Cheers for the welcome. That post has been a long time coming.
I suppose I can see how it polarized the fan base. Nostradamus was a real leap of faith for the band. A faith in each other, their abilities and in the their fan bases ability to go wherever they musically wanted to venture. This will come across as a criticism, and I suppose it is, but I find too often the critics of Nostradamus slag the effort because there are not enough speed metal genre songs on it; in short, it doesn't compare to Painkiller. Painkiller is a great album, but it was one of several musical peaks. SWOD, HBFL, UITE, BS, SFV, DOTF are others. If the fan of Judas Priest looks across those albums and the ones that I haven't mentioned, there are a ton of musical stylings. Most easily fit the metal mold that JP helped to design, but like Black Sabbath you can't pick one or two songs and say this is what they sound like across the years. They grew and explored. If they hadn't, I don't think I would own every album.
Nostradamus is like a survey of the history of Judas Priest, but done with all new songs. The first side is as close to perfection as I can imagine. The music just rolls from song to song and the intros/outros allow for the shifts in sounds. The second album is a little on the uneven side, but Alone and the title track bring it all home in style. There are a couple of things one has to do if they are going to really give this album a chance and that is 1) listen to it from front to back with no breaks and 2) listen to it a few times. You have to do #1 everytime you listen to it. This is not an album you can put the needle down on track 3 and get any satisfaction. I liked it a lot after my first listen, but I grew to love it by listen 5. The thing that surprised me, as someone nearing my half century on Earth, is that a heavy metal album could continue to impress me as long as this one has. It is my album of choice today, if I am choosing one by Judas Priest.
