Heavy Metal Roundup - Judas Priest

Now that the first post in this blog: Ken's Metal Blog, is good an done, its time to have some cage rattlin' in the world of heavy metal 20 or so years ago. This heavy metal roundup of the late 1970s and early 1980s is just to get a few things off my chest about what went on then and where it was going.

To start off in this post, Judas Priest were having it all their own way with some incredible album releases like Stained Class and then Hell Bent For Leather (released as Killing Machine in the UK and Europe). That last one saw a change in their sound to a more heavy, hardedged saound from the guitars and clearer definition from the drums. Probably more to do with better studio gear than they had on Stained class and the stuff before that. It also saw their single Take On All The World get some airplay on radio stations but not enough to get it anywhere in the charts.

Interestingly, they also released Evening Star as a 12 inch white/opaque single with Before the Dawn and a live version of Hell Bent For Leather which also flopped.

But in the album charts and of course live Judas Priest were unstoppable. Bob Halford's vocals were unparalleled at the time as he could hit incredibly high notes as well as low more so than pretty much any other singer around a the time. Often unsung guitar hero Glen Tripton's guitar work was also superb backed up by Kenny (KK) Downings antics on the whammy bar and as a guitar duo they were one of the best.

Memorable songs that will stand the test of time like Beyond the Realms of Death, Victim of Changes and Sinner, all from their earlier albums were the classics of Judas Priest that will never go away. Afterwards came the live Unleashed in the East which was overdubbed in the studio mainly with Halford's voice, but it was still dynamite. British Steel followed which saw the single United do a little climb in the charts, but the mainstream charts just weren't ready for metal just yet.

Later came albums Point of Entry and Screaming For Vengeance but by this time their songs had taken on a more commercial air, being shorter, punchoer and I'm sorry to say guy MORE FUCKING BORING!

So that is where I'll leave Judas Priest right now, where they ceased to be the Exciter and more the Metal Clones rather than Metal Gods.

Kenneth
Ken's Metal Blog