19. Judas Priest / '98 Live Meltdown. 1998. 4.5/5.

After such a long time out of the public eye in the period between the end of the Painkiller tour and the release of Jugulator, it was a no brainer that the World Tour that followed would be recorded and released in order to show the world that Judas Priest still had what it took to be the great band they had been, and that the change in lead singer hadn’t changed that. And so the world received '98 Live Meltdown to do just that, and although fan reaction was missed, it still provided the comparison that we all needed in order to make up our own minds.

As with most live albums, there is a delicate balance to find between the new material you are touring on, the old material you would like to include, as the classic songs that cannot be left out of the set list no matter how many times they have been played. Here the job was all the more difficult, because the new album had a new lead singer in Tim “Ripper” Owens. So not only did they want to highlight the latest album thoroughly, to show the world that they could do justice to these songs that they had produced, but they wanted to show that their older material was still relevant to them and that Ripper could indeed do justice to it as well. Overall Judas Priest was able to do this, and with only a couple of exceptions pulled it off magnificently.
The majority of the songs played here off Jugulator sound better live. All of “Blood Stained” and “Burn in Hell” and “Death Row” are improved by the live versions, and the crowd interaction led by Ripper. It gives them a better atmosphere throughout. For me though “Bullet Train” is lacklustre here, and “Abductors” is only average. You can hear how much the band want you to like them, and Ripper’s energy singing ‘his’ songs certainly gives them an extra punch.
Elsewhere, the material really cooks. Every song off Painkiller is a triumph. Hearing “A Touch of Evil” and “Metal Meltdown” and “Night Crawler” alongside that album’s title track “Painkiller” in their live setting is a real treat, and Ripper does a great job. Add to that the classic elder statesmen of the set list “Beyond the Realms of Death” and “Victim of Changes” which both sound fantastic. “Metal Gods” and “The Sentinel” are favourites of mine and I really enjoy Ripper’s vocal versions. And once you get to the end of the album and have those great crowd favourites such as “Breaking the Law”, “Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)”, “Hell Bent for Leather”, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” and “Living After Midnight” where both the band and the crowd use all their energy it’s a great sound.
The main downside is the terribly disappointing version of “Diamonds and Rust”. The original Judas Priest cover version is legendary and is what set it apart from the original, but here the band goes back to just reducing this to an unplugged version, and it loses all of the Priest power. A poor choice in my opinion.

I still love this album. How can you not? It is full of Priest classics, and also gives you a smattering of the songs that made the era of the band that no one talks about anymore. If it wasn’t for two or three tracks, and that bum note version of “Diamonds and Rust” this would be a full marks live recording for me. It still acts as a great album because you get those Jugulator songs live that have disappeared forever from the reborn Priest formation.

Rating:  “What’s my name?!!”   4.5/5.