because their hard-charging songs were the most melodic and operatic in all of metal, with Rob Halford's thunderous voice joining Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing's double-guitar attack to create the band's majestic, unreal sound."
"All of which is to say that I did not enter the Berlin Film Festival screening of Tom Morello and Sam Dunn's documentary The Ballad of Judas Priest a disinterested observer. I've been at plenty of premieres in my life, but even my jaded self shivered a little upon seeing Rob Halford in person, a bushy-bearded metal god still with regal presence at 74. And Morello and Dunn's movie is very much for aficionados, more a love letter than a thorough, hard-hitting deep dive."
The Ballad of Judas Priest centers on intense fan devotion and the band's musical identity. Rob Halford appears as a towering presence, his thunderous voice and dignified stage persona emphasized. The band members recount childhoods in England's industrial Black Country, early years as a progressive-blues outfit, and the adoption of the metal-and-studs aesthetic. The film opens with Jack Black reciting lyrics and channels unabashed fanboy energy throughout. The documentary prioritizes affection and celebration for devotees, aiming at aficionados with moments of nostalgia and reverence rather than pursuing rigorous investigative depth.
Read at Vulture
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]