A lot of people have been waiting a very long time for this album.
Has it been worthwhile? Emphatically yes.
There is a little of everything in here. Hard rockers, thrashers, a ballad and finally an epic. The music is recognisably Priest encompassing the many facets that make up their best work. Towards the end of Rob Halfords original tenure with the band I felt they veered to much towards the then current vogue for thrash metal. No fear of that here as nearly everything has an underlying melody complementing the razor sharp instrumental work.
I suspect that opinion will be divided over the final track of the ten. This is Lochness, just over 13 mins devoted to a creature in a Loch North of me. Personally I could not stop chuckling by the time the chorus kicked in and found it slightly comical. This does not detract from the strength of the rest of the set. The first Priest album I ever heard an ungodly number of years ago was Sin After Sin, clocking in at just over 40 minutes. Angel of Retribution less the last track would be a similar length and no worse for it, but others I suspect will disagree and why quibble when the other nine tracks are excellent?
The package comes as a mini hardback booklet containing a 40 minute DVD interspersing interviews with the band discussing the reunion and live footage. The live performance can also be viewed on it's own. All of this is in widescreen looking and sounding great.