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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 3:10 pm 
 

Image

https://judicatormetal.bandcamp.com/alb ... y-of-decay




Quote:
Two years on from their 2020 full-length Let There Be Nothing, JUDICATOR have today returned and announced their forthcoming sixth studio album, The Majesty of Decay, set for release via Prosthetic Records on November 25. Refreshed and revitalized, the US power metal group are now primed and proud to share the lead single and accompanying music video, The High Priestess.


After almost a complete lineup change since the last one it was expected this would be different and this first single sure is... uh, wow.
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 5:05 pm 
 

I uh. Alright? There's a little too much going on? And I was just finishing up Let There Be Nothing for like, the 6 th time in the last few days lol. This is odd. It's not bad. Just strange.
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LordOfTheGallows
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 5:08 pm 
 

That barely sounds like Judicator yeesh. Not really digging that.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:04 pm 
 

I can't stop listening to it, but I'm not sure if it's because I hate it or love it. Either way, it's unique as hell and a bold fucking move to put out something this wacky as a lead single.
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:12 pm 
 

So Judicator apparently said that this was the only song on the album thats like this and the next single would be Blind Guardian like. High hopes.
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Sestren
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 6:49 pm 
 

Is this hipster power metal? Lol

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Rodman
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:10 pm 
 

This is hot garbage. Certainly not the Judicator I came to know and love.

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:24 pm 
 

This was something... I honestly never really paid much attention to them before, thought they were alright but not really that exciting. This was definitely different anyway.
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Rodman
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:34 pm 
 

Empyreal wrote:
This was something... I honestly never really paid much attention to them before, thought they were alright but not really that exciting. This was definitely different anyway.



I was underwhelmed by Let There Be Nothing, but only because I absolutely loved The Last Emperor - strong mid-90s Blind Guardian vibes on that record. A power metal aficionado such as yourself should give it another chance.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:41 pm 
 

I feel the same way. Last Emperor is honestly a top 20 all time power metal album for me, though nothing else they've done has really grabbed me.
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:46 pm 
 

Rodman wrote:
Empyreal wrote:
This was something... I honestly never really paid much attention to them before, thought they were alright but not really that exciting. This was definitely different anyway.



I was underwhelmed by Let There Be Nothing, but only because I absolutely loved The Last Emperor - strong mid-90s Blind Guardian vibes on that record. A power metal aficionado such as yourself should give it another chance.


I don’t get it. I’m the only who thinks LTBN is there best album. Gloria, Let There Be Nothing, The Way of the Pilgrim are fantastic.
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Ex El Ex El Ex
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:51 pm 
 

I only heard The Last Emperor from these guys and thought it was competent yet terribly unremarkable BG worship. New song is... not that, for sure, but also not better. Worse, really.
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Frank Booth
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:04 pm 
 

Pretty sure Alicia was the primary writer, so there was bound to be a shift. It kind of sounds like Balmore's writing with NovaReign.

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Empyreal
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 8:14 pm 
 

Rodman wrote:
Empyreal wrote:
This was something... I honestly never really paid much attention to them before, thought they were alright but not really that exciting. This was definitely different anyway.



I was underwhelmed by Let There Be Nothing, but only because I absolutely loved The Last Emperor - strong mid-90s Blind Guardian vibes on that record. A power metal aficionado such as yourself should give it another chance.


They had so many albums I didn't give all of them a shot, so maybe I'll give that a try soon. I'm not really into bands where you can pinpoint a specific influence so easily, but who knows... I think I tried the last album before this and it was pretty decent.
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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:12 pm 
 

Yeah, this is a pretty rough listen. I can’t wait for them to blame “closed-minded metalloids” instead of it just being an awkwardly arranged song. Even if it’s not all this bad, I’m pretty sure Alicia took all the good riffs with her. Looks like Yelland wrote the music himself and we’re in for a doozy.
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:26 pm 
 

Twisted_Psychology wrote:
Yeah, this is a pretty rough listen. I can’t wait for them to blame “closed-minded metalloids” instead of it just being an awkwardly arranged song. Even if it’s not all this bad, I’m pretty sure Alicia took all the good riffs with her. Looks like Yelland wrote the music himself and we’re in for a doozy.


I dunno John doesn’t seem like that kind of guy.
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Frank Booth
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:04 pm 
 

I also think this is 100% Balmore's writing, Alicia is a USPM and thrash lover at heart who just happens to be good at writing Blind Guardian/Persuader-style tunes, while Balmore is a prog fan at heart who loves his BRPM.

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LycanthropeMoon
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:13 pm 
 

The fact that this is different isn't what bothers me. I just think it's kinda meh.

Loved "The Last Emperor".
Thought "Let There Be Nothing" was pretty good too but it's definitely a bit of a grower.

Also, I'm thinking the major reason for such a massive line-up change was the fact that Yelland swung hard to the right. I imagine it's hard for a trans woman to be around someone with politics like that... I'd quit the band too.

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Frank Booth
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:21 pm 
 

Yelland does plug Project: Roenwolfe fairly frequently and seems to be at least somewhat cordial with Alicia.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 10:32 am 
 

Yeah, the rumors about him being transphobic don't seem to have any evidence behind them.

Though he was posting selfies of himself maskless in church during the height of the pre-vaccine pandemic which definitely made me judge the hell out of him.
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Benedict Donald
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 11:05 am 
 

narsilianshard wrote:
I can't stop listening to it, but I'm not sure if it's because I hate it or love it. Either way, it's unique as hell and a bold fucking move to put out something this wacky as a lead single.


LOL....I feel the same way. I kinda like it, although it's light years away from their prior work, which I love for different reasons.
Props to them for daring to be different.

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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 8:10 pm 
 

Yeah I honestly kind of like it after listening to it a few more times. I think the video threw me off more than the song.
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Sepulchrave
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 02, 2022 9:02 pm 
 

Sounds like bad Deep Purple style prog with modern metal production and europower vocals. Still, I really like At the Expense of Humanity, one of the best power metal albums of the decade for me.
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 12:28 pm 
 

Sepulchrave wrote:
Sounds like bad Deep Purple style prog with modern metal production and europower vocals.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what they were going for
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 3:28 pm 
 

New song - Ursa Major:



Slightly more straightforward than the last single, but still lots of dad-prog in there which I'm not too sure about.
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Benedict Donald
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 4:04 pm 
 

Hmmm, I kinda like it. I think. There's a lot going on here...it's an interesting road they've taken.

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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 4:35 pm 
 

Yeah it's completely different, it's not too bad. Dunno if I'll like the change compared to stuff like Let There Be Nothing but we'll see.
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Rosenthorn
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 4:37 pm 
 

On one hand, I think the hook in the chorus is pretty good and memorable, and there are definitely more Blind Guardian-isms than the last song, but the attempts at more progressive writing just don't flow well and lack the nuance that makes "good" prog good.
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Frank Booth
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2022 9:58 pm 
 

Yeah, I'm seeing the same problems that Balmore had with NovaReign - he's a great player, but really not that great a writer and also seems to jump straight to shredding whenever he comes up short on ideas. It's not BAD, but his prog ambitions exceed his ability to realize them as a writer.

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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2022 10:35 am 
 

Except Yelland wrote this song:

Quote:
Judicator vocalist John Yelland says, “I actually wrote the music for this song many years ago. I was working at a job I hated, but every morning before work, I sat in the car for 20 to 30 minutes and wrote music. These songwriting sessions were the only good part of my day. Even now, I still associate ‘Ursa Major’ with the morning time and caramel lattes.

https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2022/10 ... rsa-major/
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:40 pm 
 



It’s so disjointed. Also I dunno if it’s just me but the vocals on LTBN sound so much better.
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Demon Fang
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2022 8:30 pm 
 

The whole entire album had me going between "this is a grower" and "this is a bunch of half-finished songs". There are some nice riffs and a couple of the songs still have that Judicator punch to them, particularly the title song and "Ursa Major". But more often than not, it did seem like it either just rode on a merely decent/good groove without really picking up or hitting that sweet spot, you know what I mean? Not super duper on Yelland's new vocal style, and certainly not on the lack of his old grittier tone where it would've worked wonders.

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VaderCrush
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:20 pm 
 

the way you guys were reacting to this i was expecting it to sound like mr bungle playing power metal or something, but the only part that felt weird to me was how poorly thought out the vocals were. beyond that it's just mildly proggy power metal. not a fan

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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 24, 2022 11:56 pm 
 

So...yeah...I feel bad for John responding on youtube with the "ah dont worry the songs are better than the singles," etc because man this was boring. There's parts that drag on extremely long or are just there for you to go "oh my god get on with it" like the outro for "From The Belly Of The Whale." John's vocals are just so different from before and less powerful I think and there's nothing that really grabs you, besides maybe "Euphoric Parasitisim" and "Ursa Major" which is ok. It's not terrible of course but I was hoping for LTBN part 2.
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Twisted_Psychology
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2022 2:45 pm 
 

This isn't the trainwreck I was expecting it to be, but the structuring feels rather messy overall.
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 25, 2022 5:40 pm 
 

Relistening to it again, besides the fact that I've actually enjoyed listening to "The High Priestess," I think I'll raise my rating to a 70% instead of a 60. It's just sort of disjointed.
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 03, 2022 1:59 pm 
 

What a fascinating album. It definitely doesn't all work, with a bit too much bloat and ideas that don't quite reach their potential, but it's ambitious as hell and there are some truly incredible parts. Good on them for trying something new. Experimental power metal isn't something that should be a thing, and they got really close to nailing it.
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narsilianshard
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 5:47 pm 
 

In related news, Alicia, who left after recording Let There Be Nothing, just announced she has written the spiritual successor to The Last Emperor, and it will be featuring other former members of Judicator. The demo clip sounds fucking incredible:

https://twitter.com/Allie_In_Chains/sta ... 2267613186
https://twitter.com/Allie_In_Chains/sta ... 5724737536
https://twitter.com/Allie_In_Chains/sta ... 1530061824
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Zelkiiro
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 9:14 pm 
 

I liked this album more than their previous one.

/shrug
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ChildClownOutlet
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 06, 2022 11:32 pm 
 

narsilianshard wrote:
In related news, Alicia, who left after recording Let There Be Nothing, just announced she has written the spiritual successor to The Last Emperor, and it will be featuring other former members of Judicator. The demo clip sounds fucking incredible:

https://twitter.com/Allie_In_Chains/sta ... 2267613186
https://twitter.com/Allie_In_Chains/sta ... 5724737536
https://twitter.com/Allie_In_Chains/sta ... 1530061824



Sounds somewhat closer to Let There Be Nothing, which is great since that's my favorite Judicator album. Good albums from the main band plus the former bandmates new band are always a plus.
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