Judas Priest - British Steel (Exp)
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Artist: Judas PriestEdition: Music CD
Format: Extra tracks, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2001-05-29
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Rapid Fire
- Metal Gods
- Breaking the Law
- Grinder
- United
- Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise
- Living After Midnight
- The Rage
- Steeler
- Red, White & Blue
- Grinder (live)
Free Music Notes for British Steel (Exp)
Free Music Review: Classic metal, my favorite Priest album
Hit: 5 Stars
First I want to briefly discuss Killing Machine (known as Hell Bent for Leather in the US) and then move on to British Steel, so please bear with me...I heard both records for the first time late in 1984 or early in 1985 when I was 16 years old and new to the metal scene...
Killing Machine was a great record, it was released in 1978 and was Priest's first experiment with their new stripped-down sound, shorter songs and more direct lyrics. As such, while individual songs on Killing Machine were great (actually they nearly all were), the album had a very experimental feel to it, and you felt that still better was to come.
British Steel was released two years after Killing Machine, and you felt the band had matured a lot and grown heaps in self-confidence. The live album Unleashed In The East kept the fans' interest in the band alive throughout 1979. Another change took place before British Steel was recorded, with Les Binks being replaced by Dave Holland on drums (sadly incarcerated now for sex offences - forvever remembered in my mind for the drum intro on Riding On The Wind). The heart and soul of the band, Rob Halford on vocals, KK Downing and Glenn Tipton on guitars and Ian Hill on bass, remained in place for British Steel.
What can I say about British Steel itself? I loved it, I just loved the overall sound that they managed to produce. It was similar to Killing Machine in basic style, sound and direction, but there was more of the feeling of the songs being linked together as a complete package. The sound was still raw, but it was slightly more polished, and by the time Vengeance came out in 1982 they would head further in the direction of a polished sound. Halford's voice is at its best on British Steel, authoritative, powerful, passionate, able to hit the very low and high notes, and suitably aggressive in the right places.
The album starts with Rapid Fire, a speed metal track ahead of its time, that just keeps on keeping on as the words and riffs just continue unabated, with not much variation in the tone, just a grinding repetitive rythmn, and no sign of an identifiable chorus either. It's a similar opener to Delivering The Goods on Killing Machine, but in this case I feel the Killing Machine opener is better, but not by much.
Metal Gods is anthemnic in nature with the powerful chorus of Metal Gods, backed up by the dragging of chains sound effect that occurs at the same time as the main riff, and its timing and volume mixed in with the regular guitar sound is just perfect, and chilling in its effectiveness. The chains sound is not too loud or too buried. The subject matter - which I didn't realise back in the day (no lyrics came with the album) - is about security cameras, as on the song Electric Eye.
Grinder is a standard, fairly slow, menacing and brooding heavy number. The main riff of this song and Creeping Death by Metallica seem somehow similar to me. However, to my knowledge no-one else has ever said this, now or then, so maybe I'm missing something.
United is a sing-along fun anthemn (Take on the World Part II), focusing on the togetherness and unity of metal fans back then, which is sadly (in my opinion) much lesser nowdays cos the genre has split up into thrash, death, black, melodic death, metalcore. etc. and many people are interested only in one or two of the sub-genres. So the early to mid 1980s were really a unique time in metal history, and United sums up the feeling of the times well. Back in the 1980s, metal was metal, and those that loved Motley Crue also loved Slayer and Metallica. Yes, the song was cheesy but think what Queen was doing back then.
On the original LP version, Living After Midnight kicked off side two with a bang. A great song, more commercially oriented, but its still definitely Priest in character and heart (in my opinion). It has so much energy and simplicity, and just simply rocks.
I was in a cafe in the entertainment district of Perth, Australia called Northbridge with a Canadian friend (Mark R.) one Sunday night two years ago. We both found out, almost stumbling upon it by accident, that we were two 80s metalheads in hiding. 20 seconds later we were both singing the words of Living After Midnight!
So I think this is the best Priest record. The title says it all. It summarised what Priest were all about - reliable, trustworthy, tough, unashamedly patriotic, resolute, cheerful. I'm glad they didn't call the album Living After Midnight and make that song the title track. British Steel sums up best what the band were all about circa 1980.
FOOTNOTE (added 9 June 2006): I have noticed on certain internet chat forums, it has become cool among some people to bash this record, and heap praise on all the Priest records that came before it and after it. This is just re-writing history in my opinion. Back in the day the vast majority of fans loved British Steel, and regarded it as a positive move forward for the band. It should also be noted that whilst Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight are not bad songs at all, they are not representative of the album taken as a whole.
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