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Although different from Halford’s debut solo effort, Crucible serves up that perfect Halford crunch we all know and love. Crucible is harder, darker, and more brooding than Resurrection. With his unforgettable vocal style the CD is of course reminiscent of both Judas Priest and Fight, but more modern, dark, and moody then its predecessors.

It starts with “Park Manor, an instrumental opening that is 1:11 long, which just happens to be my favorite number. It’s followed by the title track, “Crucible” that just oozes heaviness. Dark melodies abound in moments such as “The Will” a fast paced but melodic rocker that next drops into a shredding anthem “Betrayal” full of ferocious drums and thrash guitar. An incredible track that showcases much diversity is "Hearts of Darkness", which has kind of a middle eastern flavor that vaguely reminds me of Led Zeppelin‘s “Kashmir.” with its own unique flavor.

Another of my favorites was the striking “Crystal” an anthem to the soul stealing evils of white powder that has a hook laden chorus that stuck in my memory and sold me on this CD. More highlight tracks include one of the bonus tracks, the sweeping epic "She," the haunting "Trail of Tears," and I especially liked "Wrath of God," and "Golgotha,” a song that showcases Rob’s supreme vocal power and intensity.

His vocals run the gamut from melodic, screeching, screaming, emotional, and finally pure brutality. Let’s not forget the skill of Halford’s other bandmates; with excellent guitar work by Pat Lachman and Mike Chlasciak, they blend complex rhythms while still managing to stay founded in that old school thrash sound. Not to be outdone is the heavy and crunch laden low end handled by Ray Riendeau. Shredding drums and intense, furious double kick percussion is pounded out by Bobby Jarzombek.

The production (produced by Roy-Z), sound, and delivery of this album is top rate, it’s a combination of old school thrash blended with crunchy metal. This album is not for the light hearted “whatever’s on the radio now” type, it’s for a true metal connoisseur. If the screaming guitars don’t get you then the subject matter might, for lyrically they tackle themes such as religious intolerance, the futility of existence, isolation, and drug abuse just to name a few. At 51 years old Halford shows he still lays claim to his heavy metal throne and proves that real metal doesn’t age, it just gets better.