TORONTO - The French seer Nostradamus predicted many things over the course of his life.

But the idea of a British heavy metal band using him as the basis for a new concept album was probably something he never saw coming.

On Wednesday night at Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre, Judas Priest closed out the rather loud and heavy evening of the current Metal Masters tour by using a large backdrop of Nostradamus before getting into their 80-minute set with Dawn Of Creation/Prophecy.

Led by singer Rob Halford, Judas Priest kept the new songs to a minimum and relying on classic metal warhorses to win over the fist-pumping, head-banging throng filling most of the venue. Halford, decked out in leather and studs, spent most of the night pacing the stage, giving the occasional wave and sounding a bit more like AC/DC's Brian Johnson in terms of belting out some lyrics.

"Hello Toronto, the Priest is back," Halford said following Metal Gods from 1979's British Steel album. From there, it was relatively smooth sailing with guitarists K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton and bassist Ian Hill rather stationary but still delivering the goods with some well-worn

Using a few flags, a series of curtain backdrops which changed depending on the song or album in question and drummer Scott Travis high above on the multi-leveled stage, Judas Priest hit their stride during Between The Hammer And The Anvil as Halford still showed his strong pipes but in slightly shorter spurts during this tune and Breaking The Law.

While Angel was nothing more than a breather, the group gathered up steam for The Hellion/Electric Eye and especially for the set closing Painkiller as Halford spent most of the beefy, brawny and high-tempo track hunched over and shrieking the lyrics, looking a bit spent afterwards.

All he needed was to get back on his motorcycle for the encore which he did, making a grand entrance for Hell Bent For Leather and The Green Manalishi. It was a brave act given Halford's history with motorcycles on Toronto stages after injuring himself at a Toronto concert in the early '90s.

Judas Priest certainly had their work cut out for them following Heaven And Hell's performance. The group, featuring Black Sabbath members in guitarist Tony Iommi and bassist Geezer Butler as well as the elfin, age-defying vocalist Ronnie James Dio, nearly stole the show with hard, meandering but classic metal arrangements courtesy of Dio's dynamic wails and Iommi's mastery of the axe.

Using 1980's Heaven And Hell album as well as the following year's Mob Rules to mine nuggets, Heaven And Hell nailed the lengthy Children Of The Sea and especially during Die Young and the finale Neon Knights which made the globes and supposedly menacing-looking creatures used as props forgivable.

And you know that it is indeed a Metal Masters show when Motorhead kick off their set at the ungodly, oops, un-Satanic time of 6:30. Their notorious loud shows ensured that they would be heard not just in the venue but in most of the GTA.

Regardless, the trio fronted by Lemmy Kilmister set the bar high with Killed By Death, the trademark Ace Of Spades, the strong Killers and the rollicking Overkill which was anything but to fans of the band who still adhere to the idea of "everything louder than everyone else."