Judas Priest - British Steel (1980) Reviews
I strongly believe that Judas Priest took a noticeable step up with their 1978 release “Killing Machine”. They had finally left their 70’s hard rock/proto-metal roots behind & had graduated to become a full-fledged heavy metal band in the classic sense of the term. Subsequently I found “Killing Machine” to be the first Priest album to really impress me. I’d enjoyed all of their earlier material but I couldn’t say that any of it really packed the consistent punch to draw me in for regular revisits. “Killing Machine” also marked the start of a new era for the band. The songs tended to be produced in a more radio-friendly package now. The track lengths were shorter & some showed distinct signs of a more commercial edge but at the same time everything sounded more metal than before.
On “British Steel” Judas Priest took the new concepts they’d showcased on “Killing Machine” & expanded them further which resulted in a more evolved sound. The production is excellent which gives the final product a more polished feel. It’s a very similar record to “Killing Machine” in that it combines up-front metal anthems with more radio-friendly & poppy material but the poppier stuff is taken a little further here & is subsequently less appealing to my tastes. The ballads that have been a regular fixture on previous material have been omitted on this occasion which is fine by me as that’s never been what Priest have been about for mine. The guitar solos are a definite highlight. They’re as shreddy as anything we’d heard from Priest up to that time & they add a good deal of excitement to proceedings. Rob Halford’s vocal performance is exceptional as usual. He adds that touch of class that can take an average idea & make it seem exceptional.
There are a few extremes in the tracklisting to be fair. Things start off in a familiar fashion as opening track “Rapid Fire” is your usual high quality up-tempo Judas Priest opener. This is followed by an absolute stormer in album highlight “Metal Gods”. There has rarely been a more suitably titled metal track. Then we get our first glimpse at a more commercial sound with the classic “Breaking The Law”. It’s a very basic song that relies heavily on a simple vocal hook. It’s not a bad song but it’s certainly overrated. The intensity picks up with “Grinder” which is another timeless metal anthem before the first half peters out with the extraordinarily poppy “United”. I simply can’t tolerate this song. It attempts to emulate Queen’s “We Will Rock You” in a similar fashion to “Take On The World” from “Killing Machine” but this time the cheese is laid on thicker & it ends up being a very disappointing experience.
The B side opens with the very cool “You Don’t Have To Be Old To Be Wise” before again descending into commercial excess with “Living After Midnight” which has a chorus that would be much more at home on a Poison record. Luckily the high quality returns with “The Rage” which is an utter belter. I consider it to be amongst Priest’s best ever tracks. The reggae influenced intro reminds me very much of The Police before it busts into some truly epic metal riffs & a brilliant Halford vocal performance. Album closer “Steeler” is not a bad track but it’s probably one of the less memorable moments on the record.
As you can see "British Steel" includes some real ups & downs & everything in between. It's an album of extremes. We have some truly epic metal anthems mixed in with some pretty unintelligent pop songs. Thankfully the highlights well outweigh the negatives. I thought “Killing Machine” was the best of thing Priest released in the 1970's & “British Steel” definitely had the potential to top it but unfortunately it fell a little short. A lot of that can be put down to the band's commercial aspirations & in fairness they got what they were looking for. Regardless this is still a very solid Priest record with some amazing highlights that should be standards for any heavy metal fan worthy of wearing a bullet belt.