Judas Priest - British Steel

The guitar riff from "Breaking the Law" is one of the most recognizable from early 1980s heavy metal. Though British Steel sounds dated these days, it's also a classic slice of metal, one of the best from a band that defined the genre in the late '70s and early '80s. Everything that ultimately became characteristic of heavy metal is here, from the lightning-fast riffs on "Rapid Fire," the anthemic "Metal Gods," and "United" to the obligatory party song "Living After Midnight" to the equally obligatory youth-rebellion song, "You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise." British Steel is unquestionably Priest at their peak. The 2001 remastered reissue includes two bonus tracks--a previously unavailable studio selection called "Red, White & Blue" and a live take on "Grinder." --Genevieve Williams Amazon.com

this is the album that took them off

this was the album that they started wearing leather it's funny now thinking back on it and rob halford got the leather from gay shops in alley ways in england it's from the gay lifestyle no metal head new back than and wore the studs and the leather great tunes on this one the newly remastered one has red, white, and blue as an extra track which is a patrioc song for england yes their flag is red white and blue also. August 4, 2008

Pounding the World....

Judas Priest is my 2nd favorite band, and this is my favorite release of theirs. Don't listen to people who say this album is a sell out! Sure, Breaking the Law, Living after Midnite & United have commercial appeal, but the former two are two of their best songs. And can anyone honestly tell me that ANY of the other songs on this album are radio friendly? Rapid Fire? Grinder? Metal Gods? These songs are pure metal Heaven! The Rage is the closest thing to a ballad, and it still rocks! And I'm sorry, but after 4 studio LP's that didn't exactly light the world on fire (sales wise), can you blame them for wanting to record some material that might gain them some attention? Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe the record company may have given up on the band if they didn't have a breakout hit? Quit griping! This album kicks from beginning to end! It's not a coincidence that this ablum was picked for VH1's classic albums series, and anyone on the fence for buying this should check out that show!
July 29, 2008

Priest's Best in the 80s

Well they made this album before I was born but I became a fan with Ram it Down and Killer, and this is better than Screaming fior Vengeance, making it their best from their 80s arena rock period. Contains a number of classic tracks like Metal Gods, Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight and Rapid Fire. The punk influence shows here before they brought out the ball and chain with Screaming for Vengeance. I can tolerate that Rob Halord is gay, he didn't flaunt it, but these interviewers that's all they talked about, not their agressive music. If they thought they would bring in more fans that way, they didn't- Painkiller went gold years later when the rumors first came up their rococco outfits. The other 90s albums- Fight Two and Jugulator even with Angel of REtribution wouldn't total one gold album sales wise. It's pretty obvious they sold out, if only to detract attention away from the suicide court case. But their music will continue influence new generations of rockers, their futuristic approach to it. September 2, 2007

Not the best of Judas Priest

I'm a Judas Priest fan and own many of their albums but British Steel has always bugged me. The songs are not bad and the album did produce two of their biggest hits in Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight. But there is no energy to this album as if Judas Priest was just going through the motions of recording. Absent are the emotions of Stained Class and the power of Hell Bent For Leather and the angst of Screaming For Vengeance. Because of this the songs all blur together with none of them being a standout...making British Steel a very forgettable album. If you are new to Judas Priest, or are looking to finish your collection, I'd skip British Steel and move on to better efforts by the band like Sad Wings Of Destiny, Stained Class, Hell Bent For Leather, Screaming For Vengeance, and Painkiller. June 7, 2007

everything metal was and would be

This is one of the best albums of all time. It has all the elements of what heavy metal was at the time and would become. It caught perfectly the slice in time when heavy metal was just starting to get noticed, but had not yet gone mainstream.

The main strength of this album is the songwriting. Every song was EXCELLENT and performed stellarly. The songs that meant to be commercial were catchy and the songs that were meant to be aggressive and heavy were just that. But they were all good. Not a clunker to be found. The songs achieved a great balance and were all pretty much different than the one before it. And while the musicianship wasn't complex, the solos were great and every performance was spot-on: not sloppy or lacking and yet, not over-indulgent.

Breaking The Law and Living After Midnight need no introduction. Rapid Fire/Metal Gods are both heavy and Metal Gods gets a chance to air out and ride a great riff for a while at the end. Grinder is a song with a great riff and silly lyrics. United is a true anthem with the heavy verses and sing along chorus. You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise is pretty good and The Rage is killer with a great intro. This song seems to be the blueprint for much of Point Of Entry, but is much better here. My personal favorite is Steeler which starts fast and heavy and rides that riff to the end adding layers of guitars.

A lot of metal purists who were either original fans of the group or who came to Priest from later generations of metal call this album a sell out. I have to agree to a certain extent. But I make two points in their defense. 1. At least they didn't eliminate the heavy ones altogether like they would with Point Of Entry and, yuck, Turbo. Steeler and Rapid Fire are still as heavy as anything released up to that time. 2. Selling out was nothing new for them by this time. Diamonds and Rust and Better By You were flagrant attempts to have a hit single. And don't forget Evening Star. Living After Midnight and Breaking The Law did become big songs and did lead to the rise of hair metal posers, but remember, these songs were original at the time and not copying the formula that many lesser groups did soon after.

All in all, this album is a classic and should be owned by anyone who has any interest in heavy metal at all. PS The bonus tracks are there but not necessary to justify purchasing this cd. May 23, 2007

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