Tag: judas priest (Page 2 of 3)

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.

This was recorded on the Turbo tour where Priest were at the height of their powers, a full on arena band. Turbo wasn’t that well received, in Europe at least, as most reviews gave it the thumbs down and they were accused of selling out and going soft. The band obviously believed in it as there are four songs represented here. If you have seen Priest live you know they put on one hell of a show, and they still do today.

This is a great live album, you get all the hits and more. Not a lot of old Priest, but the song choices are spot on and work together really well as a set. I’m going to pick Turbo Lover as my favourite as it works so well in a live setting, and the crowd always goes nuts for it. Priest are all about the riffs and the groove, and they give the crowd exactly what they want. It’s sad to see Glenn Tipton struggling with his illness today and his performance on this album shows what a great player he is.

9/10 from The Grooveman.

Back in the mists of time, well ’78 to be exact, there wasn’t a whole lot of heavy metal bands around. Remember, this was before the NWOBHM had hit, Motorhead had just put out Overkill, and other than UFO and the Scorps, that was about it. So when Priest put out a new album it was an event. This was before cheesy Priest made an appearance, with Living After Midnight, United and Breaking The Law. For our American friends, this album was released as Hell Bent For Leather because of a controversy with a school shooting at the time. This version is the limited Mobile Fidelity audiophile release, and it sounds superb.

One thing you will notice if you follow Priest’s career, is how the guitar sound has changed to go with the times. This album, for instance, has that very seventies sound. Move on a few albums to Screaming For Vengeance and the difference is very striking, with what would be the ultimate Priest sound.

Within these grooves is what would eventually be Priest classics in their later Live sets. Their version of Fleetwood Mac’s, Green Manaleshi, is a great cover and a standard Live offering in most gigs they play today. The title track is classic Priest, short, sharp, and to the point – a great tune. Delivering The Goods is the opening track and possibly my favourite. Halford’s voice never got better than on this album. The screams were oh so high, and Rob’s knack at writing great melodies and hooks is so evident throughout the album. Killing Machine is the track that sees the band trying something a little different with the groove of the song. They would expand this more when it came to the Turbo album.

A classic Priest album that I still listen to quite often.

9/10 from The Grooveman.