Judas Priest-Defenders of the faith, 1984
Judas Priest have gone through a lot of different sounds in their long career. Most worked and a few didn't or at least as far as my ears are concerned. The 80's started out promising for these guys as British Steel was a solid slab of heavy riffs and memorable lyrics. Then Point of entry came in 1981 and many fans saw it as being experimental to some point and generally it got mixed reviews, but I would say it's decent yet maybe a half step back from British Steel. Then came Screaming for vengeance in 1982 and I consider it to be their best album as it shredded and established the band as one of the best metal acts around. So expectations were fairly high for the next release and it didn't disappoint. Although this is my second favorite Priest album, I would have to say that it may be Rob Halford's best vocal performance of his career. The fast vocal part on "Freewheel Burning" and the opening vocals on "Jawbreaker" are enough to make any fan get excited about this album. If Screaming for vengeance shreds then this album pounds. Everything is a bit more deliberate and planned out, but the impact is just as solid. The Sentinel still gives me chills and Rock hard, ride free still makes me bang my head so I know that this has some power in it 20+ years after it's release. This album still holds up to me as I listened to it probably three times over the last month and liked it a lot still. It still sounds true to me like the band knew what they were doing and they were content (for the time) with what they were doing. I don't think every band can say that and it comes across in the music if you are just going through the motions. My only real complaint about this album is that most of the great songs are towards the beginning giving it a feeling like it's losing a little bit of steam down the stretch. This one still remains a must listen for all metal fans due the overwhelming vocals and the band's ability to really build up and carry out strong songs.
***"Eight days of the 80's" continues on Wednesday with my top ten favorite TV shows of the decade.
***"Eight days of the 80's" continues on Wednesday with my top ten favorite TV shows of the decade.
posted by Metal Mark at
12:11 AM
12 Comments:
I have to admit that I tend to overlook this album. I'm going to get it out and play it over the next few days and try to re-appraise it.
Up to now my four favourites have been
"Stained Class" (Fast and hard)
"British Steel" (Great songs)
"Screaming For Vengeance" (big big noise)
"Painkiller" (best later album)
Great review because it's got me playing Priest and that's gotta be good.
Ben-My top four Priest albums looks just like yours execept you would have to switch Stained Class for Defenders of the faith. Stained Class is probably the one Priest album that a lot of other people like, but I have never gotten into it that much.
Never had this one, forgot all about Some Heads are Gonna Roll - used to love that song! will have to check out the whole thing now.
Mark - Defenders of the Faith is indeed an awesome record. My second ot third favorite one.
This is my favorite Priest record.
The Top 4 are:
Defenders
British Steel
Stained Class
Screaming For Vengeance
I have to agree that the songs on Side 1 are the best and Side 2 starts to wind down a bit. Still a great album though. It gets lost in the shuffle sometimes because of the success of SFV and the "sellout" of Turbo.
Defenders of the Faith came out my Senior year...it was the first time I saw Priest live. For that reason alone, that album has always been one of my favorites. However, you can't forget Sad Wings of Destiny. Victim of Changes is my favorite Priest song!!!!
Great album. This is the first Judas Priest album that I bought, although I already was a fan of British Steel and Screaming for Vengence which I used to listen to over my friends house. The Sentinal is still one of my favorite Priest songs.
Funny, I bought all the Priest CDs up to Screaming for Vengence--well, except for Rocka Rolla--but stopped there. Looks like I needed to go one more. Dammit.
-- david
a great record that tends to get overlooked. hell, i don't have it, and you've made me want to go get it now. :)
Onmywatch-It's a good one.
T-bone-It's been my second favorite since I first heard it.
Steve-I think it does get lost in the shuffle some today.
Robert-I like Sad wings of destiny, but it may be around number six for me.
Fred-I think that I had bought British Steel, Screaming for vengeance and then this one.
David-I think Defenders and Painkiller are the only post Screaming albums that are great. I like Ram it down more than most people, but it's just decent.
Jose-It's worth having for sure. I think that I have it on cd, vinyl and tape.
I always "defended" this album, particularly to those posers who came along during "Turbo," the weenies
Absolutely spot on review! Like some one said the other day, there's Judas Priest fans and there's Painkiller fans. Now I add that the Judas Priest fans will never overlook Defender's of the Faith or any of their past albums. By the way, there's also Turbo fans, but those ones I just leave them in a limbo, somewhere in glam land or something.
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