(Rated this album with 4 out of 10) Reviewed by
Princess Irulan
from Arrakis
Most metal fans say that this is the Priest's best album, but I strongly disagree. This is a decent metal album, but in no means is this one of the best JP albums. After the brilliant proto-trash metal of Sad wings of destiny, Sin after Sin and Stained Class, Priest decided to make a 180 degree career shift with Hell bent for Leather. But this album, while being more hard rock than metal, still had high quality songwriting. This is not really the case with British Steel. The album open quite nicely with the simple but heavy "Rapid Fire", with Rob Halford favoring a rough barking vocal style over his banshee screaming of yore. This song is really catchy, but the complex metal of old priest is sorely missed. Then comes "Metal Gods", another ultra-simplistic song driven by nice vocal line and hypnotizing guitar riffage. Once again, the childish simplicity of the song leaves you with an uneasy feeling but it's still an high quality song. "Breakin the law" is the best song of the album, with a nice riff, a nice drive and ultra catchy melodies. But you can't overlook the fact that this song is no more than a re-write of their song "hell bent for leather". "Grinder" is the last good song of the album, once again with simpler-than-punk guitar work but the chorus is pretty memorable and the groove never let down. But all the remaining songs are worthless. "United" is a embarassing Queen rip-off, "You don't have to be old to be wise" is a pure AC/DC pastiche, "Living after midnight" is one of their most popular song but it is too hard-rock/almost hair metal for my tastes. "The Rage" manage to rock quite hard, until you realize with disgust that Priest stole Led Zeppelin's "black dog" riff note-for-note. "Steeler" is a filler re-write of "Rapid Fire", with weaker riffs and a generic Halford melody. Only for the completist. I'd suggest Sad Wings of Destiny, Stained Class, Defenders of the faith as their best albums, with Screaming for vengeance, sin after sin and painkiller as good albums. The rest is not very good.
