Judas Priest - Stained Class (1978)^{Release ID: 195}

Sin After Sin was an album that only made me so much more confident in the love the world shows Judas Priest.  Unfortunately, this is typically more for the radio singles and whatnot.  Albums like Sin After Sin proved to me that these guys were capable of so much more.  It's obvious that they steered away from blues rock, prog and fantasy because their image was working out for them.  Nevertheless, Screaming for Vengeance was surprisingly diverse for a strictly hard rock and heavy metal album.  So I got pretty excited to finish off the remained of the most classic of the Priest albums with Stained Class, which I started but quit so that I could compare it more easily to Sin After Sin.

This is the album where Priest truly became Priest.  I predicted a lack of the variety displayed and owned on Sin After Sin, which to me is Sad Wings 2.0.  Exciter and White Heat Red Hot begin this album with a good amount of energy for heavy metal, bringing influence to the later speed metal genre the way Dissident Aggressor did.  Great heavy metal tracks right here.  Of course, even though I predicted the third song would steer closer to hard rock, I never would've predicted it's main riff was an earlier, better version of the riff to My Own Worst Enemy by Lit.  Now this album's all funky fresh attitude here, which adds to the album's variety.  But the best thing about this song is the dense and atmospheric guitar bridge.  Strangely enough, this is the first song on the album that came so close to amazing me, as the first two were simply great and new for the time rather than phenomenal to me.  "Better by You Better Than Me" is now another favorite Priest song for me.  Next is the title track, which is speedy but bluesy at the same time.  I found my body going up and down in my chair rather than just performing standard headbanging.  I didn't find Halford's lyrical rhythms to be a proper one to mold with the fantastic instrumentation, though.  Maybe that'll change on another playthrough.

Now Invader and Saints in Hell both had some excellent instrumentation for the hard rock heavy metal bridge.  The lyrical rhythms by Halford were better than the title track's as well.  Unfortunately, I felt that both songs were too similar to each other, giving off a temporary feeling of lack of originality that was a bit to strong.  It might've had less effect if the two weren't next to each other, although I really did enjoy both songs.  Saints in Hell was an instrumental high point.  Thankfully, Savage goes right into the bluesier sounds and feels so much more original and badass as a result.  This is the kind of 70's song a man wants as his theme song when walking into the wrestling ring.  After that is the seven-minute Beyond the Realms of Death, which takes the slower side of metal that Sabbath's known for and applies it the the  newfound Priest personality, delivering something original, exciting and even atmospheric without relying on dense production.  This is probably the best song on the album.  The album ends with Heroes End.  I don't have a lot to say about this one.  It's catchy and fit for the album, but I think it's noticeably inferior to the previous track.  This should've come earlier on the album so that Stained Class could end with a proper bang.

Well, listening to both Sin After Sin and Stained Class has taught me something important: Priest's true greatness lies deeper than the radio's willing to go, because we have so many "bigger" hits by so many "bigger" bands that many of Priest's greatest songs are left to rot in a sack by radio while songs from British Steel are allowed to overtake Stained Class, Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin in popularity.  This album has a little more originality than Screaming for Vengeance and just as much metal fury.  So I think it's right to say that this album is slightly better than Screaming for Vengeance.  Stained Class rightfully showcases Priest's true evolution into Priesthood with a lot of classic metal attitude songs.  No wonder these guys are credited with helping to invent metal.  Sabbath had the slower side for most of their songs, but Priest made speedier songs cool, taking Deep Purple's skills to the next extreme, finally becoming a real metal band.

I had mixed feelings about Judas Priest’s third record “Sin After Sin”. There were some great moments but a couple of disappointing songs in the middle of the album meant that I probably didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous two Priest records. I was happy to hear them taking further baby steps towards the sound we now know as modern heavy metal though. The albums closing track “Dissident Aggressor” really showed us what could be achieved with dark & heavy riffs so 1978’s follow-up album “Stained Class” had a great opportunity to capitalise on that groundwork.  

Priest’s sound hasn’t changed dramatically on “Stained Class”. In fact it was very similar to the one they showcased on “Sin After Sin”. On the positive there were no overly cheesy ballads like “Last Rose Of Summer” this time. The dual guitar attack was probably more potent than ever & Rob Halford’s vocals soared ever higher as he continued to gain in confidence. The guitar sound is still more firmly grounded in 70’s hard rock than heavy metal. It was probably their heaviest record to that time but a lot of that has to do with the style of the song-writing than the actual sound. They still hadn’t quite reached full blown metal status at that stage in my opinion.  

Opener “Exciter” is a fast & energetic rocker that yet again shows off the band’s Deep Purple influence. The opening drum intro definitely hints at the classic “Painkiller” intro that was still twelve years away. “Exciter” is very typical of the type of opening tracks Judas Priest would go with in later years. It’s fast, simple & anthemic. Things continue well for the next few tracks with the cover version of late 60’s blues rock act Spooky Tooth’s “Better By You, Better Than Me” being particularly impressive. Priest have once again chosen to cover a tune that was by no means an obvious choice & have truly made it their own. In fact I think it might just be my favourite track on the album. Other highlights include the epic power ballad “Beyond The Realms Of Death” & the bad-ass riffage of closer “Heroes End”. The only track that I’m not overly keen on is “Invader” which once again sits right in the middle of the album. It just seems to be a bit light-weight & flat to my ears which is a shame because it’s really the only blemish on an otherwise fairly consistent tracklisting.  

“Stained Class” is yet another solid release for Judas Priest. I probably rate it just slightly behind “Sad Wings Of Destiny” in terms of overall quality but once again I find myself struggling to say that it’s anything life-changing. Perhaps early Priest is just a little simple & tame sounding for someone who was raised on extreme metal like myself. It’s undoubtedly a fun listen but do I find myself craving the intensity of later albums like “Painkiller”. I don’t think the highlight songs are quite as strong as earlier classics like “Victim Of Changes” or “Dissident Aggressor” either & I think this is probably what stops me from rating it a little higher. On the positive side I have to admit that it’s as consistent a record as anything Judas Priest had released to that time & I subsequently find myself enjoying it slightly more than albums like “Rocka Rolla” & “Sin After Sin”.