Defenders Of The Faith - 1984 / JUDAS PRIEST
Esta entrada supone, gracias a la mediación de mi amigo ÁLVARO BLANCO, mi primera (y espero que no última) aportación a la revista online CULTUGRAFÍA. De ahí el formato, un poco distinto al habitual.
JUDAS PRIEST IN 1984: BRITISH STEEL REIGNS SUPREME
Fast
and furious we ride the universe.
Those first few words on Freewheel Burning, Defenders
Of The Faith’s (the legendary english band’s ninth álbum, released in
1984) opening track, were revealing of where Judas Priest were mid eighties,
both concerning their musical status and their spirit as a band. A true
statement of intent. This, together with the band’s five members undeniable
work ethic, paved the way for Priest to become some sort of be all, end all
of all things metal, churning hit after hit as if just breathing.
Priest had taken a small step back in 1981, with the release
of Point Of Entry, which maybe was their least remarkable effort
until then, showing a lighter side of a band more focused on radio friendly
songs and on achieving a hit, pressed as they were by their label (according to
KK Downing), leading both fans and critics to welcome the álbum
with mixed feelings. It would not be the only time in Priest’s career, by the
way, but truth is that, for whatever the reason, they chose to go back to
normal with their 1982 album, the very much famous and aptly titled (albeit I
don’t know if intentionally) Screaming For Vengeance, a Top five
in their career and, most likely, their best selling álbum, which helped them
to become succesful stateside.
So they were a very well oiled unit and with lots of momentum when they
booked studio time to record Defenders Of The Faith, in 1984, a record they
upped the aggression on, becoming their heaviest up until that moment.
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| Judas Priest in the early eighties. From left to right: Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, Dave Holland, K.K. Downing and Rob Halford |
But before that, a brief lesson in Priest history.
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| Metal's most famous logo? |
Birmingham, heavy metal's birthplace
There was clearly something in the air, during the sixties, in this city of the english West Midlands, because it witnessed Black
Sabbath's birth, which is very likely to be the first through and through heavy metal band ever, and also, half of the Led Zeppelin members were from the same area. Priest, also hailing from Brum (nickname which the city is known by), took these bands sound to another level, only to become, at least to yours truly, heavy metal's most pivotal band in history. I'm not implying by this that they are my favourite band, although they are up there, obviously, and they might be the outfit whose music I've spent the most time listening to, but my point is that their influence on the scene is overwhelming, overcoming, in my opinion, that of Sabbath themselves or Iron Maiden's (another one of the english metal giants).
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| We're bringing you hard rock |
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| We're taking it to the next level |
It's a long way to the top
In 1974 their first album, Rocka Rolla, saw the light of day and you can only glimpse what was yet to come, because they were struggling to find their essence within a genre which did not even know it existed yet. Sad Wings Of Destiny, released two years after, changed all this, being a bona fide heavy metal album (even if it still features some hippy traits, true to the decade it belongs to) with belters such as Tyrant and, above all, the very famous The Ripper and Victim Of Changes. Sin
After Sin, their third record (1977), already with a big label, expanded the usual formula adding some faster songs featuring double bass drumming and also what is considered by many as thrash metal blueprint, the furious Dissident
Aggressor. As the most standing out tracks on the record you can find the opening Sinner and their cover of Diamonds & Rust, by american singer-songwriter Joan Baez.
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| Early logo |
Something changed in 1978 (beyond the logo, which morphed into the one they've been using until today, with the sole exception, as far as I know, being Nostradamus, released in 2008), when they recruited drummer Les Binks, who only stayed until the next year but helped the band achieving a new dimension, thanks to his skills with the bass drums, something that enabled Priest to get heavier and gain their ultimate identity. Forgotten were all traces from the decade which was about to end ad heavy metal was the only thing that mattered, fueled by the guys new looks, all clad in studs and leather. That year they released the wonderful Stained Class and Killing Machine
(released across the pond as Hell Bent For Leather), full of anthems such as Exciter, Saints In Hell, Hell Bent For Leather itself or Running Wild, and also in 1979 their first live album, the very well known Unleashed In The East, taped in Japan.
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| Late seventies Priest, with drummer Les Binks, first from the left |
British steel
Success eventually came in 1980, with British
Steel, which opened an over the top decade for the band in every sense, already with Dave Holland on drums, with whom they recorded every single album released in the eighties. This record retained the heavy metal from previous albums and took it to a new level of heaviness on tracks like Rapid
Fire or Steeler, while favoring shorter and more approachable songs, which gave them some of their longest-lived hits, like the overplayed Living After Midnight or Breaking
The Law.
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| England's finest razorblade |
And this is when we reached the already mentioned Point Of Entry and Screaming For Vengeance, which came before the one we are about to deal with. The first one gets, as far as I am concerned, more praise than what I might have implied before, standing out the more or less regular Desert Plains and above all, Heading Out To The Highway. The second one was the highwater mark for the band's sound until that moment, with scorchers like Electric
Eye, the title track or the megahit You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’.
Until Defenders Of The Faith came along.
The age of Metallian
Defenders Of The Faith was released by the american label Columbia
Records and hit the shelves very early in 1984 (in fact, the aforementioned Freewheel Burning was released as a single still in 1983 and with a guitar intro which did not make into the final cut and is not on the album's final version) and its own title made clear that Priest wanted to be heavy metal's banners, something they did not need to become because they already were. Let's say they just wanted to make an statement about it, with a bunch of songs not very far removed from the ones on the previous album, but only more extreme, with little or no room for experimenting or commercial detours, despite the obvious hook of many of them. It came as no surprise that it became an instant success, even achieving platinum status in the States in 1988, when reaching one million of units sold.
DOTF was recorded in Ibiza and mixed in Miami, being mastered in New York, with Tom Allom (producer) and Mark
Dodson (engineer) at the helm, and its cover, created by Doug
Johnson (who had already been in charge of Screaming For Vengeance's), featured a new metallic mosnter in the vein of The
Hellion, the one on the previous album, and some subsequent ones. This time, said monster was some kind of tiger-like tank called Metallian, master of metal, from whose wrath would only escape those who kept the faith. This isn't mine, for it was on the album's back cover, which said:
Rising
from Darkness where hell hath no mercy and the screams of vengeance echo on
forever, only those who keep the faith shall escape the wrath of the Metallian…
Master Of All Metal.
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| Defenders Of The Faith. The whole artwork |
As much as I love this kind of music it never ceases to amaze me such outpouring of silliness coming from a bunch of guys who were already in their thirties, something so typical of the time and the genre, and which even persists with some bands. Whatever. I guess this also has its charm, no matter how comical it gets.
Without killer songs, everything else doesn't matter
As for the songs, which is what really matters, Judas Priest took no prisoners, opening with the amazing, already mentioned opener, Freewheel Burning, a blast of early speed metal with an unruly Halford, who unleashes one line after another as if he was some kind of human machine gun. Those sections before and after the guitar solo are legendary, with the singer almost literally spitting three lines at breackneck speed (worthy of the most seasoned rapper), and so is said guitar solo, in which Tipton bullies his axe during most of it, to end up with the more melodic and famous part. The lyrics seem to be about showing the band's determination, with metaphors about driving at full speed and sweeping it all away.
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| Tempt not the blade |
Jawbreaker steps down the revs only a small bit, but not the quality, because this is just another one of the classics to be found on an album which seems a greatest hits compilation itself. It really is that good. Its beginning leaves Hill and Holland out, while both axemen weave the web over which Halford recites his threat (deadly
as a viper), until the former two join and the whole band heads at full throttle to another tremendous guitar solo (Downing's this time) and more speed. This is about clenching your teeth against adversity and being alert, maybe in reference to Halford's afterwards admitted homosexuality (I have even read somewhere that this might be about oral sex up to dramatic levels, if the song's title is any indication).
Rock hard, Ride Free does not low the bar and comes in handy as an anthem for the band's fan base, thanks to those lyrics about being true to yourself and your own beliefs, everythingbtranslated into the heavy metal language, because, only to provide some context, being a metalhead in the early eighties wasn't as easy as it is now. It was something much more marginal. Concerning the music, this song slows down a little, when compared to those two frantic previous songs, and is flawlessly presented by Tipton. Besides, this is the first song in which both guitarrists trade solos, ending up sharing some parts which they play in unison.
As a curious factor, it is worthy of note to mention that this tune had been written during the writing sessions for the previous album, having been named as Fight For Your Life and not having made it onto said record. This earlier version can be listened to on the 2001 Killing Machine's reissue.
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| Rob Halford |
Another classic and also one of the best numbers in Priest's entire career, being a staple of their live set lists ever since, is The Sentinel, a tale about a battle for street dominance set in an apocalyptic landscape. As apocalyptic is its famed intro, which also serves as skeleton for the second verse. Downing and Tipton (heavy metal's most legendary and influential guitar tandem ever) trade as many as six guitar solos here, playing one of those shared sections at the end.
After a flawless first side (according to the first vinyl pressings), the second one is welcomed by one of the songs I personally enjoy the least. No other than Love Bites, but I don't want to be misunderstood for I also like it a lot and it even was released as the second single, due to its blatant radio friendly hook. Because this time, the usual complexity shown in other Priest songs is replaced by a really simple riff which easily pierces through your brain to stay there forever. And there are no guitar solos to be found here, something which is an anomaly when it comes to a band like this. This song gets better when is close to the end and the lyrics put a menacing Halford in the first person.
Priest's songs have been covered a myriad of times and this one is no exception, being as well known as it is, but I'd like to remark how good the one that the american band Nevermore did in
1996 is, completely devastating and even better than the original one.
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| Glenn Tipton |
Eat Me Alive witnesses Priest spitting fire once again with more speed and adrenaline, very much alike to what had been listened in Freewheel
Burning. This is one of my favourite songs and, together with The Sentinel, most likely to be also the brightest shining example of Tipton and Downing's dual guitar skills, trading speedy solos with sheer brilliance, not only halfway through the song, but also at the end.
On the other hand, this song meant headache for the band during those years, because it was part of a fifteen song list (Filthy Fifteen), ranked on number three, which the then known as Parents Music Resource Center wanted to point its finger at (the infamous sticker) due to its explicit content. I guess that something like I’m gonna force you at gun point was too much wild excitement for the american parents of the eighties. Or for many of them at least. In fact, this association's cofounder, american lawyer and activist Tipper Gore stated that the song was about oral sex at gun point. According to Downing it was meant to be ironic and very typical of the british sense of humour, although he admitted that they included the song knowingly, sure as they were of its appeal for the media, but far from being aware of this being just the beginning for them in terms of unwanted attraction (I guess he means with this the lawsuit they had to face in 1990 because of some american kid's suicide in 1985, and the subsequent death of his friend, who had survived said suicide attempt, allegedly after having listened to 1978 Priest's cover of Spooky Tooth's, Better By You, Better Than Me, found on Stained Class. Everything was about subliminal messages and the whole thing ended up being dismissed).
That's why maybe, and once again if full use of their british sense of humour, they included Parental Guidance, as an answer to their being part of that list, on their next album Turbo.
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| K.K. Downing |
Slower
songs, or those usually tagged as ballads (many times without proper accuracy, as far as I am
concerned), are not alien to Priest, although this is not their greatest field of expertise. Not their strongest point, mind you, and there
are even some Priest records on which ballads are completely absent, or maybe there
is one mellower song or two, or with a different structure, and that does not
mean those songs can be necessarily pigeonholed as ballads. None of this
applies to Night Comes Down, a proper ballad, and a very good
one, far removed from the cheesiest aspects of said songs (despite featuring a
much more sensitive Halford) and with more stellar moments courtesy of
Tipton and Downing, with Hill taking the spotlight more often. One of the best
slow songs in their career, deserving of a place besides classics like Dreamer
Deceiver or the very recent Sea Of Red.
So far, this album's score is really high, and had it finished after these eight songs we would be talking about a near perfect record. But it's not over yet, and the last two tracks, which are only one actually, low the bar a little bit. I'm fine with Heavy Duty, despite the tad monotonous and cold drumming (I haven't said almost anything about Holland, because although he gets the job done, he's the weakest link within the band), because the riff is good and catchy, but it morphes into the tirular Defenders Of
The Faith, which consists in one minute and a half of repeating the song's title time and again, within an environment of a fake live setting, which doesn't contribute very much to the whole thing. Heavy Duty's lyrics makes clear that, when it comes to heavy metal, Judas Priest are going to provide you with everything you need, until you feel as if an anvil would have fallen down on you.
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| Ian Hill |
Extra points
In the already mentioned 2001 reissue, the album has two extra tracks, the horrific ballad Turn On Your Light, recorded during the Turbo sessions (I don't get why in those reissues from 2001, most of the albums have extra songs which don't belong to the time that album was recorded, instead of being on the album whose sessions they were recorded for; I spoke about the early version of Rock Hard, Ride Free, called Fight For Your Life, which was recorded during the Screaming For Vengeance sessions, but is on Killing Machine, from 1978, instead on said album), and a live take of Heavy Duty / Defenders Of The Faith, which this time are together in a single track and wich improves the studio versions, being more digestible when played live.
And besides, a new reissue, from March 2015, intended to celebrate the album's thirtieth anniversary, came with a full show of the band, recorded during the tour in support of this record, on the 5th of May, 1984, at the californian venue known as Long Beach Arena (in fact, the previous live version of Heavy Duty and Defenders Of The Faith was taken from this show). In this show, Priest played the whole album but Eat Me Alive, which would eventually be played live already in the XXI century, what makes Defenders Of The Faith one of the three albums of theirs which have been played live their its entirety, together with Rocka Rolla (for obvious reasons, being their first one and the only repertoire they could use back then) and later British Steel.
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| Dave Holland |
As a fun fact, I'd like to mention that some some british copies came with a sticker which warned the owner of the fact that the album had an invitation to take part in a raffle in which three motorbikes would be given away, being six jackets, commemorative of the tour, the second prize.
Defenders Of The Faith brought Priest to Spain for the first time, playing in Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastián on the first, second and third of February, 1984, respectively.
Don’t
take no for an answer
As for myself, it's easy to guess this is one of my favourite Priest albums, and very likely to be the best one they had done up to that point, although I was still very young to be aware of these things and did not begin listening to it until some years later, in 1996.
It's a good thing that their career is so long and succesful that I don't even consider it their best ever (I'd be hard pressed to take it off an hypotethical Top 3), because that honour belongs to another one of their albums most of the time.
But this statement needs to be given some context.
After Defenders Of The Faith, Priest, they would take another turn for the unexpected with the release of Turbo (1986), maybe their most divisive album ever, with songs much more accesible to a wider audience (beyond the average metal fan) and which made use of synthesizers as well. The very famous opening song, Turbo Lover, is a prime example. After this record and another live one (Priest… Live!), they wanted to go back to business and face all the criticism releasing Ram It Down in 1988 which was a fitting return to form in terms of aggression but suffered from some lack of consistency, mixing scorchers such as the title track on one hand, with an atrocious cover of Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode on the other (this record and Turbo had been devised as an only double album called Twin Turbos, which wanted to show both sides of the band, but it could not be).
But in 1990 all the pieces fitted together perfectly. Holland left and was replaced by american drummer Scott Travis
(who is still in the ranks), and they unleashed what is most likely to be their masterpiece, Painkiller. Travis introduced himself to the world as Priest's drummer with the legendary drum intro which opens the title track, in which the guy punishes his kit in an overwhelming fashion. The rest of the album does not fall behind and is a display of fury never listened to before in their career, with songs like Nightcrawler, All Guns Blazing or the closing One Shot At Glory.
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| Scott Travis |
I have friends and acquaintances who not only consider this record a corner stone of the metal genre, something which no doubt is, but also some of them go as far as saying that Painkiller itself is heavy metal in its purest form, and the ultimate genre defining song. That kind of song you would show to someone who had no idea about what metal music is and was interested in beginning to listen to it. And as much as I consider Painkiller an absolute rager and probably Priest's ultimate song, that is something I'm happy to disagree with.
And this is where some context is needed. Painkiller is an essential record and, as I said before, maybe their best. But is remarkably more extreme than anything they had done before, beginning the new decade with the intention of rivaling with the levels of technic and heaviness that the thrash bands had been featuring since the first half of the eighties and above all during the glorious second half of said decade (making more extreme Priest's sound, among others, as much as Priest themselves did back in the day with other bands). And while it is true that Painkiller is not a proper thrash album, it stands unapologetically toe to toe with this extreme metal genre, and, not in vain, they toured with thrash metal monsters like Megadeth or Testament. It's a curious thing how there's an ongoing feedback within heavy metal, with younger and hungry bands willing to copy and expand their most veteran idols sound, while these veteran outfits enjoy long and fruitful careers thanks to avoiding sitting on their laurels, while updating their music to compete with those younger bands which idolize them.
This is why I do not consider Painkiller, with its much modern sound and released in a time when metal music had gone through its most defining decade, as heavy metal's ultimate album, or the title song as the best example of everything this music has to offer. This does not need to be Priest's exclusive honour, for there are songs by some other classic bands which could be good enough for me to share the privilege, but either way, this mention would have to go, in my opinion, to something released during the eighties, with a less current sound and typical of those years. And given is Defenders Of The Faith we are talking about, I think most of the songs on it could be deemed as heavy metal perfect examples, for someone who wanted to get into it, as far as Judas Priest is concerned.
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| The heaviest Priest with the mighty Travis |
Rising from ruins
There's little left to say. As everyone knows, after the relative rough patch that Halford's exit meant for the band at the beginning of the nineties (american singer Tim Owens replaced him for a few years and Rob would come back soon ater the turn of the century), they soldiered on (they never ceased to exist, on the other hand) and had in store a 2020 tour which was supposed to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary, following the wake of their very good album from 2018, Firepower, but this could not be fulfilled because of the pandemic.
This plan has been taken up again and Priest are out and about, with some new faces, because after Downing's leave, back in 2010 (now he's with a new band, KK’s Priest, while there's some bad blood between him and the band after his departure), Richie
Faulkner (who had a serious health related scare while on stage during the summer of 2021) took his place, and already in 2018, after Firepower's release, we knew that Tipton would not be able to carry on with Priest touring duties, having been diagnosed with the Parkinson disease. He's still a member of the band (being involved in songwriting and recording matters) and he's even played live here and there (and he will continue doing it) with the rest of the boys, in songs which are not very demanding, guitar playing wise, but for all intents and purposes he's been replaced as a guitar player by Andy Sneap famed producer and former founder and guitarrist of the english thrash band Sabbat (whose departure was also announced when 2022 began, for the band to go on as a four piece, but he had to come back to the fold because the fans got mad about the idea of them ceasing to be the quintet they have always been).
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| Priest with axeman Faulkner (second from the right) |
Dave Holland passed away in 2018, to cancer, while involved in a nasty affair related to children molestation which there's no point talking about, although he's always pleaded himself innocent.
Still pounding the world (like a battering ram)
Priest also have a new album in the making (they began writing even before the pandemic, besides having some ideas which did not make it onto Firepower), and we better enjoy them while they are still here becauste it could very well be their last. For time waits for no one and, as much as there are fairly younger faces among them, Halford and Hill are already into their seventies and there will be a time when they will want to call it quits. And, as if it wasn't painful enough not having either of the two legendary axemen with them, the absence of any of these two remaining old guarders (mainly Halford, obviously) would make almost unfeasible their continuity under Judas Priest's legendary moniker.
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| Priest most recent live line up, with Sneap (first from the left) and Faulkner |
So legendary that on the 5th of November, 2022, they were inducted into the famous Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame,
no less, together with Downing, Binks and Holland.
Long live the Priest!
FREEWHEEL BURNING (WITH GUITAR INTRO)
*By the time this piece is posted, Priest's new record, INVINCIBLE SHIELD, will have been out for a while (it is due to be released in March, 2024).
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