Judas Priest - Painkiller(1990)

Track Listing:

1. Painkiller
2. Hell Patrol
3. All Guns Blazing
4. Leather Rebel
5. Metal Meltdown
6. Night Crawler
7. Between The Hammer & The Anvil
8. A Touch Of Evil
9. Battle Hymn
10. One Shot At Glory

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Scott Travis

even though Judas Priest were formed in 1974, & have several great albums to their credit in the 80's, it was only after 16 years they virtually pulled the proverbial rabbit outta the hat. this album rules.....

there were shades of things to change in their previous effort, 1988' RAM IT DOWN, but the whole world was in for a surprise shock when they released this masterpiece.

there are no words to describe this. 'awesome', 'brilliant''classic', 'timeless' are words that come to mind while trying to describe this. each & every song is a class in its own right.

Downing & Tipton shred the guitar to bits, with their thrash tinged riffs coupled with really melodious solos, while Travis destroys the drum kit. Halford never sounded more powerful ever. one listen to the opening killer of a track 'PAINKILLER' shuts up all critics of true metal. the madness never stops, 'LEATHER REBEL', 'HELL PATROL', 'NIGHTCRAWLER' are your typical in your face heavy metal to its best. 'Metal Meltdown' has one of the craziest solo intros ever.

'A TOUCH OF EVIL' is one of the best power ballads ever written in metal history. & they end things on a fine note with 'ONE SHOT AT GLORY'.

like i said, this is one of those rare moments in music history, where everything was going right for a band. after creating this & reaching the top, they could only go downwards from here. an all time classic. a must have for fans of all genres of metal. even brutal black metal bands like EMPEROR, DIMMU BORGIR, BEHEMOTH bow their heads to this jaw breaking album.

my rating
10/10

review by Pritham 'Metal farmer' D'Souza

Judas Priest - Point of Entry (1981)

Judas Priest - Point of Entry review by Pritham 'metal farmer' dsouza




Track Listing:

1. Heading Out To The Highway
2. Don't Go
3. Hot Rockin'
4. Turning Circles
5. Desert Plains
6. Solar Angels
7. You Say Yes
8. All The Way
9. Troubleshooter
10. On The Run

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Dave Holland

one of the best albums by the legendary Judas Priest, even though this album was released in 1981, it has a very 70's feel to it and perhaps this was the very last album of theirs which had a rock n roll feel to it, compared to the later albums which were heavily laced with super charged metallic power chords
a complete listen to it is highly recommended as there are no weak songs here. stand out tracks are Heading Out To The Highway, Turning Circles, and Desert Plains, the former which enjoyed a lot of commercial air time & even now played in their live set.
no extraodrinary guitar solos here, but the tempo is mid paced & very catchy. the vocals are highly fluctuating, esp in tracks like Hot Rockin where he screams like the typical Rob we know.

whats important with this album is they were standing at the crossroads in their musical career. if they were accused of going mainstream, then this is probably the album that set the ball rolling.

my rating
8/10

Judas Priest - British Steel (1980)

Judas Priest - British Steel review by Pritham 'metal farmer' Dsouza

Track Listing:

1. Breaking The Law
2. Rapid Fire
3. Metal Gods
4. Grinder
5. United
6. Living After Midnight
7. You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise
8. The Rage
9. Steeler
10. Red white and blue(bonus)

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Dave Holland

Judas Priest is credited with giving us 2 of the highly abused college band anthems in Breaking the law & living after midnight in this 1980 classic British Steel. while the former has a laughable music video, which shows the band robbing a bank with guitars for guns, the latter is a favourite party song anywhere, anytime.

Metal God simply rules with its anthemic overtones, ultra cool rhythm section again mid paced, while tracks like Rapid fire and steeler is straight on fast & hard.

the most surprising track is United, where Rob sings about the brotherhood of metal & how we must stand united against its enemies... (pop music?)

the riffs on Grinder makes u wanna look for meat, and You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise is pretty much self explanatory.

a superb masterpiece here and please do yourself a favour and get this one now.
the latest re issue contains a new track Red white and blue, which is actually a patriotic song.

my rating
9/10

Judas Priest - Sin After Sin (1977)

Judas Priest - Sin after Sin review by Pritham Dsouza

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Simon Phillips

Track Listing:

1. Sinner
2. Diamonds And Rust
3. Starbreaker
4. Last Rose of Summer
5. Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest
6. Raw Deal
7. Here Come The Tears
8. Dissident Aggressor

If 1978' Stained class is their best effort till date, then their second best is 1977's Sin after Sin. One album had all the styles that makes it a unique gem. rock, metal, ballads this album had it all.
generally, the entire mood of the album is realised on the opening track, and here we have Sinner, which is well over 6 minutes long & that was a gamble that actually paid off. its like 2 awesome tracks in one. Joan Baez cover Diamonds and Rust is performed in a fantastic style, with Robs vocals sounding very soulful and convincing. Starbreaker is another catchy song where u can hear Rob clapping when the chorus is on! really surprising that this song was not given the credit it deserved.
Last Rose Of Summer and Here come the tears are 2 ballads here. Rob sounds like a heart broken ghost who screems his guts out looking for love on the latter, while the former surprsingly didnt become a radio hit.

Dissident Agressor is the heaviest song they played and it should come as no surprise that a decade later it was covered by the angriest band of all time Slayer

an interesting aspect here is they moved on from the relatively unknown record label Gull to heavy weights CBS, and this was a very impressive debut on a major record label.

Sin After Sin is forever

my rating
10/10

Judas Priest - Stained Class (1978)

Judas Priest - Stained class review by Pritham Dsouza

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Les Binks

rack Listing:

1. Exciter
2. White Heat, Red Hot
3. Better By You Better Than Me
4. Stained Class
5. Invader
6. Saints In Hell
7. Savage
8. Beyond The Realms Of Death
9. Heroes End

what can be argued as the finest heavy metal album of all time, Judas Priest must have been surprised at what their 4th album had managed to achieve.

whether it was their decision to move away from the previous rock n blues sound in their earlier 3 efforts, or the addition of the exceptionally talented time keeper Les Binks who went on to be their driving force for the next 2 albums Hell Bent For Leather & Unleashed In The East is for time to judge,

this album was released the same year Van Halen made their debut with the multi platinum selling debut, but if one compares it with any other release that was out at that time, this by far is the heaviest & darkest album by a mile.

a highly complex album, Judas Priest laid down the basics for how true heavy metal is supposed to be played. Loud, Fast, complex, dark and In your face. this one also had its share of controversies thanks to Better By You Better Than Me with its so called subliminal message which resulted in a tragic suicide of one of the fans. Then u have the double bass drum assault on Exciter, the vocal histrionics of Rob on Savage, tribute to Black Sabbath with Saints In Hell and a truley power ballad with Beyond The Realms Of Death, with its complex guitar arrangements, and epic solos.
the bonus track Fire Down Below even has a Flemenco style solo by Tipton.

there are no stand out tracks here as the entire album is just brilliant from the word go. But the most haunting track has to be easily Beyond The Realms Of Death, which sounds very doomy & disturbing. Rob showing his vocal range in this slow paced track which has a great build up to a total head banging experience.

Led Zepplin is credited to be the first band to sound metal. But this is probably the very first ALBUM to be metal.

dark and haunting, yet extremely catchy this is metal at its finest.

my rating
10/10

Judas Priest - Screaming For Vengeance (1982)

judas priest screaming for vengeance review by Pritham 'metal farmer' Dsouza


Lineup:

* Rob Halford
* Glenn Tipton
* K.K. Downing
* Ian Hill
* Dave Holland

Track Listing:

1. The Hellion
2. Electric Eye
3. Riding On The Wind
4. Bloodstone
5. (Take These) Chains
6. Pain And Pleasure
7. Screaming For Vengeance
8. You've Got Another Thing Comin'
9. Fever
10. Devil's Child
11. Prisoner of Your Eyes (bonus)

after a highly successful 70's career with outstanding albums, Priest started sounding a bit different with their 1982 effort Screaming for vengeance. when i say sound a bit different, the hard rock guitar riffs & typical 70's guitar tones seem to have slowly evolved into a more metalic, more heavier sound.
the opening intro "The Hellion" which leads to the speed metal tinged "electric eye" seems to have been recorded sometime in the 90's & definitely not 1982!. a power metal track in totality, one listen makes u wanna jump in the air flashing the devil horns when Tipton & Downing start to shred. The riff is just head banging material.

"You've Got Another Thing Comin" perhaps their most favourite song they play live, is the best and biggest hit they managed to churn out.

"Riding on the wind" is typical Judas Priest tracks while the former starts with a crazy sounding drum intro a la Dave Holland and as the track progresses, it becomes very catchy, with riffs & solos everywhere. "Bloodstone" again starts with a electric guitar solo & slowly builds to a rocking track. Robs vocals are fine here.
"(Take These) Chains" actually had me fooled thinking it was a tribute to The Police, with its start and chorus. nice melodies, & strong rhythm section.
"Pain and Pleasure", "Fever" & "Devil's Child" are good tracks, where Rob vocals soars above everyone else.

all in all a great album, but as stated earlier, this album was their very first metallic sounding one. a lot of newer people got to liking them thanks to this album while the older fans didnt really know if the newer metallic approach was a good thing for them.

my rating
7/10

Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather (1978)

Judas Priest - Hell Bent For Leather review by pritham Dsouza

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Les Binks

Track Listing:

1. Delivering The Goods
2. Rock Forever
3. Evening Star
4. Hell Bent For Leather
5. Take On The World
6. Burnin' Up
7. The Green Manalishi
8. Killing Machine
9. Running Wild
10. Before The Dawn
11. Evil Fantasies

CBS records had a goose named Judas Priest that laid the golden eggs, and so before they ran out ot out their creative juices, they decided to push them to release another classic in the same year they released Stained Class.

only Priest could have pulled this off, release 2 pivitol metal albums in the same year!

continuing in the same vein as Stained, except most of the songs here are more hard rock than traditional metal. there are a few radio friendly songs here like Rock Forever and Take On The World and Evening Star and the only metal tracks are Hell Bent For Leather, Running wild and Fleetwood Mac's cover The Green Manalishi.

no priest album can be complete without a ballad, and before the dawn does just that, adds a soothing factor in a album filled with gems that would please the Hell's Angels biker gang.
Its safe to say this album was responsible for the rise of a lot of Bad Boys band like Twisted Sister and Motley Crue who credit this album for their musical direction.

if u love hard rock, then this is a must own classic.

my rating
7.5/10

Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith (1984)

judas priest - defenders of the faith album reviewed by pritham 'metal farmer' dsouza

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Dave Holland

Track Listing:

1. Freewheel Burning
2. Jawbreaker
3. Rock Hard Ride Free
4. The Sentinel
5. Love Bites
6. Eat Me Alive
7. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
8. Night Comes Down
9. Heavy Duty
10. Defenders Of The Faith

Surprised with the success of experimenting with a heavier sound in their previous 1982 Screaming for Vengeance effort, Judas Priest continued with the same dedication & gave us the brilliant Defenders of The Faith album 2 years later.

metal was at its peak with so many great bands releasing or making fine debuts, and so Priest needed to keep that momentum going.

totally shedding its hard rock sound, this one is balls out metal. lightning fast guitar solos, heavy guitar sections & epic operatic vocals, this had it all. "Free wheel burning" is just pure speed metal, with the ultra high range of Robs vocals & shredding the guitar to bits solo parts. "the sentinel",and "Jaw Breaker" are all fast paced tracks while "Eat me Alive" had its share of controversy where it was alledged that the song was about oral sex. so what? it doesnt suck? (pun intended)
"Night comes down", "Love Bites", and "heavy duty" slow down the pace a bit, but can stand on its own, thanks to the addictive melody & guitar riffs. my favorite track here " Rock hard RideFree" is just one of those songs u would want to listen to all day, while driving along an endless road. beautiful solo, fantastic sense of melody & just brilliant!

its safe to say that this was their best metal album is the entire 80's. fans were only getting worried as their music was starting to sound a bit mainstream & whether the tag "sell outs" would be conferred to the mighty Priests of metal sooner than later.

whats with the gobots meets the transformers cover anyways??
must have album nevertheless

my rating
8/10

Judas Priest - Turbo ( 1986)

Judas Priest - Turbo album reviewed by Pritham 'Metal Farmer' dsouza

Lineup:

• Rob Halford
• Glenn Tipton
• K.K. Downing
• Ian Hill
• Dave Holland

Track Listing:

1. Turbo Lover
2. Locked In
3. Private Property
4. Parental Guidance
5. Rock You All Around The World
6. Out In The Cold
7. Wild Nights. Hot And Crazy Days
8. Hot For Love
9. Reckless

1986 was the year most of the best metal bands around the globe came out with some ground breaking material. Metallica's " Master Of Puppets" Iron Maiden's " Somewhere In Time" Van Halen " 5150", Slayer "Reign In Blood" , Ozzy Osbourne "the ultimate sin", Fates Warning " Awaken The Guardian", and a host of other timeless ground breaking and genre bending classics.
so it was expected that even Priest deliver, but the whole world was not really prepared for what they were going to offer.
1986's Turbo is propably the most hated in Judas Priests otherwise most impressive back catalog. the only track that really stood out in an album filled with ultra radio friendly tracks is "Out In The Cold", perhaps there is a hidden message that it really stood out on the cold.

the only reason why this is a must have, is because even though its foot tappingly sinful, it is probably the best album to get someone interested in Priest. all the tracks are radio friendly, very mainstream. u just want to get up and dance to tracks like "Hot For Love", "Rock you all around the world", "locked in", "Parental Guidance".

the sound was the most experimental as there were synthesizers being used for the very first time. The drums were the most basic, probably done to make the fans dance instead of Headbang, but the other trade marks were all there. excellent vocal range, driving guitars, and crazy solos (check 'Locked In' for sweeps & wild shredding)

the only reason it didnt work was because the fans were totally disillusioned with what they were hearing. From a band that inspired countless other bands, with their trademark hard rock/metal act, to come up with such a lame 'commercial' record was unforgiving. the album would have been outstanding if it was made by some lesser known rock band, but fans of metal & Priest still consider this their worst output ever. they even hated the cover of what looked like the hands of a sophisticated woman "pushing the gear" in turbo mode!

harsh , really, as all the songs are excellent albeit commercial. they still sound metal and not like the glam rock pop metal bands that exploded during that time, and one really has to listen to this album with an open mind to truley enjoy it.

as Rob screams in Parental Guidance " dont you remember what its like, to loose control, put on my jacket b'fore you get too old, lets Rock n Roll!"

my rating
8/10