I was glad when this popped up today, as I have been meaning to play the 180g version to compare it to the the OG copy I have. Roger Glover did a great job with the production way back in ’77, but I always thought Simon Phillips was a bit low in the mix. I’m not sure who did this remaster, but it sounds a lot brighter that’s for sure.
Killer opening track with Sinner. It has become a Priest metal classic that we all love, but just to show that they wanted to keep a foot in the rock camp, a cover of Joan Baez’ Diamonds And Rust was included. They always came across better live as they sound a bit like Styx, here especially with the vocal harmonies. If you listen to Starbreaker, Halford’s vocals are so good. He was metal way before the band. The track is just a straight forward hard rock romp, whereas the vocal is totally metal. The only two tracks that you could call metal today are the aforementioned Sinner and my favourite track Dissident Aggressor, which would be a perfect launch pad for what came next.
Not their best album, but it’s cool to see how the band developed their sound.
7.5/10 from The Grooveman.
