01. Judas Priest Stained Class 1978 (CBS)
Heavy Metal
Down on your knees and repent if you please!
Overview
I’ve constantly mentioned on previous album reviews about how the
Sad Wings of Destiny and
Sin After Sin, were literally towing the true metal line from Sabbath to the arrival of the key bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal now just a few years off. Also the previously reviewed
Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather album had also seen the band turn in a more commercially metal direction, but before that album’s release, the band had released earlier in 1978 this dark mogadon monster of an album, that would trawl the gutters of darkness and slate Judas Priest’s name as hotter than that of the Devil!
Stained Class would therefore be the third album in the classic ‘troika’ of Judas Priest albums at this time. So if the
Sad Wings of Destiny had laid down their landmark sound with some 1970s metal classics, then
Sin After Sin had seen the band expand on this landmark sound with both touches of adventure and excellence. But it was
Stained Class that would be the most essential and most focused album of the three, and most importantly the most revered as well! The band lyrically also put out their most malevolent set of songs probably ever and for this reason alone this album surely stands as their darkest. A fact made even more prominent some several years later, when two teenage kids were supposedly driven to suicide by the lyrics of one of the songs on the album! The court case involved two teenagers one of which actually committed suicide and the other was left disfigured in a suicide attempt, facts which left a very dark shadow over the band and most specifically this album! The band had also pushed the boat out on their last two albums with both fantastical and grim album covers, now on
Stained Class the band would go in for a cold almost non-emotional approach on the album cover this time around. Yet again the band had the drum stool to fill, after the excellent Simon Phillips had departed after the previous
Sin After Sin and so the band drafted in the very technically gifted session drummer Les Binks, who would stick around for both this and the
Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather album, along with the live
Unleashed in the East album which was released in 1979. Les Binks was an excellent technical drummer and had served his time with numerous artists, and his work in his tenure with the band, would make him probably the best drummer ever to serve in the band along with the previously mentioned Simon Phillips. The album unsurprisngly is on a number of ‘greatest ever metal listening lists’ which is unsurprising given the quality on offer here.
Rob Halford- Vocals
K.K Downing- Guitar
Glenn Tipton- Guitar
Ian Hill- Bass
Les Binks- Drums
Production- Dennis Mackay
Album
Exciter- The frantic album opener gets underway with the drumming of Les Binks and the song is then dominated by the speed vocals of Rob Halford, and is also interspaced with some great guitar work throughout. The song is one of many jointly written on the album by Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton.
White Heat, Red Hot- Great album track that shows the outstanding depth and quality on this album, and it’s accompanied by some great guitar work.
Better By You, Better Than Me- A cover of the old Spooky Tooth song and as expected the Judas Priest version is both far less blusier and a damn sight heavier than the original. The fact of the matter is though, that both versions are actually great songs and this is also the song that provoked the future court case.
Stained Class- The title track is loud and potent and a galloper as well, and the song is full of that ever so special disjointed metal tunefulness that the band were always able to harbour.
Invader- Futuristic and sci-fi inspired, and has Rob Halford accounting a tale about alien monsters. The future Iron Maiden song “Invaders” isn’t exactly a world away from this song both name and soundwise.
Saints in Hell-The only song on the album where K.K Downing contributes on the writing credits and this time it’s with both Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton. The song is a steady grower and saves its best parts till its later sections.
Savage- A primal tale about as the name does suggest savages.
Beyond the Realms of Death- Probably the showpiece track of the b-side with its morbid feel and epic musical accompaniments, and the song feels totally at ease for its almost 7 minutes in length.
Heroes End- A great album closer, with one of Rob Halfords great vocal displays across the whole song and I the way the rest of the band follow him here is pretty amazing at times! Some versions of the album have the bonus track
“Fire Burns Below” which actually sounds like a beefier AOR track and the sort of thing that Foreigner would soon tie down to perfection, it’s a great track as well.
Verdict
With each studio release Judas Priest had been pushing the boundaries of brutal power, scintillating speed, greater technicality and pure heaviness within the heavy metal genre, aspects that were literally making the band a legend in their time. Also the band were taking the dark lyrical overtones and dark subject matter that had characterized the majority of Black Sabbath’s work, and they had now turned this lyrical and subject matter into a much meaner and even more sinister focused beast than even Black Sabbath could muster! Now the first thing that strikes you upon hearing this album, is just how focused the band were at this point and even more importantly, just how true they were to the true heart of heavy metal as we know it! The album is chocca full of metal classics from the speed and power of the album opener “Exciter” and its even more impressive brother the later album closer “Heroes End” and then we go onto steadier songs like “White Heat, Red Hot” with its combination of melodic metal, steady guitar interplay and echoey vocal arrangements. All of which are in contrast to the purposefully sounding disjointed title track “Stained Class” another album highlight and a great example of the complexities of some of the songs on the album. Then there is of course the infamous Spooky Tooth cover of “Better By You, Better Than Me” along the colourful tales that are accounted in songs like “Invader” “Saints in Hell” and “Savage”. Gone would be the ballads and the gothic themed tracks that had characterized previous band afforts and there is nary even a hint of experimentation but there is plenty of complexity, as the band are just too busy piledriving their way through tight dark riffs and accounting tales, that literally are living and breathing a true metal sound and feel in the process! In fact the only song that echoes of their earlier material here is the morbid sounding “Beyond the Realms of Evil”. Now I’ve constantly stated how this album or that album were vital influences on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but when it comes to the biggest single piece of work to influence that movement, then I’d say that
Stained Class is probably the single biggest influence on that movement. So enjoy this album because it’s one of the most revered metal albums of its time, with its tight metal riffs and chugga metal rhythms with delicious chops to match, and its complex playing certainly forewarned us about the soon to arrive technical extreme metal of the 1980s!