Judas Priest's Reviews
Unleashed In The East (Average Rating: 9.64 out of 10)
PRIEST WROTE THE BIBLE OF METAL: THIS IS IT. (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
dmkxiii
from PITTSBURGH, PA United States
This is an essential classic. As of this release, the line between hard rock and metal was made forever distinct; and the style contained within is the prototype for everything metal which was to follow. The twin-guitar attack, the essential metal chug, the occasional flirtation with the double-kick (soon to be taken to ridiculous new levels of overexposure), the stratospheric vocal touches (nobody did the falsetto better than Rob Halford primarily because he knew well enough to use it tastefully and in moderation): all these things signal the beginning of everything that followed (and a direct link to thrash and speed metal which would come to dominate 80's hard music), and all of them found their widest audience and finest display on "Undleashed in the East". The long-burning question as to whether or not this is a genuine "live" album is irrelevant: the end justifies the means. To anyone who disagrees, I offer the following hypothetical scenerio: By 1979, Judas Priest was a markedly different-sounding band than the Peter-Green-era-Fleetwood-Mac-style band which debuted in 1974 with the "Rocka-Rolla" LP. Priest had however retained several of the excellent songs from their second LP "Sad Wings of Destiny" in their live set. Also in their set were tracks from the abyssmally-produced "Sin After Sin". As the band's new style gained them a following, they perhaps addressed the issue of finding the means to get their older material circulated before the public (and their new fans). The solution was to re-record these older tracks in the newer style with modern production resources. A studio recording would be the optimum way of presenting them, but the "live" format would be the best excuse to rework these songs. I beleive that the band may have opted to record these tracks in the studio, added crowd noise, had their cake, and ate it too. The perfection and intensity of the resulting work is nearly beyond artistic criticism, despite the elaborate "live" album charade: the band plays brilliantly, and Rob Halford's vocals set a stylistic precedent (displaying at times agression, intensity, charisma, and a unique-and-appropriate dark vulnerability which sets his brilliant performance apart from all but only the very best vocalists--as far as metal goes, the theatrical qualities of his voice place him in a class by himself). Having seen Judas Priest in 1980, 1981, 1982, and 1983, I can confidently state that "Unleashed in the East" established monster tracks such as "Sinner", "The Ripper", "Tyrant", and the show-stopper setpiece "Victim of Changes" as Priest signature material and genre standards. This most current edition adds welcome bonus tracks (though not as many as it should: missing is "Beyond the Realms of Death" which I have on a European 12" from way back); but in any form, this is an essential masterwork. Priest wrote the book.
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