Screaming for vengeance (1982)
Now we're talking! The album to finally break Priest wide open Stateside and give them their first big hit single, this album reflected a return to the hard rock style and tended to drop much of the commercial, radio-friendly material that had characterised the last two albums. Ironically, it then became their biggest commercial success, selling over five million units worldwide, and by reviving interest in their back catalogue, caused all the other albums to be rated that side of the water too, which they had not been until then.
The album cover is the first really since
British Steel that shows a band who mean business, as the metal eagle, known as the hellion, swoops down like something off the best Y&T album covers, its attitude somewhat reminiscent of the feared German Stuka divebombers of World War II. Opening with a powerful instrumental in a very Iron Maiden mould, “The hellion” gets things ready before we plough into “Electric eye”, and this is more like it. Seeming to be a song about CCTV coverage of the world, it rocks hard and batters all before it. A shrieking solo from Glen Tipton underscores the brilliance of this track and the fact the Judas Priest are back in no uncertain terms. After the lacklustre
Point of entry I had feared they were watering down their sound, and I think they were, but here it's balls to the wall and pedals to the metal as they tear down the highway with a madman's grin and a pair of sunglasses, and quite possibly a shotgun or two in back just in case. Given that this hit around the same time as Maiden's seminal
The number of the Beast, the boys had a lot of competition on their hands from the new kids on the block, and while that album had several hits from it and this only one, it more than holds its own and is considered one of the most important albums in Priest's discography.
“Riding on the wind” keeps everything fast and heavy, with an almost Brian Johnson-style vocal from Halford, then “Bloodstone” slows things down a little with a grinding snarler, a big heavy guitar intro and it powers along anthemically until we get the ballad in “(Take these) chains”, which I must say sounds more like a song you'd find on an Alan Parsons Project album than --- oh no, wait. It's now become a Journey power ballad. Hmm. This could be seen as a bad case of insecurity about the band's identity. It's certainly nothing like anything I've heard from them before, kind of with one foot firmly planted in the AOR/radio-friendly territory of albums like
Point of entry and, to a somewhat lesser extent,
British Steel. I find it a bit of an anomaly on an album that really was ticking along well until now. Maybe it's telling that it's the only track on the album not written by the band, but written for them by another songwriter.
Anyway, things get back on course with the thumping, pumping “Pain and pleasure” as Priest again explore their darker side, great growling guitars, then the title track kicks out the stays and rattles along like there's no tomorrow. Halford's voice is starting at this point to sound more and more like Dickinson (or should that be the other way round? Superb guitar solo here, surely ends in burned fingers! Must also note the powerful drumming from Dave Holland, who's still with us after three albums! Must be some sort of record. The twin guitars really make themselves heard on this track, then the big hit single that did it for them in the USA punches out of the speakers at you.
“You've got another thing comin'” is a fast rockin', headshakin' rock anthem which is so catchy you would almost think it was written by someone like Desmond Childs or Diane Warren, a real hitmaker, but no, it's the guys just doing what they do. Apparently they were surprised by how well the single did, had not even considered it for release, and it was a last-minute addition to the album in the first place. Destiny, huh? You can see how it was so successful though: it just has that indefinable element in it that makes it catchy as hell and still something you can rock out to. “Fever” starts slowly and with a really nice introspective guitar before it kicks up into something of a slow power rocker with a really memorable melody. And we're at the end already, as “Devil child” takes us out, again I feel something of AC/DC in it, but a good stomper with decent vocal work from Halford: not his best, but not his worst.
TRACKLISTING
1. The hellion
2. Electric eye
3. Riding on the wind
4. Bloodstone
5. (Take these) chains
6. Pain and pleasure
7. Screaming for vengeance
8. You've got another thing comin'
9. Fever
10. Devil child
This is undoubtedly a huge improvement on
Point of entry and you can see why the Americans suddenly began taking notice of Judas Priest. Personally, I'm still finding it hard to get excited about them. Oh don't get me wrong: they're a great band, but I just ain't feeling it in the same was as I did with other metal artistes. I'm not impressed the same way I was when I first heard Manowar, or Motorhead, or Night Ranger or Saxon, or even Maiden. I don't feel that I've missed out all these years not having listened to Priest, and while it's interesting to see what all the fuss is about, I kind of don't really see what all the fuss is about. But we've albums to go yet, and miles to ride before we sleep.