This is the long-awaited follow-up to Rob Halford's highly acclaimed (and deservingly so) return to his classic metal roots, "Resurrection", after a brief detour with his industrial/goth rock project, called Two, which was not only disastorious, but badly timed, as it came out just months after Rob came out of the closet. "Crucible", unlike "Resurrection's" raw, balls-out traditional metal sound, has a muddier, sludgier, thrashier, more Pantera-esque sound. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. This means that it's less catchy and memorable, not as much life or character in the riffage department, and not as much variety, too many "chugga-chugga" riffs. The production is muddy and I often had to turn the bass way down, which is not a very good sign, and where the hell is the treble!? The often down-tuned guitars only add to the muddiness of the production, as well. The drums are good, there are more double bass parts in this album than in "Resurrection", which i like. If there wasn't so much boom and muffles on the bass, I'd say it was OK! And of course, Rob is in fine vocal form as always. He uses every one of his styles in this album, from the clean operatic wail, to his very clean singing voice and his gruff, snarling, "I'm a tough rock singer" voice, to his violent, banshee-like shrieking style of singing.
Ok, now on to the songs! The album starts off with the haunting, one-minute instrumental, "Park Manor"which really just serves as the intro to the second song, the title track, "Crucible".This is a mid-paced, almost hypnotizing rocker, with some cool riffing and a catchy, melodic chorus, which i think could've been a little better, with a little more umph to it, but still good nonetheless. "One Will" is one of my favorites on the album, with some powerful riffs and drums and a very cool chorus, which always gets stuck in my head when i hear it! This song has a thrashy part in the guitar solo, which is cool. That great song is followed by another awesome track, and another one of my favorites, "Betrayal".This song is a fast-paced, balls-out , bang-your-head-till-you-get-whiplash type of rocker and I love it!!! Rob uses his shreiking voice to great effect in this song, as well. The guitars are down and dirty, and the drums are relentless and is that a dual harmony guitar part i hear towards the end of the solo? Hell yes! That fine piece of metal is followed by a not as good song in "Handing Out Bullets".Rob again uses his shrieking voice on this one, this time though, it's over-dubbed on his lower, more gruff singing voice, which sounds pretty cool. The solo sees the two guitarists trading off back and forth and again ending it with a dual harmony. I dunno, it's good, but i just didn't like it as much as "One Will" or "Betrayal". Next up is "Hearts Of Darkness",which starts off with muddy, down-tuned guitars, which stays throughout. There is a cool vocal melody throughout the song by Rob, which saves the song for me. The next song,"Crystal",isn't any better, it too has those damned down-tuned guitars throughout the entire song! I found this song to be a bit boring and doesn't offer much. "Heretic" is promising for most of the song and is an OK song, but then......i heard it. There is a damn Korn-like sound before the solo, which really de-railed most of the song's momentum, thank god the rest of the song's OK, or else it would have completely killed it. And right when things were starting to look bad,"Golgotha" comes to save the day! This is behind "One Will", "Betrayal" and "She"(which is later in the album) as my favorites of the album. This is a tough, slow and very heavy song that rescued the rest of the album for me. And I can't help but be reminded of Judas Priest's "Jawbreaker" when Rob sings "Salvation!" in the song
Next up is another good song in "Wrath Of God". This is another nasty rocker that sort of teeters the line between mid-paced and fast-paced. Think of it like a slower "Betrayal" with tamer vocals. The next song, "Weaving Sorrow" is another solid rocker that has some good vocals in it, and a great solo! The guitars are chugging and down-tuned which can be boring, but the rest of the song is good enough to keep it from completely falling flat. "Sun" has an awesome intro that i keep going back to on my stereo. Too bad the rest of the song isn't as good, but it's alright, the intro shows iteslf again in the middle! Rob has some cool middle eastern vocal melody in the song which gives it a hynotizing feel to it and there are some nice guitar parts in here too. "Trail Of Tears"(not to be confused with the Testament song with the same name), is a ho-hum mid-tempo song that, to me, is a wee bit boring and i often skip it. Maybe I'll give it another chance someday, we'll see. It does have a very poweful guitar in some parts, though. It's OK. After about a minute of silence, quite possibly the best sonf on the album comes in......."She"......now here's a good ballad that come out of nowhere! As i mentioned earlier, this is one of my favorite songs off the album. The band shows heart in their performance, and Rob really shows emotion in the way he sings this song...you can really tell this song means alot to him and that is probably one of the reasons why i like this song so much, because it's Rob showing his vulnerable human side and good god, do i admire that. And finally, the closer, "Fugitive" This song starts off strong with a NON-downtuned guitar! This adds much needed power in the song, the chorus is catchy as well, and the entire song just works. It's not great, but it is a nice way to end the album.
Overall, this album is just alright, plagued with bad production, lifeless riffs, too much bass with very lttle treble and TOO MANY DOWN TUNED GUITARS!!! This album could've been much better, but Rob's attempt to modernize hurt the potential in the long run. Don't get me wrong this album has it's share of great songs. When it's good, it's great. If you have yet to buy an album by this band(they only have 2 plus 1 live album), start with Resurrection" and if you like that, then go buy some Rob Halford-era Judas Priest, perhaps starting with "Painkiller", since it's more similar to "Resurrection", then get this. This is actually better suited for Pantera fans and Rob Halford freaks.
Ok, now on to the songs! The album starts off with the haunting, one-minute instrumental, "Park Manor"which really just serves as the intro to the second song, the title track, "Crucible".This is a mid-paced, almost hypnotizing rocker, with some cool riffing and a catchy, melodic chorus, which i think could've been a little better, with a little more umph to it, but still good nonetheless. "One Will" is one of my favorites on the album, with some powerful riffs and drums and a very cool chorus, which always gets stuck in my head when i hear it! This song has a thrashy part in the guitar solo, which is cool. That great song is followed by another awesome track, and another one of my favorites, "Betrayal".This song is a fast-paced, balls-out , bang-your-head-till-you-get-whiplash type of rocker and I love it!!! Rob uses his shreiking voice to great effect in this song, as well. The guitars are down and dirty, and the drums are relentless and is that a dual harmony guitar part i hear towards the end of the solo? Hell yes! That fine piece of metal is followed by a not as good song in "Handing Out Bullets".Rob again uses his shrieking voice on this one, this time though, it's over-dubbed on his lower, more gruff singing voice, which sounds pretty cool. The solo sees the two guitarists trading off back and forth and again ending it with a dual harmony. I dunno, it's good, but i just didn't like it as much as "One Will" or "Betrayal". Next up is "Hearts Of Darkness",which starts off with muddy, down-tuned guitars, which stays throughout. There is a cool vocal melody throughout the song by Rob, which saves the song for me. The next song,"Crystal",isn't any better, it too has those damned down-tuned guitars throughout the entire song! I found this song to be a bit boring and doesn't offer much. "Heretic" is promising for most of the song and is an OK song, but then......i heard it. There is a damn Korn-like sound before the solo, which really de-railed most of the song's momentum, thank god the rest of the song's OK, or else it would have completely killed it. And right when things were starting to look bad,"Golgotha" comes to save the day! This is behind "One Will", "Betrayal" and "She"(which is later in the album) as my favorites of the album. This is a tough, slow and very heavy song that rescued the rest of the album for me. And I can't help but be reminded of Judas Priest's "Jawbreaker" when Rob sings "Salvation!" in the song
Next up is another good song in "Wrath Of God". This is another nasty rocker that sort of teeters the line between mid-paced and fast-paced. Think of it like a slower "Betrayal" with tamer vocals. The next song, "Weaving Sorrow" is another solid rocker that has some good vocals in it, and a great solo! The guitars are chugging and down-tuned which can be boring, but the rest of the song is good enough to keep it from completely falling flat. "Sun" has an awesome intro that i keep going back to on my stereo. Too bad the rest of the song isn't as good, but it's alright, the intro shows iteslf again in the middle! Rob has some cool middle eastern vocal melody in the song which gives it a hynotizing feel to it and there are some nice guitar parts in here too. "Trail Of Tears"(not to be confused with the Testament song with the same name), is a ho-hum mid-tempo song that, to me, is a wee bit boring and i often skip it. Maybe I'll give it another chance someday, we'll see. It does have a very poweful guitar in some parts, though. It's OK. After about a minute of silence, quite possibly the best sonf on the album comes in......."She"......now here's a good ballad that come out of nowhere! As i mentioned earlier, this is one of my favorite songs off the album. The band shows heart in their performance, and Rob really shows emotion in the way he sings this song...you can really tell this song means alot to him and that is probably one of the reasons why i like this song so much, because it's Rob showing his vulnerable human side and good god, do i admire that. And finally, the closer, "Fugitive" This song starts off strong with a NON-downtuned guitar! This adds much needed power in the song, the chorus is catchy as well, and the entire song just works. It's not great, but it is a nice way to end the album.
Overall, this album is just alright, plagued with bad production, lifeless riffs, too much bass with very lttle treble and TOO MANY DOWN TUNED GUITARS!!! This album could've been much better, but Rob's attempt to modernize hurt the potential in the long run. Don't get me wrong this album has it's share of great songs. When it's good, it's great. If you have yet to buy an album by this band(they only have 2 plus 1 live album), start with Resurrection" and if you like that, then go buy some Rob Halford-era Judas Priest, perhaps starting with "Painkiller", since it's more similar to "Resurrection", then get this. This is actually better suited for Pantera fans and Rob Halford freaks.
