In recent years I have purposely lost myself Slayer And Iron Maiden in Florence, a stone’s throw from home, and by all accounts the seconds even gave a Madonna concert. I’ve talked and talked about the topic and it’s the classic bar chatter between metalheads on the generational change (which, by now you will have understood, will never happen), on the withdrawal of the dinosaurs necessary for some youngsters to become headliners in their place at Hellfest and so on. He will not return to these topics so as not to repeat myself.
In April, however, they played at the Forum in Assago i Judas Priest and i Saxon. I’ll be honest: this time I had a little thought, but not because I wanted to enjoy it Electric Eye twenty years after the last time, staged by people over seventy, but rather for Saxon, without disrespecting those I consider the Gods of heavy metal. At the end of the concert Glenn Tipton he went on stage and performed with his bandmates Metal Gods And Living After Midnightfrom a 1980 album that you will certainly know and love.
The fact that Glenn Tipton took the stage does not mean that we Italians had the privilege of making the rest of the world cry. Means that Judas Priest are taking care of an almost eighty-year-old Parkinson’s patient on all the tour dates, and who throw him on stage in theencore. The thing is this: I’m not about to repeat the same words I wrote in the piece above Ozzy Osbourne. In fact, I’m about to contradict myself.
A couple of trusted people told me that Glenn Tipton played two solos, one simple, and one completely done by Andy Sneap. And that he got on stage with great difficulty. Why?
I somehow deduce, going back to the starting point, that those we observe trudging with infinite effort and dignity are the last Metalheads with a capital M. It’s easy to advise someone to enjoy their health and retirement Lemmy Kilmister, but it’s all bullshit. And so for them. Judas Priest knows very well what I wrote above: generational change will never happen. THE Vulture they’re cool, guys, maybe my favorite contemporary band, but these Judas Priests are the last Judas Priests we’ll see walking on the planet and until they decide to move forward, and surprise us, at the cost of doing it with a beat up Glenn Tipton playing or even mimes a solo, huge crowds will gather in front of their stage to enjoy those memorabilia from the year 1980. Yes, I said that Ozzy Osbourne should retire and I confirm that Glenn Tipton should too. But the day these two retire, or die, we too will retreat to the clubs with two or three hundred people to enjoy Vulture’s show at the peak of their form. It will really happen, in ten years or fifteen.
It’s easy to say that Glenn Tipton or Rob Halford insist and persist for a mere accumulation of money. I also said it Kerry King, if you remember. I don’t brush everything aside: the walking parody of Slayer – accompanied by an excellent singer who imitates Araya – is certainly not comparable to the ethical and moral duty that Judas Priest, the greatest representatives of heavy metal, have in preserving and powering heavy metal itself until its last breath. They know it, and part of me firmly believes that Glenn Tipton stood on that stage because it’s the last decade that they, the Metallica and a few others, will be able to afford to summon ten thousand or fifty thousand believers who call in unison for things like this. (Marco Belardi)
Along deserted avenues
Steam begins to rise
The figures primed and ready
Prepared for quick surprise
He’s watching for a sign
His life is online
Sworn to avenge condemned to hell
Tempt not the blade all fear the Sentinel
Dogs whine in the alleys
Smoke is on the wind
From deep inside its empty shell
A cathedral bell begins
Ringing out its toll
A storm begins to grow
Sworn to avenge condemned to hell
Tempt not the blade all fear the Sentinel
Amidst the upturned burned-out cars
The challengers await
And in their fists clutch iron bars
With which to seal his fate
Across his chest in scabbards rest
The rows of throwing knives
Whose razor points in challenged tests
Have finished many lives
Now facing one another
The stand-off eats at time
Then all at once a silence falls
As the bell ceases its chime
Upon this sign the challengers
With shrieks and cries rush forth
The knives fly out like bullets
Upon their deadly course
Screams of pain and agony
Rent the silent air
Amidst the dying bodies
Blood runs everywhere
The figure stands expressionless
Impassive and alone
Unmoved by this victory
And the seeds of death he’s owned
Sworn to avenge condemned to hell
Tempt not the blade all fear the Sentinel
