Hey, What About-- "NOSTRADAMUS" Judas Priest 2008--POLL:

Nostradamus

Studio album by Judas Priest
Released 17 June 2008
Recorded 2006 –2007 at The Old Smithy Studio, Kempsey, Worcester, UK
Genre Heavy metal symphonic metal
Length 102:48
Label Epic
Producer Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing

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This album gets called boring and weak but I always liked it and how Judas Priest laid this album out. It took several listens in 2008 to really absorb the immensity of the Nostradamus album.

Pulling this 2 cd set out tonight and just refreshing my mind on this album. All the talk of the new Priest album Firepower 2018 got my fires going to listen to Nostradamus. Yeah I know I've heard Priest replacing their iconic logo with that crappy album cover that I myself like. Of course it's an experimental album they should of done earlier in their career when they were churning out hits and were up to their full writing capacity.

I think years from now more of the Judas Priest faithful, rockologist will like Nostradamus even more. It's a metal album in some ways ahead of its time.
Maybe Nostradamus is only for Priest completist but you know I'll give it several more listens by the weekend.

Thoughts, opinions on an album that gets knocked and maybe rightfully so. Ten years since its release I still believe Nostradamus will get better years from now. Better with age.

Highlights: Persecution, Alone, Visions, Nostradamus, Future of Mankind, Solitude and The Four Horsemen.
I like the whole album regardless of the negativity hurled at it.

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Wikipedia:

Nostradamus is the 16th studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, focusing on the 16th-century writer Nostradamus. It is a double album. The band's first concept album with Rob Halford, it was originally intended to be released in late 2006 before being pushed back to a 2007 release, and was finally released in June 2008 on Epic Records. It is the band's final album to feature K. K. Downing, before his retirement.

Development:

The Nostradamus concept idea originated from manager Bill Curbishley and was pitched to the band while on tour in Estonia in 2005. Guitarist K. K. Downing revealed in a February 2007 interview with Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles that 18 tracks had been recorded with a total length of more than 90 minutes and that there was not much he would like to cut down. Musically, the album contains symphonic orchestrations, including the use of keyboards and choirs, which is unlike anything the band has previously attempted. In November 2007, the band began mixing the album.

Judas Priest:

• Rob Halford – vocals
• K. K. Downing – guitar, synthesized guitars
• Glenn Tipton – guitar, synthesized guitar
• Ian Hill – bass
• Scott Travis – drums

Additional musicians

• Don Airey – keyboards
• Pete Whitfield – strings

Production

• Produced by Glenn Tipton & K. K. Downing
• Engineered by Richard Wood
• Mixed by Attie Bauw with Glenn Tipton & K. K. Downing
• Mastered by Attie Bauw and Darius Van Helfteren
• Artwork by Mark Wilkinson

Nostradamus - JUDAS PRIEST


Judas Priest - Nostradamus - Reviews - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives

 

I know I'm in the minority, but I really enjoy Nostradamus and think it's a great epic album. Yeah, maybe it could have been edited down to a single album, but I think the various interludes work pretty well, and I've go no gripe with Rob dropping down a couple of octaves on this album. Works best when listened to in it's entirety.

 

My favorites are:

Prophecy
Sands Of Time
Pestilence And Plague
Nostradamus

But there are a couple others I really like too.

There is a good album buried in this somewhere. Trim half the songs and bring it down to a single album instead of a double album.

 

I actually like this album, though it does get a bit tiresome when listening to it in one go. These are my faves:

Persecution
New Beginnings (very underrated, and different from your average Priest song)
Dawn of Creation
Prophecy
Alone
Conquest
Awakening
Revelations
Calm Before the Storm
Future of Mankind

I tend to go back and forth on Persecution and New Beginnings being my favorite track. It depends on the day.

 

It's hard to remember one track from another with this album, for the most part. Too much material. Too much sameness. But "Persecution" is a fantastic track. That's the most memorable one for me by far.

 

Haven't really listened to this since initial release & wasn't terribly impressed with it. Will have to revisit before I could make a choice TBH

 

I picked War, Pestilence and Plague and Death; incidentally I would rather be stricken by all of these things before listening to this album!

Nostradamus is a disaster. I've been listening to Priest almost non-stop since Glenn's health announcement and every time I try to mix in some 16th century goofiness I quickly tire of it.

Sometimes I see it defended with this idea that it's so creative compared to what they usually do. Uh, what's so creative about it? Slow song intro into a longer song? Ever hear of Prelude/Tyrant or Epitaph/Island of Domination? Or even Winter Retreat/Cheater on the debut? There's nothing spectacularly creative or outside the box about doing something over and over (and over) in 2008 that you were already doing 34 years earlier. I don't want an album that just repeats that structure over and over for 25 straight hours.

Metal can be seriously nerdy and Judas Priest have been exactly that throughout their career. So singing about Nostradamus is fine too, but the songs are almost uniformly boring and without great riffs or solos.

The three songs I listed at the beginning are great and worthy Priest efforts. But three great songs on a 35 minute album would be a disappointment. Three great songs across a double album is a torture that earns Nostradamus the bottom slot in the Judas Priest catalogue with Rob Halford.