Artist: Judas Priest
Label: Sony Music
Release Date: 1984
Rating: 5 Skulls
|
|
Title: Defenders of the Faith Artist: Judas Priest Label: Sony Music Release Date: 1984
Rating: 5 Skulls |
|
|
|
||
Death's Review:
Judas Priest helped to invent or advance heavy metal about five or six times over: first with the early, psychedelic material found on Rocka Rolla, then with the thrashy tunes like "Exciter" from the Stained Class era, later with the pop metal sensibilities refined on British Steel, yet again with the aggressive yet radio-friendly Screaming for Vengeance, later with the embracing of thrash on Painkiller. But for all the historical heavy metal milestones logged throughout this most impressive of careers, the crowning Judas Priest achievement for me may very well be 1984's Defenders of the Faith.Hindsight is showing Defenders to pretty much have been the band's creative peak. Total, unabashed metal, without the pop simplicity of British Steel or the later overproduced glam elements of Turbo or Ram it Down. Aggressive. Interesting. Riffy. Relatively complex. All of these adjectives describe Defenders. Of course, it was the presence of Rob Halford that takes the album (and all Priest albums) over the top. Forget about the gay thing: Halford always exuded confidence and power; aggression and introspection; and a certain battle-hardened swagger that never faltered live. No Priest album exhibits this vocal attitude, charisma and power the same way (Screaming for Vengeance comes the closest); no other Priest album nails this feel by combining such vocals with a total, balls-out metal style.
Opener "Freewheel Burning" is one of the greatest metal openers of all-time. The rapid-fire lyrical delivery was a precursor (along with the title track from the prior record, "Screaming for Vengeance") to the machine-gun bile spitting style later employed by Bobby Blitz of Overkill or Sean Killian of Vio-lence, and to a lesser extend the speed vocals of thrash like Slayer's "Altar of Sacrifice" and subsequent death and black metal. The high pitched notes are used perfectly, communicating nothing but power and confidence. Track two, "Jawbreaker," again delivers a swagger amidst the chaos of "all the pressure that's been building up." Great melodic guitar runs that build to a dramatic climax and fit perfectly with the lyrical intensity. "Rock Hard, Ride Free" is classic Priest, more reminiscent of some of their earlier material. "The Sentinel" competes with "Victim of Changes," "Beyond the Realms of Death" and "The Rage" as the greatest Judas Priest song of all time. The drama that builds in the spoken word breakdown is classic Halford and pretty much epitomizes everything I love about this band. "Love Bites," which follows, is a classic, catchy yet still dark metal anthem that stands the test of time (by the way, have you ever heard Nevermore's cover of this? OUSTANDING!). I love the artificial harmonic guitar work in this one too. "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" is another classic, older-style Priest anthem, which again carries that "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" style swagger. "Night Comes Down" is a cool power ballad (kind of a precursor to "Touch of Evil" off Painkiller), and "Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith" is the perfect, glorious outro to a fantastic (and fantastically important) metal classic.
It's telling that in 2003 Halford is opening his live set with a double shot ("Freewheel Buring" into "Jawbreaker") from this killer record. The songs on Defenders aren't the most radio-popular or mainstream Priest material, but for me they may be the best. They certainly epitomize everything I love about the band. Sure, I'm a sucker for the psychedelic 70's stuff, and I also love Stained Class, but Priest was one of the first bands to respond to radio airplay by getting heavier, and when viewed in light of the records that followed, this is probably the band's pinnacle. If you love metal, you have to own this album.
[- Metal Judgment Home -] [- Email Metal Judgment -]
©1999 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.