Tag: judas priest (Page 1 of 3)

This was the album where Priest decided that making the music heavier and METAL would be a good career move. I have seen a few online debates recently stating that Priest were NWOBHM. Well, they weren’t, but they were one hell of an influence on those bands and the band themselves definitely rode that wave.

I discovered Priest on this album and have been a fan ever since. I guess if you look at Priest now, they are barely recognizable to the Preist on this record. Yet, they still play Victim Of Changes, Ripper, and Tyrant live to this day. So, the band recognize what a major step this album was and how strong the songs are.

My favourite tune is Ripper, the song that gave birth to modern metal. It’s all there: the chugga riff and groove, the big vocal, and dark subject matter. A close call for favourite is Island Of Domination which expands on Ripper with a lot more drama to it. Of course this album is not perfect. Epitaph, where they try to do a Queen moment, is just a tad strange.

I still get a buzz when I play this 48 years later.

8/10 from The Grooveman.

Having lived with this album for a few weeks now, and having seen some of the reviews, you have to wonder if people really listen to records or if are they swept along with the social media sheep that just want to be part of the biggest gang? Now, to call this album the best since Screaming For Vengeance or even Killing Machine seems a bit outrageous on the face of it. Maybe we should split Priest’s career in two. The more commercial sounding era that ended with Ram It Down, and then the heavier beasts from Painkiller and beyond.

Now, I would definitely say this album is the best of the second period as it’s a more complete package, and Richie has definitely put stronger fuel in the Priest tank. It’s hard to see KK ever coming up with tunes like these. Now, I hold Killing Machine and Screaming in very high regard. That was such a great time to be alive and they meant so much, they were flag bearers at the time but I have to say this album stands shoulder to shoulder with both them. This is everything I want from a modern Priest album and it’s hard to believe that guys in their 70’s (not you Richie) can make an album like this.

For those of you that say they don’t write classic Priest chugga’s anymore, then you should listen to Gates Of Hell, that’s as classic as it gets. The thing that I really like is the melody is there even in songs as heavy as As God Is My Witness, and that’s what a lot of modern metal bands don’t do. My favourite tune is The Serpent And The King. Man, what a great great tune. Maximum riffing with a killer groove and a Rob is just a beast.

Well done JP, showing them how it’s done.

9.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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.

This would be Rob Halford’s last album with The Priest for nearly fifteen years. After this he went to play with his own projects Fight and Two, as he thought Priest were not heavy enough for him. Which, if you go and see them live now his raps about how metal Priest are is quite funny. But, I digress, as this album is a bit of a belter and probably the heaviest they had done up until this point.

I mean, Painkiller, the opening track is a monster of a tune. Right from Scott Travis’ pounding of the kit at the intro, you know this is gonna be a beaut. Halford is giving it the beans and that twin guitar onslaught is the best in the biz. When people mention their favourite Priest albums nearly everyone says Screaming For Vengeance, and it is one hell of an album, but Painkiller is very rarely mentioned at all and that astounds me as I think this pushes it all the way. It’s really hard to pick a favourite tune as I like it all, but today I will say it’s Night Crawler as it has a nod to old Priest as well as sounding all metallurgy and shiny.

A deserved…

10/10 from the Grooveman.