I have three major problems with it. I feel like the songs are just poorly arranged and are evident that this band wasn't ready to do write a rock opera or needed an outside guy to consult with them on how to arrange it better. Everything from the lyrics, to the boring uninteresting interludes, and all the cringe-worthy cheesiness and general lack of Priest's identity just fell flat. There's an alarming lack of riffs as well - I would dare say that even Turbo was a heavier record than Nostradamus. They should have taken a few pages from Arjen's book before making this record - or straight up hired him on to help write it. Half of the record is boring and uninteresting, a quarter of it is cheesy and embarrassingly amateurish, and another quarter of it is passably good.
My second major problem was the production. Nostradamus sounds like KK recorded everything on Cubase with a 2007 model Line 6 POD XT, used cheap sounding freeware orchestra samples, and the drums sound like a drum machine. How can you literally have one of the most talented drummers in heavy music and not use him on your record is beyond me - but it's ridiculous. From a production standpoint, it sounds like a demo some 18 year old kid recorded on his laptop. When you think about guys like Michael Romeo and Arjen doing the same kind of thing for less than half the budget, and 50 x better sounding, it's pukeworthy.
And my third major problem was honestly, the subject matter was stupid and spinal tap tier. Couldn't they have thought of a better concept for a concept album? Maybe there was a way to make Nostradamus' life cool, but that didn't come across very well. I remember the Blabbermouth review of this album commented on this, but if they had truly thought of something cool here, what was the need in constantly shouting "I am Nostradamus!" throughout an entire song (and the entire chorus of the title track, which is anotherwise great song, is virtually the same thing)? It's almost as if they knew they didn't have enough to go on.
I don't see how anyone could seriously defend it aside from "it's PRIEST! MAN, HALFORD CAN SING ANYTHING AND I'LL BUY IT!"
Their best since Defenders. Saw the tour in Vancouver, Calgary & Vegas.
