Defenders of the faith (1984)
After releasing an album pretty much every year since
Sad wings of destiny, the previous album marked the point where Priest began a two-year release schedule that would last up to 1990's
Painkiller. So two years after they finally hit the big time and cracked America with
Screaming for vengeance, the boys were back with the new album. It kicks off at full speed, more or less when
SfV left off, as “Freewheel burning” sees Halford and Dickinson again seem to merge as one entity; if I heard this out of context I could imagine it an Iron Maiden song. It certainly rocks hard, with screaming guitars, a rapid-fire vocal delivery, and some really good hooks in the guitar work, to say nothing of shimmering solos.
There's a darker, more grindy feel to “Jawbreaker” but it doesn;t really slow down much at all, while “Rock hard ride free” makes it three in a row that have impressed me so far. Great melody with a really hard edge, a screaming vocal from Halford, chorus to die for and punch the air for, and surely a ready-made anthem for bikers. Oh, did I mention smoking guitar solos? There are smoking guitar solos. “The sentinel” keeps things going, rocketing along at a fine pace, slowing down halfway through as Judas Priest recall their earlier progressive rock roots to a degree, but it picks up again for the blistering finale. “Love bites” has something of a punch to it, but is about the first time this album has dipped slightly for me. It's not that it's a bad song, it just sounds not as strong as the rest of the tracks I have heard up till now.
Machinegun guitar leads “Eat me alive” and it has a real sense of tongue-in-cheek humour about it, and there's a grindy growl to “Some heads are gonna roll”, can detect both Queen and Motorhead (!) in there; Halford's voice is a little more restrained here, by which I mean he doesn't scream but keeps it fairly low. Well, after “Love bites” this album is right back on track. It's like we just hit a small bump in the road but now we're screaming on down the highway again. Still on course to be my favourite Priest album so far. “Night comes down” takes it all down to a snarling, moody grinder that slouches along with murder in its eyes, and it's the perfect change from the fast, hard-rocking tracks we've been enjoying up to now. Not in any way a ballad, but definitely slower than the rest of the album and with a killer groove.
But if you thought that was hard and grindy, you have yet to hear “Heavy duty”, which redefines and reaffirms the term “heavy metal”. Like the best of Saxon melded to classic Sabbath and with a good dose of Metallica added for good measure, this song literally shakes the room when you turn it up loud, as if some sort of metallic robot monster was coming for you. As Batty would say, the crushing guitar groove just slays, and the percussion thumps its way right into your brain and sets your eyes rattling. A menacing, growled vocal from Halford sets the seal on definitely one of the heaviest Priest tracks I've heard yet, then we're into the closer, and title track, which basically segeues directly from “Heavy Duty”, retains its melody and thumping beat but has only the title as the lyric. A great way to end, even if it's less than a minute and a half long.
TRACKLISTING
1. Freewheel burning
2. Jawbreaker
3. Rock hard, ride free
4. The Sentinel
5. Love bites
6. Eat me alive
7. Some heads are gonna roll
8. Night comes down
9. Heavy duty
10. Defenders of the faith
I found it! At last! I loved
British Steel, yes, but even then I was a little dubious and wondered if there was an album that would really make me think this band could be for me. Up to now, I haven't been overly impressed. But this album just simply blew it out of the water for me. The weak link of “Love bites” aside, this is an album with no bad tracks. Even that one is not bad, it just isn't as great as the rest. But from start to finish, there's nothing here I would not listen to again. And again. For me, this is
the Priest albums, and others may not agree (I'm sure you won't, and in very vocal terms too) but this will be my go-to album when it comes to this band.
Count me, finally, as one of the defenders of the faith!