You've Got Another Thing Coming

So, new Judas Priest record is not only a concept album about Nostradamus, it might be a twofer! That pretty much means that that thing is doomed to horrible flaming failure. Very few bands have successfully pulled off concept albums, even fewer double albums. Pink Floyd, who caught the great white whale and made an excellent two-disc concept album, are the obvious exception here, but Pink Floyd understood something that a lot of modern bands just don't: the story is always subordinate to the music. If you have a truly great, fascinating story that you absolutely must tell, and it isn't served best by setting it to music, write a damn novel. Musicians are obviously most comfortable working within the realm of music, so when they have the need to get these epic stories out, they go with a medium that just might not be the correct one for their vision. The Wall works because it's about, you know, a musician, so setting it to music was the right choice. Same with Ziggy Stardust. And, even though those have stories, the stories don't get in the way of the music. You can enjoy the songs individually without ever hearing the entire record. Hell, you can hear the entire album without even knowing that it's supposed to be a concept album. As much as I love Priest, and as great as their individual story songs are, I just don't think they're approaching this concept album with the right attitude. But hey, I would love to be proved wrong.