British Steel [Remaster]

Performer: Judas Priest
Engineer: Lou Austin
Producer: Tom Allom
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Also available in a 3-pack with POINT OF ENTRY and SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE. Judas Priest: Rob Halford (vocals); Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing (guitar); Ian Hill (bass); Dave Holland (drums). Digitally remastered by Jon Astley. Judas Priest: Rob Halford (vocals); Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing (guitar); Ian Hill (bass guitar); Dave Holland (drums). Predating Metallica's self-titled blockbuster by 11 years, Judas Priest's British Steel was a similarly pitched landmark boasting many of the same accomplishments. It streamlined and simplified the progressive intricacies of a band fresh off of revolutionizing the entire heavy metal genre; it brought an aggressive, underground metal subgenre crashing into the mainstream (in Priest's case, the NWOBHM; in Metallica's, thrash); and it greatly expanded the possibilities for heavy metal's commercial viability as a whole. Of course, British Steel was nowhere near the sales juggernaut that Metallica was, but in catapulting Judas Priest to the status of stadium headliners, it was the first salvo fired in heavy metal's ultimate takeover of the hard rock landscape during the 1980s. Packed with strong melodic hooks, British Steel is a deliberate commercial move, forsaking the complexity of the band's early work in favor of a robust, AC/DC-flavored groove. It's a convincing transformation, as Priest prove equally adept at opening up their arrangements to let the rhythms breathe (something Iron Maiden, for all their virtues, never did master). The album is built around the classic singles "Breaking the Law" and "Living After Midnight," both big hits in the U.K., which openly posit Priest as a party band for the first time. But British Steel is hardly a complete break from the band's past. There are still uptempo slices of metallic mayhem bookending the album in "Rapid Fire" and "Steeler," plus effective moodier pieces in "Metal Gods" (ostensibly about gods literally made of metal, though you know full well the band wanted a nickname) and the crawling menace of "The Rage," which features arguably the best Rob Halford vocal on the album. Not everything on British Steel quite holds up today -- the British hit "United" is a simplistic (not just simplified) football-chant anthem in the unfortunate tradition of "Take on the World," while "You Don't Have to Be OId to Be Wise" wallows in the sort of "eff your parents, man!" sentiments that are currently used to market kids' breakfast cereals. These bits of blatant pandering can leave more than a whiff of unease about the band's commercial calculations, and foreshadow the temporary creative slip on the follow-up, Point of Entry. Still, on the whole, British Steel is too important an album to have its historical stature diluted by minor inconsistencies. Rather, it sealed Judas Priest's status as genre icons, and kick-started heavy metal's glory days of the 1980s. It went Top Five in the U.K. and became their first Top 40 album in the U.S., going platinum in the process and paving the way for countless imitators and innovators alike. ~ Steve Huey Not only is Judas Priest's 1980 release BRITISH STEEL one of its very best albums, it also proved to be one of heavy metal's all-time classics. After Priest spent the '70s honing its dark, heavy-duty metal to perfection, the band decided to inject more melody and universal themes into the mix for BRITISH STEEL. It was rewarded with two of its best known anthems--"Breaking the Law," and "Living After Midnight." Also included here are such metallic gems as "Rapid Fire," "Metal Gods," and "Grinder," establishing Judas Priest as one of the leaders of the early-'80s new wave of British heavy metal.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.113) - Ranked #68 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...The heartbreaker here is 'She's Out of My Life'....The record also features undeniable up-tempo tracks..." Q (8/00, p.127) - Included in Q's "Best Metal Albums Of All Time" - "...3 of the 9 tracks became Top 30 hits, but it was the raw riffage and unashamed heavy metalness of 'Rapid Fire', 'Steeler' and 'Grinder' which made BRITISH STEEL so influential..." Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "To define heavy metal to someone who has never heard it, simply furnish them with a copy of BRITISH STEEL."

Heavy metal had existed for several years before Judas Priest hit the scene in the mid 1970s, but the mighty Priest drove it all home--many still consider them to be the quintessential metal band. Dressed in studs and leather from head to toe, the band specialized in soaring, heavy-duty metal, with lyrics that alternated between the menacing and the party-hearty.

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