Genre: Heavy Metal/Speed Metal/Power Metal
Background: So I thought I’d start my metal album of the week with the classic “Painkiller” album, I’ve been listening to a lot of Priest in anticipation of Priest Feast this weekend \m/. This album marks Priest’s return to form after the sub-par efforts that were “Ram It Down” and “Turbo”. This album is heavily influenced by the thrash artists such as Megadeth and Slayer that emerged in the 80s, that were ironically themselves influenced by earlier Priest.
Tracklist: This album is Priest at there finest, the title track is a legendary metal masterpiece, and is commonly regarded as one of the greatest metal tracks ever. The tracklist remains strong throughout, “Hell Patrol” is a fan favourite often played live. “Leather Rebel” and “Metal Meltdown” are both notable for there blistering speed and thrash tendencies. “Between the Hammer & the Anvil” is a personal favourite of mine, after a lacklustre series of chords, it explodes into Priest at there finest, with a catchy chorus and some great riffage. In my opinion the weakest point of the album is the final track, the power metal-esque ballad “one shot at glory” and it’s intro “Battle Hymn”, it lacks the speed and ferocity of the rest of the album, and generally is a bit of an anticlimax for the album. It’s one redeeming feature is a superb guitar solo.
Vocals and lyrics: Little needs to be said about Rob Halford’s vocal ability, his enormous vocal range is fully explored in this album which showcases his abilities perfectly. From crunching lows to the scary highs of the title track, every note is perfect. The lyrics on the other hand are very cheesy and stereotypical. However Judas Priest invented the stereotypes, so it’s hardly fair to criticize them for this.
Instrumentation: This was Priest’s first album with drummer Scott Travis, and wow can you tell the difference, perhaps because the Album kicks off with a legendary drum solo? This high quality drumming continues through out with extensive use of the double bass pedal and some fairly complex beats in songs such as “Hell Patrol”. The guitars are exactly what you would expect from the Priest duo of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing. Heavy riffing throughout, with extensive use of many small fills, in the middle of songs, as well as incredible solo’s.
Conclusion: Overall this album is a true metal classic. It’s one of Priest’s heaviest albums and also one of there best. It’s is very close to musical perfection, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could have more impressive vocal ability than Rob Halford, and the rest of the band put in superb performances too. Very difficult to fault.
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