Does Judas Priest rip off Iron Maiden on its new Redeemer of Souls album?

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      Judas Priest released its 17th studio album, Redeemer of Souls, today, and I've been giving it a listen. All in all, I've gotta say that the British metal legends deliver the goods on the 13-track CD—which includes an extra five tunes on a bonus disc if you're lucky enough to get Sony Music to send you the deluxe edition for review purposes.

      As lead singer Rob Halford would no doubt say, it's "classic Priest". I wouldn't trade it for my copy of Screaming for Vengeance, but it definitely sounds like newish guitarist Richie Faulkner—who replaced founding member K.K. Downing after he officially retired in 2011—is fitting in well alongside fellow fretburner Glenn Tipton.

      The tune that really caught my ear on Redeemer, though, was track 12, "Battle Cry". About half a minute into that song it becomes strikingly similar to the ascending (or is it descending?) guitar part Iron Maiden's Adrian Smith plays at the beginning of "Wasted Years", a song he wrote for Maiden's 1986 Somewhere in Time album.

      Now, Priest only lifts Smith's licks for about 15 seconds, so it's not the biggest musical ripoff of all time. Maybe it's not a ripoff at all—just a brief homage to another merry band of British noisemakers.

      Either way, I'm not complaining, because I love anything that sounds like "Wasted Years". Especially "Wasted Years" itself.

      But whether anybody else notices the similarity between "Wasted Years" and "Battle Cry"—or even cares—there's little doubt that it will lead to any lawsuits and such, because Priest has definitely had its full of those.

      And I can't see Halford and Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson getting into a punch-up over it, either. Back in 2008, when Priest was touring behind it's Nostradamus double-album, I asked Halford during a phone interview if there was any competition between Priest and Maiden, and he took a diplomatic approach.

      “There’s always been a tremendous feeling that we’re all doin’ the same thing as far as taking our British metal all over the planet,” he proclaimed. “And the roots of metal are where I’m talking to you from today, in the Midlands [of England]. This is where it all started, with Priest and Sabbath. And then, of course, the new wave of heavy metal started in the ’80s, with bands like Maiden and so on.

      "So we’re all flyin’ the flag, so to speak. We’re all going strong, and things are fantastic.”

      In other Judas Priest news, yesterday the group announced a bunch of North American tour dates. So if you thought that "final tour" that hit Vancouver in 2011 was its last, you've got another thing comin'...

      ...Cominahyeah!!!

      Comments

      4 Comments

      Bob

      Jul 20, 2014 at 8:58am

      Obviously you don't play guitar. it is not in the same key and its not the same riff. I dream of a world without people saying b*llSh*t like this. Thank you for entertaining us like that...

      MetalGod

      Aug 28, 2014 at 7:24am

      He's right. I listenened the first 4 songs saying to myself... 'Man... it's the Maiden groove, it sounds like Maiden.' The songs are amazing no doubt, but I can see Dickinson saying all these songs. I don't think it's on purpose, but you hear the Maiden groove for sure. I googled Redeemer of souls Maiden just to see if I was the only one thinking that that then I found this page. The new Priest is amazing.

      Tim

      Oct 14, 2014 at 7:52pm

      All I know is March of the Damned could be an Ozzy single

      Jonas

      Dec 6, 2014 at 11:56am

      Interesting, but you know the composition of the song is not similar. Tune is more like Made In Hell from Halford's own RESURRECTION album, at least in feel and tempo, which I think is in turn an homage to Priest's own classic British Steel/Vengeance era like the song Steeler... (Of course this is their best era!)
      The doodly guitar part you describe as similar to the intro of Wasted Years is not enough to be a Maiden steal (or a Welcome To The Jungle steal right before the riff starts) in my opinion, and these bands are essentially derivative of each other anyways. If anything Maiden today are more of an original band than they first were, and Priest is for me kind if boring now in their composition and lyrics, maybe because I liked them better as a classic hard rock band with an early metal edge.