Judas Priest Format: Audio CD

Iconic. This is the perfect word for ”British Steel”, the sixth studio album of JUDAS PRIEST, the LP which kick-started heavy metal’s glory days of the 1980s and opened doors for the NWoBHM explosion.
As requested, here’s the ‘Special 30th Anniversary Remastered‘ Japanese edition, including bonus tracks.
This is a really good remaster enhancing the early ’80s production values courtesy of master Tom Allom, plus worthwhile extras and refreshed artwork.

Judas Priest released British Steel on April 14, 1980, and there are many fans and historians who would swear by their black leather jackets that the legendary band was at the top of its game with that propulsive, kick ass album. Sad Wings of Destiny, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith and Painkiller all hold a prominent position in the pantheon of excellent and important metal releases, but when it comes to influence, consistency and accessibility, ”British Steel” is, perhaps, a notch above them all.
Arriving during the very outset of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement, British Steel forged a template and set the bar for countless bands, including Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head and Grim Reaper.

”British Steel” streamlined and simplified the progressive intricacies of a band fresh off of revolutionizing the entire heavy metal genre; it brought an aggressive, underground metal subgenre crashing into the mainstream and it greatly expanded the possibilities for heavy metal’s commercial viability as a whole.
Of course, ”British Steel” catapulted Judas Priest to the status of stadium headliners, it was the first salvo fired in heavy metal’s ultimate takeover of the hard rock landscape during the 1980s.

Packed with strong melodic hooks, ”British Steel” is a deliberate commercial move, forsaking the complexity of the band’s early work in favor of a robust, AC/DC-flavored groove. It’s a convincing transformation, as Priest prove equally adept at opening up their arrangements to let the rhythms breathe.
The album is built around the classic singles “Breaking the Law” and “Living After Midnight,” both big hits in the U.K., which openly posit Priest as a party band for the first time.

But British Steel is hardly a complete break from the band’s past. There are still uptempo slices of metallic mayhem bookending the album in “Rapid Fire” and “Steeler,” plus effective moodier pieces in “Metal Gods” (ostensibly about gods literally made of metal, though you know full well the band wanted a nickname) and the crawling menace of “The Rage,” which features arguably the best Rob Halford vocal on the album.

”British Steel” sealed Judas Priest’s status as genre icons, and kick-started heavy metal’s rampage of the 1980s. It went Top Five in the U.K. and became their first Top 40 album in the U.S., going platinum in the process and paving the way for countless imitators and innovators alike.
Classic Album, Classic Songs. Classic Priest.
Killer