0219. Judas Priest - British Steel
After twelve years together Judas Priest released this, their sixth album, called British Steel and scored a massive hit with the opening track Breaking The Law.
So, is the rest of the album as good?
Well, no. But that doesn't mean that it's full of crap songs, just that the lions' share of the remainders aren't as well-composed as Breaking The Law. For the most part it's too much of a change between the verse and the chorus (worst offender: United, though it's still got that ), either in the riff-department or the song-melody. But that doesn't mean they're not enjoyable.
There's a certain punk-feel to the album (not least in the reggae-influenced intro of The Rage - I wonder how many metal bands today that would even for a second consider it), which makes it a bit ironic when Anthrax-guitarist Scott Ian claims it being the first pure metal album since it didn't have any overt blues-influences. But anyhoo... It's an album with at least three tracks that any metal fan will like, one off which is Living After Midnight with it's telling of vocalist Rob Halfords' frequenting leather-bars, but at the time understood as him living the straight rocker's life.
The more I listen to British Steel, the more I like it (maybe not GotToGet-levels, but I'm going to have to take a pause and come to it in a couple of weeks, just to not fall too deep).
