Judas Priest - British Steel

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal promised much but in reality produced only three bands of any note: Iron Maiden, Saxon and, although they always hated the tag, Def Leppard. However, for a time between March 1980 and the following year, metal was king of all it surveyed and nothing symbolised its reign better than British Steel, the most metal album ever made in the entire history of the genre...

Due to the interest created by the movement, older bands such as UFO, Motorhead, Scorpions, Rainbow, Rush, AC/DC, Black Sabbath and even Slade were able to ride the crest (forgive the pun) of the wave. Indeed, at this time a number of storming albums were made but it was left to Birmingham's finest to make the incisive statement. British Steel is an album chock full of metal classics. Eighteen months earlier, Priest had finally cast off their 70's progressiveness with the Killing Machine album. Rob Halford had cleverly appropriated the image of Punk and the New York gay scene and the look of metal was now set, all it needed was the perfect aural platform to spread its message.

Overview

British Steel opens with 'Rapid Fire', a track so awesome that it defies description. Priest no longer play it in there live set. That's how good this album is. Next up is Metal Gods, undoubtedly the most metal song ever, the bridge is so heavy it makes Mastodon sound like the Carpenters! A tale of a world run by robots, Metal Gods is the sound of metal so punishing it really could conquer the world. One of the all time classics of the genre follows next: Breaking the Law. Perfectly capturing the disenfranchisement of the Callaghan and Thatcher years, Priest took the punks on at their own game and unemployed metallers everywhere finally had an anthem they could relate to. Grinder continues the upward surge before United ends side one with a patriotic feel of unity and oneness. After all the crap metal had taken from the NME in the preceding years it was a sign that our music was back on the map. Side two opens with an unsung classic in 'You Don't have to be Old to be Wise' and then the famous drum groove of 'Living After Midnight' comes in. A key track in the Priest catalogue, it was an essential mover in Priest's growing stateside profile. Next up is 'The Rage' and rage is does. Beginning with a sub reggae feel it soon mutates into a stormingly heavy number and is amongst the band's finest tracks that never get played live. The album closes with 'Steeler', a high tempo beast that sums up the whole album. Why do things in a roundabout way when you can deliver 36 minutes of sledgehammer blows!

conclusion

British Steel went gold on both sides of the Atlantic and to this day remains one of the cornerstones of the genre. Halford proves that only Dio can stand in the same room as him, Tipton and Downing show that they are the premier dual six string attack and Hill and Holland keep it simple, as metal should be. To cap it all off, the album cover has a razor blade on the cover. How metal is that?