Beyond Fear

Tim Ripper Owens is best known for his time fronting Judas Priest. He became the new vocalist for the band when Rob Halford left in the ’90s and proved himself to be a fantastic replacement. When Halford returned, he found his way into the vacant vocal seat in Iced Earth, although he had aspirations to start his own band too. Well, it has taken five years longer than anticipated, he’s made good on his promise by starting Beyond Fear. The band aren’t too different from what he’s been involved with the last ten years. This self-titled album is strong, well-constructed power metal that doesn’t fall far from the tree. This can be seen as the logical extension of what Ripper was doing with Priest. Obviously his vocals are the focus here, but musically his backing band are very tight and can play. Recorded in Florida at Morrisound with Jim Morris handling the duties, this will definitely be something that fans of his previous work will be very interested in checking out. It doesn’t offer anything new, but it’s nice to see this talent stand on his own laurels.