When Judas Priest’s 17-CD box set The Complete Albums Collection comes out next week, fans may notice that it’s not quite as complete as that title leads you to believe.
In fact, it’s missing two albums the British band made with Akron singer Tim “Ripper” Owens: 1997’s Jugulator and 2001’s Demolition.
Owens joined the legendary metal band after original singer Rob Halford quit and the group needed a replacement. And who better to front a new version of Priest than a guy who used to lead a Judas Priest tribute band in Akron, right?
Turns out all those people who had been listening to Priest since the late ’70s didn’t care much for Owens, even though his howls and screams sound remarkably like Halford’s.
Halford returned to the band for 2005’s Angels of Retribution, and Owens has since returned to Akron, where he still performs with various other projects, like Beyond Fear and Charred Walls of the Damned.
Apparently the band wants to forget that Owens was ever in the group, since the “complete” collection jumps from 1990’s Painkiller to Angels of Retribution, and the only way to buy Owens’ albums with the band are as imports. —Michael Gallucci
This article appears in Jan 11-17, 2012.
While Ripper was an adequate placeholder for Rob Halford, he was by no means Rob Halford.
Total insult to Tim. He can never replace Halford, but did step up to the plate to help them out. They should be ashamed to try to erase him from JP’s past.
I can’t even find the 2 albums here in Canada anywhere.
It might also have something to do with the fact that all 17 of these albums were released on Columbia and Epic, both are Sony labels, and the two with Ripper were on Atlantic labels which is part of Warner Bros. Group.