I'm what Metal Sludge would call a "Judas Priest nutswinger." I suppose my title "Painkiller" is a reference to that. I'd use a Priest album as an avatar if this wasn't an 80's culture/video game worship site, as there'd be no way I'd have the the balls to use Mega Man X as a picture anywhere else.

Favorite album: Screaming For Vengeance

Favorite songs: Battle Hymn/One Shot At Glory, You've Got Another Thing Comin, Genocide (live)

So yea, discuss Priest.

enshinkarateman wrote:

The only Priest album I own is Painkiller, and that's a damn good album. I've been meaning to pick up Sad Wings of Destiny and Screaming for Vengeance for a while now. Halford=The Metal God, no doubt about it.

Screaming For Vengeance is kind of like Painkiller-lite. But a) the lyrics are slightly better since the lyrics on Painkiller are mostly crap and b) its a good "commerical metal album." Its absolutely the highlight of the string of albums they did in the 80's.


As for Sad Wings Of Destiny...well if your like me and heard the live album Unleashed In The East before hand, you're gonna think Sad Wings is kinda meh. It has the overall "heaviness" of the Ozzy Sabbath albums with a slight more ping to it. The songs themselves are fine, but its just the way the play them that seems alittle phoned in, especially compared to those live tracks. For instance, for all its popularity, Victim Of Changes is fucking terrible in the studio. It's slow and boring and the fade in skips about 3/4 of the twin guitar intro. But the live version on "Unleashed" is absolutely classic. And its the same thing for Genocide too. It sounds "merely ok" on the album version, they seem like their just going through the motions just to get it on the record, but live, holy fucking fuck.

Oh yea, if you end up getting Sad Wings of Destiny, don't forget to start off with track 5, Prelude, as some asshat decided to fuck up the tracklisting. That album should not start with that bad fade in of Victim Of Changes.

ross_rifle113 wrote:

Judas Muthafuckin Priest. Man ohhhhh man. Love em so much I saw them back in '05, and they completely blew my mind. I got Screaming For Vengeance, Ram It Down, Point of Entry, Unleashed In The East, Hell Bent For Leather on vinyl and Painkiller on cd.

Ram It Down is probably their most underrated album. The title song and Blood Red Skies are two absolute classics (that also need to be resurrected live).

Syd Lexia wrote:

Electric Eye is the best song ever.

Out of curioisity, did you discover it before or after Guitar Hero Rocks The 80's came out?

ross_rifle113 wrote:

Don't question Syd. He definitely knew it before, unlike most of today's society. My favorite Priest tune is probably Touch of Evil (I almost cried when they did it live, just chills down my spine the whole time), and The Ripper, but Ripper is never on any best ofs , except the Essential Judas Priest, which I have.

Well, you never can tell these days. It is kinda surprising that of all songs they put Electric Eye on an "80's compilation" game, since that song wasn't exactly a smash hit. At least not compared to Heading Out To The Highway, or Breaking The Law

Technically, The Ripper is on that piece of shit "Best Of Judas Priest" comp put out by Gull Records which just has a few songs from Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings. I also dig A Touch Of Evil. What's really fun for me is the solo section, and not just cos of the solo. There's the acoustic guitar in the background, and the way Scott handles the rhythm of the song for the first half then somehow mangaes to make it explode in the second half.

erock462 wrote:

I'm not terribly familiar with Priest but i do like the album Painkiller even though its pretty different then their earlier stuff. I also like the song Metal Gods.

If by earlier stuff you mean the 70's years, then I disagree. Painkiller has more in common with Stained Class than British Steel. The one difference is the lyrics. The lyrics on the 70's albums were poetically quirky, whereas Painkiller's lyrics are just bad. Which I guess is what happens after 10 straight years of writing rock anthem lyrics to sell records.