War of Words

Untitled Document Rob Halford left the ranks of Judas Priest in the early 90’s. One of his reasons for leaving the band was that he didn’t agree with the musical direction Judas Priest was going in. He wanted to break away from the British Heavy Metal mold and aim for more of an American Metal sound. When Halford decided to “resurrect” himself, he formed an aggressive power metal outfit called “Fight”. As for the style of the music, it’s a bit more intense than Judas Priest’s “Painkiller” album, both lyrically and musically. Also having recruited Judas Priest drummer Scott Travis to help him out on this project, the drumming technique is a natural but improved progression from the “Painkiller” album. At that time, Halford was very influenced by bands like Pantera, so the overall sound of the music is very tribal, almost technical sounding both in drums and guitars. Vocally, all of Halford’s trademark styles are showcased; from the low, subtle vocal parts to the painful “Screaming For Vengeance” like high pitched screeches. In fact, before Halford released “War of Words”, he recorded a song in 1992 with Pantera’s guitarist Diamond Darrell for the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” Movie Soundtrack called “Light Comes Out Of Black”. Unfortunately, the song was not included on Fight’s debut. The opening track, “Into The Pit” is the killingest of the killing tracks. It starts off with some kind of guitar effect. It gives me the vision of something evil coming out from the ground, like a demon from hell. Then all of a sudden, WHAM! A power chord starts off a simultaneous barrage of double kick drums to be followed by the classic Halford screeches. “Nailed To The Gun” continues the high-speed assault; the first single and video off of the album. “Life In Black” slows things down a bit, almost Black Sabbath like in tempo and sound. Other songs worth mentioning that are strong and angry in both tone and performance are “Kill It” and “Vicious”. An interesting note I must make here is that the album has 13 songs, even though there are only 12 listed on the CD and tracked by a CD player as 12. Within track 12, “Reality…A New Beginning”, is a hidden track called "Jesus Saves" that pops up with about 3 minutes left on the CD. Throughout the album Halford seems angry and pissed. “War of Words” is an adrenaline, pumping workout of double bass kick drums, dual guitar assaults and a wide range of Halford’s tremendous vocal power. This should be played at MAXIMUM VOLUME! After “War of Words”, Halford released two more albums under the Fight moniker: “Mutations”, an EP with live tracks and re-mixed versions from “War of Words”, and “Small Deadly Space”, a much rawer, almost grungier album. In 1997 Halford formed Two and released the album “Voyeurs”; a Trent Reznor produced record and Halford’s experimental attempt to make an industrial sounding album. Luckily for die-hard Halford fans, Rob would release the masterpiece of a comeback album “Resurrection” in 1999 to be followed by the flawless double live album “Live Insurrection”. Halford is metal’s God. He continues show fans his true roots and love for heavy metal music with a passion he’ll take to the grave.