Review: Judas Priest 'Invincible Shield' (heavy metal) 

5/5 Heavy metal masterpiece. Favorite song: Crown of Horns. The reason for my high rating is because this is the first metal album I haven't gotten bored with after just a couple listens since the early 90s when I expanded my musical tastes into jazz, etc. It takes me right back to the mid 80s heyday when metal was still new and fresh. There's no filler on this album and the sequencing is perfect from start to finish. When I close my eyes, I feel like 14 years old again. Firepower was a huge step in the right direction, but Invincible Shield is a shockingly great album at this stage in their career.

The bonus tracks are killer you need the deluxe edition!

Giants In The Sky is exceptional. Amazing song.

I love it. Firepower and invincible shield is one helluva one-two punch!

This album packs a real gut punch! It gets better with every play. The power is incredible and shows the talent and versatility that this band still has. They have been my favourite band since I was 13, a very long time ago, and still just deliver. I have a feeling this album will be my favourite since Unleashed! Going to see them in Leeds UK on Wednesday and can't wait.

As of this moment my favorite is "As God Is My Witness." But "Serpent and the King" is right up there. There are so many good ones on this album that I cannot stop listening to it.

I just ordered it..will be my first Judas Priest album

A 5/5 for me. Best album since Defenders. Its a little higher than Firepower, but not by much. So many great tunes (Serpent and the King is my favorite as well) and the sequencing is soooo good. I can hear Ian on bass in the mix and he has some more adventurous lines I find.

They killed it in Glasgow last night on the first date of the tour as did Saxon. Rob and Biff are forces of nature and sound incredible for guys in their early 70s. Heep also really good, only played 5 songs so short but oh so sweet.

Extra track "The Lodger" is a real odd one, but really cool

Thanks Pete. Always a pleasure to be guaranteed such a measured and honest review. One of the many reasons SOT is approaching 100K subs. I agree with many of the comments here, the album repays repeat listens and is a strong modern effort from these legends. Very happy with the album.

I pretty much agree with what Pete says. On par with Firepower. Not getting into the hyperbole that it their best from the 80s but that’s more of how much I like Firepower. The fact that their last 2 albums are of this high quality for a band around this long is stunning and we have 2 of them doing it in Priest and Saxon. The only thing I really miss these days is the vintage production these bands had in the 70s and 80s. This album is produced well compared to other modern albums where everything is overproduced but it still has that glossiness and sheen that I’m not a fan of. I just wish some bands would go back to producing where you can hear a clear separation of instruments and the drumming sounds organic.

The Priest is back!!!

Pretty amazing and admirable that Priest is still delivering the goods in 2024

Listened to this and Firepower back to back. The new one is so much more dynamic sonically speaking. The compression on Firepower robs it of a lot of it's power. Glad they got it right here.

As much as I like Firepower, I think that I already like this one better. "Serpent..." is maybe my favorite, as well.

Liking the new album. I agree with Pete that The Serpent And The King is the high point. Rob sounds great.

Mr Halford simply defies time.

The Lodger (a bonus track) is my fave on the album! Amazing song with very unique construction to it!

I love this new Judas Priest and am glad I bought the deluxe version of the cd from Target!

Thanks for the review, Pete. Always interesting to hear your opinions about new metal albums.

Going to see Priest, Saxon and Heep in Birmingham next week. It’s going to be special.

I really was a little skeptical about a new album because Firepower was that good to me. Thankfully, this album is on par. I enjoy it more with each listen. For the moment, I like Firepower a little more but this one could surprass it. A good problem to have. lol

Picked up the CD yesterday, along with the new Dickenson album. Listened to it last night. Fantastic album! The production is great and Halford sounds so good, as always. Lovin' it \m/ BTW, "The Mandrake Project" is pretty good too.

Great! Good review, waiting to check them out live June here in Finland!

I've only listened to this album twice, but it sounds fantastic so far. It usuaslly takes quite a few listens for me before I can compare it to their other albums. However, no matter how many times I listen to this new album, it will be hard to compare it to their 70's and 80's releases, due to the nostalgia factor of those ealier albums.

Phenomenal album. In my opinion best priest album since Ram it down (Yes i know). I like this album on first listen better than the first listen of firepower. I’ve listened to this 8 times already and can’t get enough of it. Every song is a 100% killer. I’ll have to go to Barnes and noble and purchase a copy today.

Thanks Pete, great to know you give the new Invisible Shield from Priest the thumbs up! That’s all I need to know!

Incredible record over 50 years on. Fantastic review.

Listened to it three times so far and it gets better with every listen. I like it a little more than Firepower. Can’t wait to see them when they come my way in April!

Got mine today on shocking pink vinyl. And I'm loving it 🎸

Played it all day today, it’s Fantastic! BTW I’ve been a priest fan since Screaming and have seen them multiple times in my life.

Deserves all the praise. Other legacy bands putting out new stuff(Iron Maiden) should take note. Energy, riffs , bangers, fun. Not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Can’t wait to see them again, this coming Wednesday. With Saxon and Uriah Heep as Support Bands. Thanks for the review Pete.

8.5/10 My JP ranking: 1 Painkiller 2 Vengeance 3 Stained 4 Defenders 5 Sad Wings 6 British 7 Hell Bent 8 Sin After sin 9 Invincible 10 Firepower

Totally with you on this one Pete... two listens through and absolutely loving this album... definitely makes me think of the Screaming and Defenders era a lot...

Good review, enjoy the channel a ton. I love this album, it totally kicks @ss. Funny thing is Crown of Horns is one of my favorite songs on the album...great chorus and love the intro. Not a bad track on this one. Also, you are missing out on the bonus tracks, they are all good especially "The Lodger".

Great review, Pete. I think it's a crushing, classic Judas Priest album. Can't understand some of the negative comments here. Every review I've seen has been giving it high ratings. Like you always say, we all hear things different. But damn, this is tremendous!

One of their best albums. The only reason their older albums are "better" is nostalgia. Invincible Shield is easily in their top 3 albums of all time

I like the album a lot. I’m finding myself wanting to listen to it again, again.

Awesome album. Going to see them this Friday in Dublin.

Great album! Judas Priest (and Saxon) are both having an amazing late career resurgence. Iron Maiden take note! 🤘🎸🤘

Another awesome video has always keep collecting your cds and heavy metal 🤘🏻💀🤘🏻🎸🎸🎸🎸🎤

looking forward to getting it Pete. Love the Seconds Out shirt, the greatest prog live album of all time bar none. People always wonder why I can love the Priest and love Genesis. Check my mood and that's the answer. OK just listened to Invincible Shield. What a powerful piece of music. Priest is back!

I was really amazed at how good this is. Top 5 Priest albums for me.

Great review. - Give us the bonus review of the 3 bonus tracks. Good year for Metal so far.

I have been listening to Judas Priest for 35 years now. I have all the albums including the very first ones and I can say I know Judas Priest discography really well. This album took me by surprise. I did not expect they would be able to deliver such a fantastic album in 2024. I have been listening to it over and over for the past 3 weeks and I can say that the more I listen to it, the more I like it. In the begining, I thought it was quite close to the quality of Screaming for Vengeance which is my favorite album from JP. Now I think I like it as much as SFV. Invicible shield had something more, it's like a synthesys of all what JP sound has been over the decades, whith a huge versatility in sounds and inspirations. The production is massive, the guitars riffs come direct from hell and Rob is singing like he is in his prime. This is the definition of heavy metal. I give it a 10 out of 10.

Just finished listening to the Deluxe album. Was a very solid album! Halford amazed me how good he still sounds. Great riffs, some good choruses.

Get the Target edition the 3 bonus tracks are great and some of my favorites

Great album. Even though slower I can’t get crown of horns out of my head. Love that most of the album is rockin. Feels firepower painkiller and screaming for vengeance. 4.5. My 12 year old daughter likes it too!

Great review. I've listened five times so far and feel it's the best of the Faulkner era. I'm not sure if it reaches the level of albums I view as classics (Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, Stained Class, Hell Bent, British Steel, Screaming, Defenders, and Painkiller) but it's definitely awesome.

Love it!❤❤❤ welcome home fellas. 👍👍🤘🤘

That shirt! Beautiful. Also, I love this album after a few spins.

Great album!! It rocks!! I got the 14 track version of the CD! The extra tracks are: 'Fight Of Your Life', 'Vicious Circle', and 'The Lodger'. Killer songs! I know everybody is hyped about this album. But, there's another cool album that came out not to long ago. The Rods "Rattle The Cage". I wish Pete would have reviewed it.

I’ve heard Invincible Shield a few times so far. I loved it on my first listen and I love it about the same right now. I really like the constant high energy on this album; it makes it feel alive and powerful in a way that even Firepower didn’t (and I really love Firepower). Halford’s vocals sound amazing, especially considering his age. And the guitar work is killer across the board, with incredible solos on almost every song and a guitar tone that might just be my favorite of any JP album. I had a pretty hard time figuring out which song here is my favorite because so many are equally great. Right now, I think that “Trial by Fire” is my favorite, with other strong favorites being “Panic Attack,” “The Serpent and the King,” “Devil in Disguise,” and “Giants in the Sky.” My main critique of the album is that there isn’t much musical diversity; 90% of the album is the same style of fast, energetic, and heavy, with standard metal riffs that have been used hundreds of times before. My secondary critiques are that the bass is extremely quiet in the mix, and the lyrics are really bad on songs like the title track and “Crown of Horns” in my opinion. Thankfully, the music overall is very good and fun to listen to, so I forget about my own critiques while I’m listening. Overall, I really like Invincible Shield, though maybe not quite as much as Firepower due to its focus on one sound. It’s still a top 8 JP album for me and I’d give it an 8.5 out of 10.

I'm a Priest head since 1980 12yrs old. I enjoy every Priest album. Invincible Shield is everything I love about all those Priest albums rolled up into one. That includes the bonus tracks, they are growing on me.

Great review, new album is fantastic!

The entire album is freaking 🔥!

Great album, got the UK cd with hand signed artwork sheet. Then saw them Saxon and Uriah Heep in Leeds on Wednesday, excellent gig.

Still waiting on my copy. Like the tracks I've heard so far. I really enjoyed Firepower and saw them on that tour, with Deep Purple. They'll be coming this way in May, so I'll likely try to see them again.

Just saw them live on this tour Amazing 😎🤟

There's a deluxe version of the album at Target. It rules! I have Apple music and it was added to my library Friday morning. I was cranking it as I was getting ready for work on Friday. Great way to start my Friday morning!

Best Judas Priest album since Defenders of the Faith 🤘

This is a really great album! Id say the best one at least since they got back together in 05! Thankful that we still have the Metal Gods bringing us new tunes! Thanks for the great review Pete! Giants in the Sky Title track Gates of Hell Trial by Fire Panic Attack all highlights for me! I like the couple bonus cuts Lodger and Vicious Circle too!

Great review Pete. I opted to pick up the Target exclusive version for the extra tracks & the packaging which is better. I agree that As God As My Witness would have fit on Painkiller. For me I feel like this album is the best of the 3 that Richie has played on (which have all been excellent). After several listens I would put this album right next to Painkiller which places it in my top 5 Priest albums.

Great album 8/10 for me. Can you do a deep dive with the other squares? Seeing them live with Saxon and Uriah Hero on Wednesday in Leeds UK 🤘🏻

Make sure to get the bonustracks. Very good stuff!

Hey, just to let you know that Target has the deluxe edition with 3 bonus tracks and much better packaging with the cd not falling out. The bonus material is really good. The first reminds me of the point on entry or hell bent for leather album. Second is vicious circle reminds me of newer mid speed song but great firepower feel. The lodger is very different to all the song but heavy a slow pace song. Its great for sure.

I purchased this album on Saturday the day after its official release. I had watched some interviews with the band promoting the new album the day before and made up my mind that I had to buy it the next day. Well, you could say I went all out. The only copy that was left available at the music store was a limited edition 2 red heavyweight vinyl records (minus the bonus tracks) and it was not cheap, but I thought to myself ''Well hey I came here for the album, and I don't want to leave the store without it so let's roll the dice and take a leap of faith.'' and that was what I did. I love the packaging and the artwork just screams Judas Priest right back at you, so I placed it on the turntable when I arrived home and sat down and read along to the lyrics and after it was finished, I was not certain as to what my opinion overall was? I loved the previous album Firepower and thought to myself that would be a hard album to follow up on but of course I am willing to give this a fair trial. After a few more spins on the turntable, I must admit this album has really grown on me and I don't mind the fact now that I spent what most folks would probably consider to be too much for just one album. Does it surpass Firepower? I cannot say at the moment but let's give it some time.

I've been listening non stop to this album since it came out, and my 11 year old son loves it too. His favourite tracks are Trial By Fire and Devil In Disguise. I like those ones but also Gates Of Hell, Panic Attack, and Giants In The Sky. For the latter, I also like that it's a tribute to Lemmy and Dio

Great review Pete. 8/10 from me. Probably my favourite JP album since defenders. Trial by fire, as god is my witness & gates of hell being my picks for standout tracks. 👍

The new Priest album is amazing! Love the Genesis shirt too! Very diverse musical tastes like myself :)

I’ve listen to this album once and I really enjoyed it from start to finish I agree with everything you said Pete. I would give this album 4.5/5 probably their strongest album since Painkiller

Great review Pete. Been getting great reviews and the odd negative one. What peed me off on certain reaction channels was they are not fans of Priest but got on board a bit with Firepower then moaned about production on earlier albums Halfords tone bla bla etc etc. L think it's awesome. Bought the full package cds, lps, picture discs and cassette etc💯💯💯💯🤘🤘🤘

Can't stop listening to it love it seeing them in April

Going to see Priest / Saxon / Heep Wednesday night in Leeds UK. Cracking line up

Love all the different views/opinions on here. Mine is that this is JP's best album since Stained Class and/or Painkiller. Cut me some slack - I'm 59 and first saw Judas Priest in March 1978 at the Music Hall in Aberdeen Scotland.

Pete, you have to check out the extra songs on the deluxe edition. Fight for Your Life has serious Stained Class vibes and Vicious Circle is another banger. The Lodger is very different but still pretty interesting.

I'm loving it!

I made the mistake of ordering that version also but the 3 extra songs on the Target version are definitely worth having. I’ve only listened to them twice but 2/3 of them are definitely as good as everything else on the album. So now I guess I’ll have two version.

Panic Attack - 9.5/10 The Serpent and the King - 9/10 Invincible Shield - 9.5/10 Devil in Disguise - 7.5/10 Gates of Hell - 9.5/10 Crown of Horns - 9.5/10 As God is My Witness - 9.5/10 Trial By Fire - 9.5/10 Escape from Reality - 8/10 Sons of Thunder - 8.5/10 Giants In the Sky - 9.5/10 Fight of Your Life - 7.5/10 Vicious Circle - 7.5/10 The Lodger - 8/10 It is an excellent album. Overall - 9/10. Firepower is slightly better. But an incredible record nonetheless. Way better than the other albums after Painkiller except Firepower.

Never been a huge Priest fan , but many reviews are positive so I may give this a listen.

Crown of Horns and As God As My Witness have been the songs that have been earworming my brain the most so far.

Another great album. I like Firepower a little more but not by much.

The Digi-Book has 3 bonus tracks [at least in Germany/EU], of which one is Fight for Your Life, which Judas Priest already released back in the 2001 Remasters series (which sound amazing). So I guess its a re-recording of that song, since I've not heard the album yet. I ordered the Digi-Book, as Priest is my all time favorite band!

I currently am enjoying the 11 track version. I may eventually get the Target version too. My favorites have been the title track and "Giants in the Sky" the most and I think the fact that this warranted a special two day early review from SOT is the equivalent of that extra half a point in your rating. ( I actually thought you guys might field a panel to review this like you did with Scorpions "Rock Believer" a couple of years back) Anyway...5 out of 5 from me.

Listened to it on Saturday.. Amazed by how fantastic Rob Halford sounds at his age.. That is a truly an achievement.. Band sounds Great as well.. 1st listen i wouldn't call it top notch Priest compared to the classics.. But i got the feeling that will improve over future listens.. Now i would give it 7/10 maybe higher to an 8/10.. Glad to have them back.. \m/ \m/

Judas Preist are definitely still fresh like the 70's and 80's

Loving the album. I wasn't sure they'd match Firepower but I might like it a little more. Their 70s sound peeks through a bit on some of these tracks, which is great.

Pete I agree this record is the best release since the 1980’s. It’s outstanding. “ Saturday night and the Priest is back !!!!

Took a few listens to really appreciate it but I love this album. I rate Firepower a bit higher still. Pete, would love to see you review the new Early Moods album - I know you dug their last one.

Cool. I’ll check it out today

My brother will be happy, he's been a huge Priest fan since the early days.

Loved Firepower and I'm digging the new album as well.

1st listen today. Totally digging it. Would've preferred a jewel case

I love it. Maybe I ll put only 12 songs instead of 14. But is so powerfull since track 1. Amazing that this guys are still teaching some lessons at 70...

My impression as a fan since78 is that the best songs are on level with their best. Halfords voice is great , not only screams . There are a few middle on the road songs too. But yes good to see them do it well

Good review. I love this album so far. I think it is the best since the 80s. I feel like a lot of people are afraid to say it and don’t know why. I feel this one has less fillers than some of their legendary albums.

i am truly impressed that a band like this can manage to put out an album of this quality this far into their career. I think many people would agree with it being on par with Firepower, another album I really love. What I miss as others have stated is the old school production. But it is not overproduced just sounds like a modern heavy metal album but a bit better than the drudge that some other legacy bands have been releasing IMO.

Richie Faulkner's guitar playing really shines on this album. It gives you that 1970's and 1980's Judas Priest feel to it. Rob Halford, as usual is the Metal God. Great vocals as always. The drumming by Scott Travis is also superb and helps to drive every song deep into metal madness. If you are an old fan and haven't heard this line-up of the band you should definitely do so. This albums grade is a solid A.