Fight - War Of Words

1993's debut of Fight the post Judas Priest band of Rob Halford was such blessing after the disappointing Painkiller album a few years previous. I never liked that album overall no matter how much I tried it just paled in comparrison to Turbo and Ram It Down. I'm not going to lie I really liked Turbo and I think Ram It Down has some great moments. All moving the Judas Priest machine forward to where Rob wanted to go with the band. This album is the inevitable culmination of the Painkiller sound but with the song writing chops that lacked on that record.

War Of Words opens with the face melting "Into The Pit" with Rob shrieking "Bear Witness To Treason" on the opening line which pretty much sums up what this album is about to deliver. The albums first single/video "Nailed To The Gun" is next which is one of Rob's best compositions to date. The trade-off solo of the song between Russ Parrish and Brian Tilse are near magical in their greatness with a slight nod to Tilse for his skills over Parrish's on the track.

The album plays forward in the very adept manner with Scott Travis ruling the roost from his throne. He's such a great drummer and his cohort Jay Jay is no slouch on the bass as they combine to create a great groove on the album. This record which starts off gangbusters does slow down a little with the best of the middle part being "Little Crazy" which actually saw a charting position on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart at  #21. Rob sounds about as demented as he's ever sounded on "Little Crazy" and that lends well to the dark groove the band laid down.

Track nine is "Contortion" which is one of the standout tracks on War Of Words. It's got another great riff grinding along with Tilse pulling co-lead vocal duties. But the jewel is "Kill It" this song has all the fist pumping, headbanging thrash-tastic heavy metal goodness one could ever ask for. I'm sure a few were injured while participating in the enjoyment of this track. This is a monstrous stomp and one of my favorite tracks to listen to on War Of Words.

The album has been remastered which improved the overall quality in sound. I'd recommend buying that version instead of the original on CD if you were going to do so. The band went even deeper into the nu-metal sounds on the sophomore album. But this one is a classic from a decade which didn't produce much great music post 1994.