Fight - War of Words
(1993 - Epic)
(1993 - Epic)
You would think that Judas Priest would have given up the ghost after releasing 1986's super mediocre 'Turbo' and 1988's complete shit pile 'Ram it Down', but they didn't. In fact, it wasn't until after 1990's 'Painkiller', easily the second or third best Priest album and one of the finest metal albums ever recorded (but I digress, as the level of detail I am prepared to go into concerning the mighty Judas Priest catalog is a whole other article altogether), that the band - and by "the band" I mean singer Rob Halford - decided to call it quits (until 2004 of course, and again I must be forcefully reticent regarding the Tim "Ripper" Owens years and the albums which say "Judas Priest" on them, but are clearly not Judas Priest albums).
Anyhow, Rob Halford was not quite done making kick ass, epic metal records after splitting with Priest in ye olde 1992. As a certified forefather of heavy metal, he was pretty pumped about bands like Pantera who were taking the music to new levels of speed and heaviness. With this in mind, he assembled Fight from some seriously metal hired guns and topped it off with Priest and Racer X drummer Scott Travis, who is in possession of some of the most savage double-kick in all of metal and is thoroughly brutal and unstoppable. Thus, Fight was created and in 1993 they released 'War of Words', and it was good.
From about fifteen seconds into the album opener "Into the Pit", we are assured that Rob Halford never lost a step and has returned to pierce your eardrums with his signature scream while his new band, green and thirsty for blood, pummels the shit out of your entrails. Song after song is classic 1990's power metal, complete with hooky riffs and vast, technical solos that inspire involuntary air guitar freakouts. It was a new direction for Halford, but he still tread on familiar territory with catchy, almost radio-ready tunes like "Little Crazy" and "Nailed to the Gun". The title track gets a little political with its free speech message, but do not be distracted by such trivialities. 'War of Words' is meant to be listened to at maximum volume with minimum brain power.
For what it's worth, there are two other Fight releases. The first was an EP called 'Mutations' which has live tracks and some corny industrial remixes and is worth checking out overall. The live version of "Into the Pit" is worth the price of admission alone. It will make you want to run shit over in a truck. The second full length was called 'A Small Deadly Space', and it is not really worth checking out... frankly, it kind of sucked. However, there is a box set of all three discs, remastered, with a live DVD. If you find it cheap, buy it. Because Rob Halford is just that fucking metal.
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