The SINNER Is Here Guitar World HOLIDAY 2021
FOR ANYONE WHO thinks Judas Priest co-founder K.K. Downing ran out of musical steam and mental energy when he “quit” the band in 2011 and was replaced by Richie Faulkner — you’ve got another think coming.
Downing’s new band, KK’s Priest, is pugilistic and propulsive, rife with instantly engaging riffs, blazing solos and memorable hooks. Does it sound like Judas Priest? Sure it does, but who has more of a right to make music that sounds like everything else he’s done than one of the forefathers of Judas Priest and the metal movement? KK’s Priest’s debut albaum, Sermons of the Sinner, the first major metal project on which Downing has played since Judas Priest’s 2008 operatic Nostradamus, is a feast of palm-muted riffs that burst into infectious, but not always predictable rhythms. From track to track, the music conjures the multifaceted strains of Sad Wings of Destiny, the anthemic surge of Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith, and the jackhammer grind of Painkiller.
Beyond the album title, an unapologetic reference to Judas Priest’s 1977 fan-favorite “Sinner,” there are other musical and lyrical nods to Judas Priest, including the closing track “The Return of the Sentinel,” which nicks part of the opening lick from the 1984 song “The Sentinel,” and addresses the apocalyptic aftermath of a war fought by the main character. Throughout, Downing writes and plays like he’s still a member of Judas Priest — not to thumb his nose in the face of his former bandmates, but to prove his metal might and cement his legacy — and he doubles down on Sermons of the Sinner by hiring ex-Judas Priest singer Tim “Ripper” Owens to front the band.
“I suppose consciously or subconsciously, I didn’t know whether this was the last thing I was ever going to do, so I wanted it to be very exciting and very metal,” Downing says from his home in the UK. “I think it’s a fitting example of what I’ve done before and what I plan on doing for quite a while. But you never
