You know it’s a pretty easy answer…at least for me. Judas Priest most representative (and most impressive, I must add) album is non-other than “Defenders Of The Faith”. Clocking in just under the 40-minute mark, this album embodies everything that made Judas Priest a legendary band. That’s the god-honest truth. “Defenders…” came right after two emblematic records (“British Steel” and “Screaming For Vengeance”) but in reality it surpassed them as it combined the best of both worlds: the immediacy of “British Steel” with the “take no prisoners” approach of “Screaming…” but even more!
All the songs stuck in your head forever, the twin guitar attack by KK and Tipton is mythical while Halford proves again and again he is not a human being but an extraterrestrial being with super natural vocal abilities…he’s just here to be our METAL GOD! “Jawbreaker”, “Rock Hard Ride Free”, “The Sentinel”, “Love Bites”, “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”…damn, I could write down the whole tracklist. From the unbelievable cover artwork up to the edgy production and the overall metal aesthetic, “Defenders…” leaves us no choice as to what’s the best Priest album out there…at least, for my generation. Having said that, I totally understand if the next generation picks “Painkiller” as its favorite one.
Sakis Nikas
Just before “Unleashed In The East” and “British Steel” that followed those English metal fathers looked like a killing machine. The proof is this album. A metal fist in the stomach full with compositions that carry the liveliness of a band already at its highest state of glory.
In “Killing Machine” Priest give us a unique compilation of songs all of which deserve a place in every “best of” of the band. What can anybody remember first? “Delivering The Goods”? “Evening Star”? “Hell Bent For Leather”? “Burning Up”? “Green Manalishi (with the two pronged crown)”? A rich record with a variety of songs of the huge then, now and forever Judas Priest. Fast tunes, stadium anthems, live standards, even ballads from a band at the top of its game that turns whatever it touches into…steel (gold is for pussies).
Yiannis Dolas
