Judas Priest's Reviews

Defenders Of The Faith

(Average Rating: 8.00 out of 10)

Judas Priest at the height of their career

(Rated this album with 8 out of 10)
Reviewed by sdbaker70 from Phoenix, Arizona United States

After the huge success of 1982's 'Screaming for Vengeance', instead of attempting another the hit single like "You've Got Another Thing Comin'", they decided to strengthen their identity as a heavy metal band with the release of "Freewheel Burnin'" (a pseudo-speed metal classic) as the first video and "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" (a dark political cautionary tune) as the first single. The rest of the record is packed with metal-god imagry along the lines of 'British Steel' - most notably, "Jawbreaker" and "The Sentinel". But the high point of the record is the atmospheric vampire ode, "Love Bites", which drips with throbbing energy and sacrifices the standard gratuitous exercise in virtuoso guitar leads for intense subtlety.

At this point in the history of heavy metal, bands started falling into this style that is endemic in the rap genre - i.e., big anthems written for crowd-pleasing effect about what a great band we are, how much we are going to rock you, and how we know you are all outcasts for being into this type of music. "Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith" is a prime example of this, as is "Rock Hard, Ride Free" (although the guitar parts to the latter stand up well on their own). (Even worse examples appear on JP's later releases, 'Turbo' and 'Ram It Down'.) For this reason, I have to fault the executive producer for including a ridiculously redundant live version of "Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith" in this reissue. Moreover, the bonus studio track (from the 'Turbo' sessions apparently), sounds really out of place here as well, although the quality is a bit better than some of the songs on the other reissued releases.

Also, I have to comment on the sound. When it was originally released in 1984, I was a bit unimpressed by the sound of 'Defenders of the Faith' when compared to its predecessor, 'Screaming for Vengeance.' This reissue does little to improve upon the sound, as the hiss at the beginning of some tracks is a bit too audible.

Buy this album on Amazon at $10.99