In their 48-year-old swashbuckling career, Judas Priest have had many landmarks when it comes to the work they produced. Among them, British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Sad Wings of Destiny and Painkiller rank right up among the ‘definitive Priest’ classic records.
Stained Class - 1978
One album that gets a short shrift is Stained Class. This one is a hidden gem, a truly dark and scintillating masterpiece of early metal, which paved the way for NWOBHM and the genesis of speed metal. Never have they produced an album with such devastating sincerity as they trudge along the darkest hours of human civilisation. The themes range from war, human depravation, colonisation to sheer savagery that as a race, we are capable of. Apart from discovering their sound and direction, Stained Class takes the metal fans by the scruff their necks and unleashes upon them, a series of songs that challenges the limits of their twin axemen - KK Downing and Glen Tipton. The boys are just spot on, with every devilish lick. Rob Halford perfects his frenzied falsettos that can crack the glass behind you. But the album works ever so beautifully because of Les Binks, their new drummer. He is perhaps the earliest master of double-bass drumming in metal. And not until the arrival of Scott Travis for the Painkiller album in 1990, will Priest find another drummer capable of such manic genius.
Firepower - 2018
40 years later, Judas Priest have created possibly the finest 58 minutes in classic metal. Firepower harks back to the days when Priest were nothing short of a sonic wrecking-ball. Reminiscent of the brilliance of Painkiller in the way the album is constructed, Firepower also stands testimony to great metal writing and is a verdant sanctuary of thematic cornucopia, that Stained Class was. One listen to the chugging, riff-heavy ‘Traitor’s Gate’ is enough to tell us that Rob Halford still reigns among the pantheon of great metal vocalists. With Glen Tipton fighting Parkinson’s and KK Downing out of the band, Richie Faulkner and Andy Reap come in as worthy replacements, exchanging immaculately constructed riffs that deserve to be head-banged.
Almost, five decades on, the metal gods are still in great form. So take a listen if you like the textures of classic metal. Because the Hell Patrol rides on valiantly, Screaming for Vengeance.
