Judas Priest - "British Steel" (LP Review)

I was speaking with Drew last week and he was reflecting on how many songs from the 1980s dealt with the threat of nuclear war.  One of the examples he mentioned was Judas Priest's "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" ("One last day burning hell fire / You're blown away / If the man with the power / Can't keep it under control"), from their 1984 LP "Defenders of the Faith".  He offered other examples, of course, but the mention of Judas Priest unleashed from me a torrent of commentary, probably far more than he cared for, in which I pontificated that "Defenders" was really the beginning of the end for Priest, and their best LP is 1980's "British Steel", a landmark in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM).  I probably went on for about 10 minutes about "British Steel" (and honorable mentions "Sad Wings of Destiny", "Sin After Sin", and "Screaming for Vengeance") while he laid the telephone down and did something else. 

In HS, the cost of purchasing LPs was distributed among a network of friends, and Robert Gordick bought most of the Iron Maiden and Judas Priest (with the rest of us tape trading to complete our collection).  I do have British Steel on vinyl (and eventually I filled out my collection with their early catalog), one of the first LPs I bought myself (first 10 maybe?).  I won't pretend this doesn't have a significant nostalgia component for me, but I listened to it again after my discussion with Drew and was surprised at how well it held up.  LPs like "Killing Machine" (1978) and "Point of Entry" (1981) had good songs, but they weren't necessarily good albums.  "British Steel" is where they hit the sweet spot of commercial accessibility (the singles "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight") without compromising their heavy sound (which began to erode on "Defenders"), with just a hint of their 1970s progressive rock origins (e.g., "The Rage").

The lyrics have certainly helped the LP age well.  I'm not going to tell you they're great metal lyrics (cf. "Morbid Tales"), but they are missing the puerile, misogynistic lyrics common to many metal bands of the era and that in itself is a big step*.   For example, the lyrics to "Metal Gods" are basically the synopsis to "The Terminator" some four years before it was released ("Hiding underground / Knowing we'd be found / Fearing for our lives / Reaped by robot's scythes").

There are no bad tracks, and at a trim 36 minutes the LP doesn't bog down and meander.  "Screaming for Vengeance" was their real breakthrough, and that's still a fine LP, but "British Steel" is truly their best.  Whether it was a permanent fixture on your turntable in the early 80s like it was for Robert and me, or if you're new to it like Drew, you owe it to yourself to give this LP a (re-)listen.   

Standout songs: "Rapid Fire",  "Metal Gods", "Breaking the Law", "United", "Living After Midnight", "The Rage", (entire LP). 

Skip 'em songs: none

Final score: 10/10.  Don't just take my word for it, read this retrospective and look at its #3 position on Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Metal LPs of All Time".




* Of course, I didn't realize at the time that Rob Halford wasn't really interested in singing about women.  I remember Danette laughing heartily at me when I told her about the "Blue Oyster" scenes in "Police Academy" and me thinking "I don't get it, they're just dressed like Judas Priest".  Of course it seems obvious in retrospect, but my sheltered HS self didn't know about that.