Did priest use a drum machine of this album or is there just extreme triggerage? It sounds alot well better than dave hollands usual crappy drumming skills so I was wondering 
Ram It Down
- Thread starter Icarus
- Start date
Lord Tim
That guy from LORD
Mark
Not blessed, or merciful
Lord Tim
That guy from LORD
Instead of using the mic'd up sound of the drums, you attach a little sensor to the side of each drum (or alternatively, play with pads instead of drums) and each hit triggers a sample of the drum sound from a drum brain module.
We used that for our kick drums on the album 'cos it's MUCH more consistent for double-kick stuff than trying to get the natural sound to sound even and balanced. A lot of bands trigger the entire kit. Some sound good, others... well, it sounds like a cheap drum machine!
Priest def' used a drum machine on that album, though. Have a listen to Hard As Iron (I love that song!!!) and you'll notice that Dave Holland has suddenly grown an extra arm 'cos he can play hi hats at the same time as doing a fast drum roll! HAHA! And there's NO WAY you can get cymbal separation like that when you record drums - they have cymbals coming from specific places in the mix which is just impossible!
We used that for our kick drums on the album 'cos it's MUCH more consistent for double-kick stuff than trying to get the natural sound to sound even and balanced. A lot of bands trigger the entire kit. Some sound good, others... well, it sounds like a cheap drum machine!
Priest def' used a drum machine on that album, though. Have a listen to Hard As Iron (I love that song!!!) and you'll notice that Dave Holland has suddenly grown an extra arm 'cos he can play hi hats at the same time as doing a fast drum roll! HAHA! And there's NO WAY you can get cymbal separation like that when you record drums - they have cymbals coming from specific places in the mix which is just impossible!
Spiff
I have the power
Trivia fans might be interested to know that Mike Portnoy used triggering on Dream Theater's "Images & Words", although he didn't like it.
Blitzkrieg
Master Exploder
Mike Portnoy is god!Ram It Down! 
The most underrated Priest album imo. Because so many people say its crap and oh Painkiller was such a triumphant comeback.... I mean Painkiller is clearly their finest hour I think (to me it was the perfect climax to a great 2 decades of the best metal beast.... incorporated everything great album Priest from their earlier efforts into one masterpiece that was completely fresh)....
But Ram It Down... my god its great! "Heavy Metal", "Ram It Down", "Come & Get It", "Hard As Iron", "Blood Red Skies" (the vocals!!!!), and "I'm A Rocker" are all so damn good! Some of Priest's best songs ever.
The most underrated Priest album imo. Because so many people say its crap and oh Painkiller was such a triumphant comeback.... I mean Painkiller is clearly their finest hour I think (to me it was the perfect climax to a great 2 decades of the best metal beast.... incorporated everything great album Priest from their earlier efforts into one masterpiece that was completely fresh)....
But Ram It Down... my god its great! "Heavy Metal", "Ram It Down", "Come & Get It", "Hard As Iron", "Blood Red Skies" (the vocals!!!!), and "I'm A Rocker" are all so damn good! Some of Priest's best songs ever.
Bucko
Member
Never Preist would"nt stoop that low , reissue all cd with bonus extra tracks but never use a Drum Machine.... gee next will the have keyboards & choirs..........mmmm
Lord Tim
That guy from LORD
Slash Freeman
Iron Maiden obsessive
I've not heard the whole album, but the song Ram It Down is one of the best Priest songs. The Guitar work in the middle really is something else. Painkiller is a good song, but the guitar is not comparable to Ram It Down. It really takes musical prowess to be able to write and play something like that. *in aw*
Wrathchild
Miserable Bastard
I've only heard Ram it Down (the song) and Blood Red Skies, because they're both on Metalworks. What's the rest of the album like? Skies sounds a bit too keyboardy for my tastes.
W
W
Am I the only one who thinks the chorus to The One You Love To Hate is eerily similair to Blood Red Skies?
Wrathy: Ram It Down is great mostly!
Ram It Down - you've heard it hehe
Heavy Metal - great anthem! EXCELLENT vocals and big chorus
Love Zone - quite dodgy, but has great vocals... awesome high screams!
Come & Get It - another great metal anthem, with a cool mean riff
Hard As Iron - alot like the title track, fast and furious song
Blood Red Skies - you've heard that heh, great vocals and chord changes I think
I'm A Rocker - great rock anthem with awesome chord changes and chorus
Johnny B. Goode - dreadful awful terrible cover...
Love You To Death - crap... this and JBG are the worst tracks on it
Monsters Of Rock - slow menacing metal anthem like Heavy Duty but not as good
That's what I reckon..... 6 awesome tracks, 2 not bad tracks (Monsters & Love Zone), and 2 shockers.
You can usually find the non-remaster of it for $5 to $8 new. If so, definitely buy it. It's well worth that just for the fact that it is possibly Halford's best vocal performance ever along with the Painkiller album.
Ram It Down - you've heard it hehe
Heavy Metal - great anthem! EXCELLENT vocals and big chorus
Love Zone - quite dodgy, but has great vocals... awesome high screams!
Come & Get It - another great metal anthem, with a cool mean riff
Hard As Iron - alot like the title track, fast and furious song
Blood Red Skies - you've heard that heh, great vocals and chord changes I think
I'm A Rocker - great rock anthem with awesome chord changes and chorus
Johnny B. Goode - dreadful awful terrible cover...
Love You To Death - crap... this and JBG are the worst tracks on it
Monsters Of Rock - slow menacing metal anthem like Heavy Duty but not as good
That's what I reckon..... 6 awesome tracks, 2 not bad tracks (Monsters & Love Zone), and 2 shockers.
You can usually find the non-remaster of it for $5 to $8 new. If so, definitely buy it. It's well worth that just for the fact that it is possibly Halford's best vocal performance ever along with the Painkiller album.
Lord Tim
That guy from LORD
Blood Red Skies, Ram It Down and Hard As Iron - 3 of Priest's best songs, IMO! I love Heavy Metal too, as cheesy as it is! HAHA!
I want Hard As Iron played at my funeral!
I want Hard As Iron played at my funeral!
I actually quite like JBG, halford sounds pretty damn awesome singing the chorus!
Love you to death is pretty bad though. The sounds halford makes at the end of the song sound like hes well doing something I never want mental pictures of in my head!!!
Quite disturbing indeed 
I think Johnny B Goode has really really bad melody lines. I mean I know why they changed the riffs obviously, but why did they completely change the vocal lines? They just sound so forced and awful. Many times I've put it on and thought "Ok I'll forget what the original is like and just imagine it as a Priest song" and it still sucks.
