Jugulator

Jugulator is the thirteenth studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was released in Japan on 16 October 1997 and the rest of the world on 28 October 1997. It is the first album of brand new material since 1990's "Painkiller" and the first of two studio albums the band recorded without Rob Halford, featuring replacement vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens.

Lyrical content

The lyrics dealt with harsher themes than previous releases, including the eponymous mechanized demon which disembowels its prey, and the end of the world in the song "Cathedral Spires." The guitars were also tuned down as low as C# and C, making a shift from the speed metal and traditional heavy metal elements of Painkiller to a more thrash/groove metal-oriented sound.

The entire album seems to describe the ending of the world, from the coming of the Jugulator ("Jugulator"), to the actual ending of it ("Cathedral Spires"). Songs like "Dead Meat," "Decapitate" and "Burn in Hell" all describe the evils that humans do. In the end, the evil deeds are so great in number that it consumes and destroys the world.

Jugulator (mammal)

Jugulator is a genus of extinct mammal from the Cretaceous of North America. A eutriconodont, it is known from the Cedar Mountain Formation, and is both a large sized and possibly ecologically specialised taxon, showcasing the diversity of mammals in the Mesozoic.

Description

Jugulator is known primarily from isolated teeth and dentaries. The species is most distinctive in regards to its large size, being among the largest mammals in the region, some lower molars exceeding 5 mm in length and with an estimated body weight of about 750 g. The medial lower incisor is greatly enlarged, with a mitten-shaped crown that bears sharp cutting surfaces.

Phylogeny

Always recognised as an alticonodontine eutriconodont, the most recent phylogenetic studies recover Jugulator as part of a clade also including Volaticotherium, Ichthyoconodon and Argentoconodon.

Biology

Jugulator is noted as being a rather large mammal for Mesozoic standards. Combined with the general adaptations for carnivory that eutriconodonts display, it is safe to say that it was a predator of other vertebrates like mammals, lizards and small dinosaurs. Other large eutriconodonts like Repenomamus and Gobiconodon show evidence of scavenging and direct predation on such creatures, so it is likely that Jugulator also displayed these behaviours.