''Demolition'' is the fourteenth studio album by English heavy metal band

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

, and the first in the decade of the 2000s. It is the second and final studio album to feature

Tim "Ripper" Owens Timothy S. "Ripper" Owens (born September 13, 1967) is an American heavy metal singer who currently performs with KK's Priest, Spirits of Fire, the Three Tremors and "The Tim Ripper Monster Energy Big Band". He first gained attention as the ...

on vocals. It is also the only Judas Priest studio album to feature a Parental Advisory label on the album cover due to the songs "Machine Man", "Hell Is Home", and "Metal Messiah" containing profanity. On October 2021, the album was reissued as part of the band's limited edition ''50 Heavy Metal Years of Music'' box-set, through

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2 ...

Background and reception

In 2018, Tim "Ripper" Owens pledged to re-record this album and its predecessor ''

Jugulator ''Jugulator'' is the thirteenth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was released in Japan on 16 October 1997 and the rest of the world on 28 October 1997. It was their first studio album since ''Painkiller'' in 1990 an ...

'' as he feels that his era of the band has "been erased". Ever since

Rob Halford Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Perform ...

rejoined the band, songs from both albums have been left off the band's concert setlists, although Halford stated that he is not opposed to performing the songs live. Guitarist Richie Faulkner cites "Hell Is Home" as his favourite song, "It's really heavy and the vocal melody is really great. I think Ripper sings it really well. It's probably one of my favorite Priest songs of the Ripper era. 'Hell Is Home' — I really like that."

Songwriting and production

The album was produced by guitarist

Glenn Tipton Glenn Raymond Tipton (born 25 October 1947) is an English guitarist. Often noted for his complex playing style and classically influenced solos, he is best known as one of the lead guitarists for the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Judas P ...

, who also took over as the primary songwriter. The band's main songwriting team had long consisted of

, K. K. Downing, and Tipton. After Halford departed, however, Downing and Tipton wrote all the songs on ''Jugulator''. On this album, many of the songs were written solely by Tipton, with contributions from Downing on several songs. Former producer

Chris Tsangarides Christopher Andrew Tsangarides (17 August 1956 – 6 January 2018) was a British record producer, sound engineer, and mixer of Greek Cypriot origin. He was best known for his work with many heavy metal artists, including Gary Moore, Thin L ...

, who cowrote "

A Touch of Evil "A Touch of Evil" is a song by the English heavy metal band Judas Priest, from their 1990 album ''Painkiller''. The record was released as the second single from the album via Columbia Records label. Overview It is the only song on the album ...

" on ''

Painkiller An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic, antalgic, pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used for pain management. Analgesics are conceptually distinct from anesthetics, which temporarily reduce, and in s ...

'', also assisted in the writing of a few songs. Drummer

Scott Travis Mark Scott Travis (born September 6, 1961) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the English heavy metal band Judas Priest, the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy, and the supergroup Elegant Weapons. He was also a longtime member of ...

cowrote "Cyberface" – his only contribution to writing in the band's history. (

Les Binks James Leslie Binks (8 August 1951 – 15 March 2025) was a Northern Irish Heavy metal music, heavy metal drummer. He is best-known for being the drummer for Judas Priest, where he was a member from 1977 to 1979. Life and career Early years Pre ...

was Priest's only other drummer to cowrite a song.) This was the first album since ''

'' to feature a guest appearance by keyboardist

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician. He came to prominence as the keyboardist of the rock band Rainbow during 1979–1982. He has been the keyboardist of Deep Purple, the band from which Rainbow was a spinoff, since 2 ...

, who had played on "A Touch of Evil." "People will wonder if a new Priest album is as good as any of the fifteen that came before it," Tipton acknowledged. "I'm confident they'll think this one is. It has some manic, hooligan tracks, like 'Machine Man' and 'Bloodsuckers', as well as a typical 'Ripper' song in 'Jekyll and Hyde'. The songs "Machine Man" and "Feed on Me" were included in Judas Priest's box set ''

Metalogy ''Metalogy'' is a four CD + single DVD boxed set released by heavy metal band Judas Priest in 2004. The CDs come in card sleeves and are housed in a faux-leather box, which has studs around the center. The box was re-released in 2008 in a car ...

''.

Track listing

Personnel

;Judas Priest *

– vocals *

– guitars * K. K. Downing – guitars *

Ian Hill Ian Hill (born 20 January 1952) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the heavy metal band Judas Priest. Along with lead guitarist Glenn Tipton, he is one of only two members who've appeared on all of the band's studio albums. ...

– bass guitar *

– drums ;Additional musician *

– keyboards ;Production *Produced and arranged by Glenn Tipton; co-produced by Sean Lynch *

Mastered Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source from which all copies will be ...

Jon Astley Jon Astley (born 1951) is a British record producer and mastering engineer. He is best known for his co-production work with Glyn Johns on the Who's eighth studio album ''Who Are You'' (1978), and later remastering supervision for all of the grou ...

*Front cover and booklet by L-Space Design *Back cover image by Benjamin Davies *Photography by Mick Hutson

Charts

References

{{Authority control Judas Priest albums 2001 albums SPV/Steamhammer albums