(Rated this album with 10 out of 10) Reviewed by
A.J. Taylor
from Sparta, NJ United States
Coming on the heels of 1982's successful Screaming for Vengeance, Judas Priest hoped their next release, Defenders of the Faith(1984), would be their commercial breakthrough. However that was not to be, and soon the flavor of heavy metal epitomized by Priest would be swept away by thrash and hair(ugh!) metal. As for Defenders itself, musically they kept to their heavy metal roots and "Screaming" formula with about the same success. "Freewheel Burning" "Rock Hard, Ride Free" "The Sentinel" "Love Bites" and "Some Heads are Gonna Roll" are all scorching metal tracks, and truly the best ones on the album. "Night Comes Down" is a slow, ballady, pop-rock song that's rather average overall, while "Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith" goes way over the top and falls flat, as do the rather sick lyrics of "Eat Me Alive". While Rob Halford delivers his normally awesome vocals, his lyric-writing continues to slide into the same pattern of "We are Judas Priest. We are the Metal Gods. We are the best band in the whole world" over and over, which gets kind of annoying on Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith"(the most obvious example). Overall, Defenders is inconsistent, but the plusses outweigh the cons and this one is highly recommended to someone looking for more 80s Priest(pre-Turbo, that is...then again I like to think they never made Turbo). The heavier sections of the album will not disappoint.
