When I got the assignment to review this one, I made the same sound I make when I step in cat puke in the middle of the night on my way to the bathroom. I've never been a fan of KK's guitar playing, going back to a time in the past when MTV used to play full concert videos on Friday nights. I distinctly remember the two separate guitar solo sections where TIPTON and DOWNING were given a chance to play unaccompanied. Where TIPTON displayed a technical mastery of the instrument and keen sense of inventiveness and originality in his melodic execution, DOWNING was the epitome of wankery, playing a barrage of nonsense and a juvenile overuse of the whammy bar and effects.

Nothing about my initial impressions about his soloing ability has changed in the intervening years and this album is certainly not a redemptive statement in this area. The majority of the leads on this album are wheedly-wheedly-wheedly WHEE! cliches of fast playing that you used to have to suffer through on a weekend of shopping at suburban music stores. My brain automatically replaces his solos with the voice of TOKI WARTOOTH saying, "Look at mees! I can plays the leads guitars TOOS!!"

This and the self indulgent douche-baggery of putting KK and PRIEST in the band's name are the absolute low points of this whole project. But despite all that is cringe-worthy here- that's the only real complaints I have. KK's PRIEST delivers a surprisingly rock solid album, full of the mid-tempo rockers that one would expect from one of the most iconic and legendary figures from metal history. Where DOWNING fails as a soloist, he excels at writing catchy riffs and chunking chord progressions. He also is remarkably talented at writing exemplary lead HARMONY sections and it is mind boggling that no producer has ever reigned him in and said, "Play THIS during your lead break!"

None of the material on this album can compare to PRIEST at their best but it is definitely in league with PRIEST at their average level of songwriting and that's good enough for most metalheads. Lyrically, there's not a whole lot of poetry here and calling a motorcycle a, "heavy metal horse" should qualify for an automatic HALFORD bull-whipping but vocalist TIM OWENS delivers the standard themes of brotherhood, unity, and metal lifestyle with conviction and enthusiasm. The two standout tracks are, "Hellfire Thunderbolt" and "Raise Your Fists" - both anthemic, arena rockers that are sure to electrify any crowd.

Biggest surprise of the album is bassist, TONY NEWTON who weaves upper melodies into his bass fills that perfectly accent the music without abandoning the supportive role his lines supply throughout the rest of the songs. Overall, if you are a fan of DOWNING, you will love this. The songwriting, production, and playing is like driving a nail into a board with one strike. If you are a detractor and look at this as a PRIEST album with one and a half members- that's still pretty good and you can't deny that it's a good album for this style of foundational metal music. And considering KK just turned SEVENTY YEARS OLD - that's pretty damn good.