Judas Priest – Rocka Rolla (Remastered) (1974/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:27 minutes | 802 MB | Genre: Metal, Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Repertoire Records
Judas Priest Debut – Rocka Rolla – To Be Reissued In 50th Anniversary Set.From Judas Priest‘s professional entry into the world of recorded Rock and Roll on through their 19th set issued in 2024, the band has given 50 years of music to a rapt audience. Their first album is Rocka Rolla, a ten-track gem that gave the band little forward momentum upon its debut release for a small label. It wasn’t until their 3rd album, Sin After Sin, released on a major label (Columbia) that music gave the band the audience it needed and quested for. Issued in 1977, Sin After Sin propelled the band into the consciousness of metal enduring to this day. On November 22, Exciter Records (after a deal made with Gull Records), will reissue Rocka Rolla in a newly Remastered and Remixed form, the like that completely satisfies the original members after decrying the original’s lackluster sound. The new reissue will feature only the ten original tracks albeit in both Remastered and Remixed form. The DD version of Rocka Rolla will actually emerge earlier, expected on September 13 (tomorrow/today/now – whenever you read this).
A sketchy and underfocused debut, Rocka Rolla nonetheless begins to delineate the musical territory Judas Priest would explore over the remainder of the decade: frighteningly dark in its effect, tight in its grooves, and capable of expanding to epic song lengths. On the other hand, Rocka Rolla is also murkier, less precise and powerful in its riff attack, and more blues-based; the stylistic debts to Black Sabbath and Deep Purple are obvious at this juncture, although they would become much less apparent on subsequent releases. The compositions alternate between short songs and extended suites; some are decent, but overall they don’t establish a real direction and tend to plod aimlessly in many of the longer pieces. Mostly a curiosity for hardcore fans, Rocka Rolla definitely hints at Judas Priest’s potential and originality, but doesn’t always suggest the quantum leap in vision that would occur with their very next record. – Steve Huey
Tracklist:
1-1. Judas Priest – One For The Road (04:44)
1-2. Judas Priest – Rocka Rolla (03:24)
1-3. Judas Priest – Winter (02:59)
1-4. Judas Priest – Deep Freeze (02:07)
1-5. Judas Priest – Winter Retreat (01:32)
1-6. Judas Priest – Cheater (03:01)
1-7. Judas Priest – Never Satisfied (04:50)
1-8. Judas Priest – Run of The Mill (08:21)
1-9. Judas Priest – Dying To Meet You (06:17)
1-10. Judas Priest – Caviar And Meths (02:09)
