Judas Priest - Ram It Down
Columbia
Heavy metal
10 songs (49.39)
Release year: 1988
Judas Priest
Reviewed by Shane
Archive review

Ram It Down followed the much maligned Turbo with mixed success. There is still the mechanical feel of Turbo, especially in the drums, however the amps have been tuned up a few notches and in general the songs are faster, heavier and much harder rocking. However, just like Turbo the song writing is a bit weak and reeks of cheesy lyrics and themes that are most often found in the glam rock genre. If you were put off by Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days, you probably will not dig this album. Now personally, this is not a problem for me as I love that type of music, however, this album is definitely not Priest at their best

Rob Halford sounds great on this album and he uses his high pitch wail quite often and quite effectively as he attempts to save most of the songs on this album from being extremely generic and dull. Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing are solid but unspectacular as they blaze out solos and decent riffs all over this album but this is definitely not their best work (see Painkiller). Ian Hill gives his usual performance, which is to say that there really isn’t much to say about him. It is hard to say exactly what Dave Holland contributed to this album as the drums sound extremely mechanical and totally lack any feel.

In my opinion, this is a good album if you don’t expect too much. Yes, the songs all rock hard with no track being either all that amazing nor all that poor. It seems like K.K and the boys only put thought and effort into two tracks on this album (Ram It Down and Blood Red Skies) and the rest of the tracks could be seen as filler if not for Rob Halford’s awesome voice saving them from the mediocre song writing. Because of Halford each track has some merit at least. The title track, Ram It Down is like a practice run for Painkiller as it is the fastest and most intense song on the album. However the true passion and energy (not to mention an awesome drum sound) that is found on Painkiller is absent here, as this is merely a warm up. Blood Red Skies is almost a total departure from the rest of the songs on this album as it is a moody track and not a straight-ahead rocker like the others. The computerised drum track that drives Blood Red Skies fits with the theme of the song and the mood of the album, however I can’t help but wish that real drums were used exclusively. Rob Halford’s performance is really the highlight of this song and the rest of the album. Fans of Rob’s upper register should dig this album on his performance alone. Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode gets a dose of metal and sounds surprisingly good. The rest of the tracks are standard rockers (especially I’m a Rocker which is comparable in theme with Leather Rebel yet not even close to being as good) except for the last track Monsters of Rock, which is slow and plodding as it attempts to be a super heavy metal anthem but just comes off as dull and repetitive. If there is one thing that Ram It Down has, it is energy, and it is lost on this track. Don’t get me wrong, Monsters of Rock isn’t a terrible track but I believe it fails at what it is trying to accomplish. In fact, that can be said for many of the songs on this album. Judas Priest would soon learn from their mistakes on this album, as they would get everything right with their next release, Painkiller.

Killing Songs :
Ram It Down, Blood Red Skies
Shane quoted 71 / 100
Jeff quoted 70 / 100
Marty quoted 78 / 100
Aleksie quoted 79 / 100
Other albums by Judas Priest that we have reviewed:
Judas Priest - Firepower reviewed by Goat and quoted 90 / 100
Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls reviewed by Thomas and quoted 70 / 100
Judas Priest - Killing Machine / Hell Bent for Leather reviewed by Goat and quoted CLASSIC
Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance reviewed by Goat and quoted CLASSIC
Judas Priest - Stained Class reviewed by Goat and quoted CLASSIC
To see all 21 reviews click here
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