Everyone knows Judas Priest. They are considered as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. They formed in 1968, and went through a few lineup changes until they got vocalist Rob Halford and released their first album, Rocka Rolla, in 1974. In their early years in the 70's, they put out a whole slew of albums. Sad Wings Of Destiny, Killing Machine, and Stained Class are just a few. But in 1980, they put out their most famous album, titled British Steel. British Steel is considered under-par when compared to albums like 1982's Screaming For Vengeance and 1984's Defenders Of The Faith, but the critics love it. Since Breaking The Law got some airplay, they headed their 1981 record Point Of Entry into a more commercial direction, and found out that this wasn't the way to go when they got a somewhat negative reaction from fans. Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith were the two albums released next. In 1986, Turbo was put out, and fans of Judas Priest hated it because they had actually put synths in their music. And not the good kind of synths used in the two classic Iron Maiden albums, Somewhere In Time and Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son. The commercial type of synths that every metalhead hated. Judas Priest had been one of the most popular New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands out there until Turbo. They tried to get back on top of the montain with Ram It Down, but it just flopped too. It seemed like Judas Priest would never redeem themselves ever. But in 1990, they did the unexpected. They released their heaviest album. Painkiller. 55 minutes of pure speed metal and thrash. This was their first album where there was pure metal. No hard rock. No rock. Just metal. And that's why Painkiller is adored by all fans of metal music. It's just a fast and fun ride that lasts 55 minutes. The title track begins with a powerful 20 second drum intro, and then a powerful riff comes in and blows you away. Halford's vocals are extremely high pitched, and at first, they got on my nerves, but then I grew to love them. This whole song is excellent, especially the instrument section.
There are many other stellar tracks. Metal Meltdown is a classic, along with the title track. Halford's vocals in the chorus are extremely catchy. This is a song that any metalhead would like to sing along to. Leather Rebel is a short and catchy song that's very fast and powerful and energetic. Like I said before, every single song has something good about it. Even Battle Hym, the intro to the final track One Shot At Glory. But Judas Priest have done that before. On Screaming For Vengeance, The Hellion was an introduction instrumental to Electric Eye, which is also a Priest classic song.
The instrument section is great too. The drums are extremely fast and furious, and extremely loud too. But still good. Especially the aforementioned title track intro. Twenty seconds of furious drumming. The riffs are loud and thrashy and fast. Especially in the title track, which has one of Judas Priest's greatest solos of all time. But, the guitar is still superb in all of the songs on the album. The bass is there, but like in the 1988 Metallica album, ...And Justice For All, it's not very noticable. But that doesn't really mess up the sound of the album. No one listens to Priest just for their bass work. But the guitar and drums are excellent, as well as Halford's high pitched and powerful vocals. He has some great vocal work on this album. He just sings his homosexual heart out in this, and it sounds great.
And that's Painkiller. After this, they released The Jugulator, a lame album with some other guy who isn't as good as Halford on vocals. Afterwards, in 2001, they released Demolition, which was even worse than the previous album. But in 2005, Rob Halford returned and sang on Angel Of Retribution, their best album since this one, Painkiller. If you haven't heard this, I strongly suggest buying this. It's one of the most enjoyable and fun metal albums of all time. And it's Priest's best effort. If you're looking for one of their albums that's great but less heavy, get Screaming For Vengeance and Defenders Of The Faith. Sad Wings Of Destiny, Stained Class, and Angel of Retribution are good too, and British Steel is ok for beginners of the metal genre, but it isn't nearly as good as this. 5 out of 5, without a doubt.
