Judas Priest Screaming For Vengeance CD

Also available in a 3-pack with BRITISH STEEL and POINT OF ENTRY.

In the early '80s, a new musical movement, dubbed "The New Wave of British Metal," swept across England. The conspirators include such heavy bands as Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Saxon, and Def Leppard, but Judas Priest is often credited as the originator and leader of the pack. Rob Halford's vocal histrionics and the dual guitar attack of K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton mesmerized metal-heads everywhere. While Priest had been together since the early-'70s, the band's big U.S. breakthrough came with 1982's SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE.

Like most other metal bands that broke through in the early '80s (Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, etc.), Judas Priest took advantage of the then-developing video medium. MTV put the clip for "You Got Another Thing Coming" in heavy rotation, and the song became one of heavy metal's all-time classic anthems. Other album tracks, such as "The Hellion," "Electric Eye," "(Take These) Chains," "Devil's Child," and the title composition, were all prime metal cuts. With its perfect balance of heavy riffing and melodicism, SCREAMING FOR VENGEANCE is considered by many to be among the finest heavy metal albums ever made.

Judas Priest rebounded from the shaky Point of Entry with Screaming for Vengeance, arguably the strongest album of their early-'80s commercial period. Having moved a bit too far into simplistic hard rock, Vengeance found the band refocusing on heavy metal, and achieving a greater balance between commercialism and creativity. The results were catchy and accessible, yet harder-hitting, and without the awkwardly apparent calculation that informed the weakest moments of the album's two predecessors. Ultimately, Screaming for Vengeance hangs together better than even the undeniable landmark British Steel, both thematically and musically. There's less of a party-down feel here -- the remaining traces of boogie have been ironed out, and the lyrics return to the darkness and menace that gave the band its mystique. Sure, if you stop to read the lyrics, all the references to demons and devils and monsters can look a little gratuitous, but the music here is so strong that there simply aren't any seams showing. Even the occasional filler is more metallic this time around -- in place of trite teenage rebellion, listeners get the S&M-themed "Pain and Pleasure." In fact, "Pain and Pleasure" and "Fever" are the only two songs here that have never shown up on a band retrospective, which ought to tell you that Priest's songwriting here is perhaps the best it's ever been. The midtempo grooves that enlivened British Steel are here in full force on the band's signature tune, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" (their only American chart single), as well as "Bloodstone," "Devil's Child," and unfairly forgotten single "(Take These) Chains," all uniformly great. But there's a nearly equal emphasis on uptempo headbanging, thanks to the classic "The Hellion/Electric Eye," the terrific album track "Riding on the Wind," and the stupendously high-velocity title cut, which marks the closest they ever came to thrash metal (at least in the '80s). Despite a one-album misstep in between, Screaming for Vengeance managed to capitalize on the commercial breakthrough of British Steel, becoming the first Pries

Digitally remastered by Jon Astley.

/;2 New Bonus Tracks

Recorded at Ibiza Sound Studios, Ibiza, Spain.

Judas Priest: Rob Halford (vocals); Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing (guitar); Ian Hill (bass); Dave Holland (drums).

Judas Priest: Dave Holland , Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill, K.K. Downing, Rob Halford.

Personnel: Rob Halford (vocals); Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing (guitar); Ian Hill (bass guitar); Dave Holland (drums).

Audio Remasterer: Jon Astley.

Liner Note Author: Judas Priest.

Recording information: Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Germany (??/1982-08/1985); Ibiza Sound Studios, Ibiza, Spain (??/1982-08/1985).

Photographers: Mike Abrams; Neal Preston; Steve Joester; ToddQ (7/01, p.136) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Represents their commercial peak...Priest finally broke America with this 1982 album..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "[I]t remains one of their most successful efforts..."