British Steel

Artist: Judas Priest
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1
EAN: 4571191051714
ASIN: B00092QTZ4

Release Date: 2005-06-09

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Britain

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| Rock | Styles | Music

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| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

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| Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

| Classic Rock | Styles | Music

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Tracks:

Breaking the Law
Rapid Fire
Metal Gods
Grinder
United
Living After Midnight
Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise
Rage
Steeler
Red, White & Blue [*]
Grinder [Live][*]

Customer Reviews:

Essential Judas Priest.......2006-11-26

British Steel was my first Judas Priest album, which I bought on casette back in junior high. Thinking back now, I can't remember what turned me onto it. Maybe it was the "Breaking the Law" music video I saw on Beavis and Butthead, but it's not important now. I listen to everything from Marilyn Manson to Cannibal Corpse and British Steel is still one of my top ten favorite metal albums.

It's not bone-crushing heavy, no. It's not that kind of music. I wouldn't call it "pop metal" but it's not lyrically deep or technically complicated. I would relate it most closely to ACDC's Back in Black. It's just real catchy, fun, and good.

It's more than just good melodies. There's a certain punch to it, and I think it's in the delivery. The mid-tempo song like Grinder and Metal Gods get a real good groove going and then just keep it up. It's something about Rob singing those short staccato syllables over the beat. Some of the tracks like Living After Midnight and Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise have more of a rock 'n' roll feel to them rather than what I think of as metal, but still rock none the less. And of course Rapid Fire is here as the obligatory fast tempo priest screamer with the banshee wail at the end. The Rage, while it does seem out of place on this album (as another reviewer pointed out) with its moody, brooding, sludgey feel and decidedly darker lyrics, becomes one of the album's best tracks with repeated listens. This song always gave me the most colorful mental imagery, though admittedly partly because of misheard lyrics (like early Ozzy, I find rob's voice sometimes garbles itself).

The big picture is that British Steel is a very solid (not one mediocre track to be heard) and fairly diverse collection of classic metal that's best heard while shouting along in one's car on the highway.

Now, a few notes about this reissue:
I can't speak for the difference in audio quality, since everything sounds bad on casette, but I will review the extras. The bonus track Red, White & Blue is a mediocre outtake that sound WAY out of place on the record, and in my opinion, tarnishes the album. It's not terrible, but it just doesn't fit. Another reviewer cites it as being a leftover from the ill-recieved Turbo album priest recorded several albums later. If this is the case, why is it here instead of on the Turbo remaster? The live version of Grinder, however, while hardly necessary, is well performed and, in my opinion, a keeper.

Priest's mainstream breakthrough album.......2005-06-23

British Steel (1980.) Judas Priest's sixth album.

In the seventies, Judas Priest had proven themselves to be the kings of hard rock/heavy metal. Although most people give Black Sabbath the credit for starting up the heavy metal revolution, these guys deserve every bit as much credit. When the eighties rolled around, many once great rock bands came crashing down - some due to dying band members, some due to the times changing. How would Judas Priest handle the transition into the new decade? Would they be instantly destroyed, or would this new decade bring them to even greater heights than we could have ever imagined? Read on for my review of Judas Priest's sixth album, British Steel.

With this album, Judas Priest began going for a much more "mainstream hard rock" sound than they had been on their recent albums. One way this shows is in the fact that this album contained two of the band's major hits - hits that became so popular, even non-Judas Priest fans know and love them! These songs are the hard rocking and extremely memorable Breaking The Law, and the equally notable Living After Midnight. It's only proper that these songs became so popular - they're everything fans could want. But this album doesn't stop with the hits. The album's opening track, Rapid Fire, is one of the band's fastest and heaviest songs to date. In my opinion, this is the best song on the album. Why didn't THIS song become more popular? The next song, Metal Gods, is also very good. It takes on a slower, more epic sound than the previous one. Another excellent track is the band's take on an arena rock anthem, a little track called United. If you listened to Killing Machine's (Hell Bent For Leather in America) Take On The World, you know how well the band can do songs of this style. Another notable rocker is You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise, in which the band attacks an age-old belief - and does a damn good job of it! However, as good an album as this is, it falls flat when you compare it to, say, Stained Class or Screaming For Vengeance. Grinder is just weak when you compare it to the rest of the album - and the horrible lyrics don't help things either. The Rage and Steeler, though not bad tracks by any means, seem more like fillers when you compare them to the rest of the album. They seem more like B-Sides than tracks that should have been put on the album. Overall, this album is very good, but I don't agree with the editorial review above that calls this the band's best album. It's their most popular, but that doesn't necessarily make it the best.

Like the other rereleases in the Judas Priest remasters series, this one has two bonus tracks. On this particular reissued album, you get an unreleased studio session entitled Red White And Blue, and a live take on Grinder. The former is a much slower and more melodic track than what you're used to hearing this band play, but it's still very good. This is Priest at their most patriotic, as the title may have implied. The latter is disappointing. Grinder is the weakest track on British Steel, so the fact that they chose to do a live version of it is just depressing. Why couldn't they have picked a better track to do a live version of? Halford's intro to the live take is nice, but the song ends up being even weaker than the already weak studio version... what a shame.

Overall, British Steel is a great album. It's not their best one by any means, but I still feel it is an excellent one. If you're new to Judas Priest, this is the album I strongly recommend starting with. DO NOT buy one of the band's hits compilations, as they are bound to disappoint you. Stick to buying the studio albums, as they give you a number of underrated masterpieces you won't soon find on any hits compilation!

Music CD:

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Folk Music of Greece & Cyprus ~ Various Artists

Jackyl ~ Jackyl

Live Without Fear ~ Mortification

Endless, Nameless ~ The Wildhearts

Darin Schaffer ~ Darin Schaffer

Sheik European Assassin Woman ~ Tracy Marie

Kathryn Rose ~ Kathryn Rose

Wasteland for Broken Hearts ~ Hirsh Gardner

Effroyables jardins (2003 film) ~ Zbigniew Preisner

Time & Space ~ Fran%C3%A7ois K