Wow. “Screaming For Vengeance” is 30 years old today but before I touch upon this I want to ask you readers a question. Do you remember when you first heard Judas Priest? I know that I do, and while it was a few albums back before this one with “Unleashed In The East”, “Hell Bent For Leather” and “Stained Class” all being appreciated at the exact same time, it was still a band that I became an instant fan of when I heard them. I heard those albums at a band mates house but the first album that I ever owned by the band was 1980′s “British Steel“. If my memory still serves me correctly “Screaming For Vengeance” was the first Judas Priest album that I bought “with my own money”, meaning either having worked to earn it via chores of some kind. I know that I bought this at a long closed down shop called The Record Factory in Bay Ridge and that the first time that I saw it I said “WOW SO COOL” as I gazed upon the bright yellow cover and the imposing attack that The Hellion was in. Metal was on the attack and you saw this right in front of your eyes with the cover.

It might surprise you to learn that this is the biggest seller from the Judas Priest catalog, well, at least their Wikipedia entry says that about it. I know I was shocked because both “Breaking The Law” and “Living After Midnight” from their previous blockbuster “British Steel” were a lot more radio friendly than much of the fare found on “Screaming For Vengeance”. What I loved most about this particular album was that it was a kick ass Metal release. There were tunes on this one that grabbed you by the throat and you know that I am talking about the title track itself along with “Electric Eye” and even “Devil’s Child”. There was also a semi-ballad in “Take These Chains” and let’s not forget the show stopping “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”. To me, even in 2012 this is a kick your ass inside out album and even though Judas Priest has become all the more visible thanks to using “The Hellion” in a car commercial and their not too long ago appearance on American Idol they still manage to bring it. Of course these days they do it without one of their founding members as K.K. Downing officially left the group in 2011.

They’ve announced that a special edition of this album will be coming out in early September which is reported to have a bonus DVD and some additional live tracks. One has to assume that all of this pertains to the time of the albums release and I will surely be doing a review of it once I get my hands on a copy. Back in 2006 I had reviewed the original remaster for the website and have pasted that article HERE for your reading pleasure. Even though at the point of this writing that you can only pre-order the upcoming edition, I pasted in that particular releases Amazon.com code.

Official Website: www,judaspriest.com
Official Album Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screaming_for_Vengeance

For as long as I can remember, I have maintained that in my status as a Heavy Metal and Hard Rock fan that my own “Big Three” favorites were KISS, Van Halen and Judas Priest. Over the years I have of course come to appreciate and enjoy a wider variety of acts for the genre because there are so many amazing groups out there, but this list and its ranking has rarely veered off course. If memory serves me correctly, I first heard the band in High School about a thousand years ago (give or take) and the album of note at the time was “Hell Bent For Leather”. Wait, I am wrong in this assumption – the album that I FIRST heard by the band would the live recording of “Unleashed In The East”, and was the album that captured the band in action while on tour to support “HBFL”. I had never heard anything like the vocals of Rob Halford and the twin guitar wizardry of Downing and Tipton and when you put all this together with the powerful drumming of Les Binks I could safely admit that I was a fan from that moment on. From this defining moment I would try my own hand at some of the drum parts, look into the bands back catalog and even become the town crier who hoped to convince other Metal fans to rally behind me in the bands cause. Good times to say the least.

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I think it’s time to use this blog to celebrate some momentous Metal occasions and particularly so when we find an iconic release reaching a big anniversary. With that being said let me start out by wishing Judas Priest a very Happy Anniversary on their album “British Steel” hitting its 30th year of release. Wow. When “British Steel” first came out in April of 1980 I had only been a Judas Priest fan for a few short years. I was already a heavy music fan but I got my Metal education in the bands work thanks to one of my guitar players who had three of their albums and we were listening to them after practice. I was hooked and immediately asked my folks to buy me this new album for my birthday which would be at the end of the month after it hit the record shops. Yes, this writer owned the album on classic vinyl LP at one time.

From the moment that I first played this album I would blast it nice and loud much to the families and neighbors chagrin and as I was just beginning to start out with my interest in drumming I found tunes like “Breaking The Law”, “Living After Midnight”, “Metal Gods” and “Rapid Fire” to be fun ones to work ones chops out to and aim for harder and harder material. Not long after its release many of these tunes became staples of Rock focused radio stations. I realize that the term might elude many of you younger readers but yes at one time Radio ruled the roost and there were Heavy Rock stations that afforded material like this some attention. To me as a Metal fan this is still a completely relevant album that I love listening to from beginning to end. What does it mean to you as a person who claims that this type of sound is of utmost importance to them? Feel free to let us know in the comments but do stick to topic of course.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, a special edition version of the album will be released sometime next month. I’ve read that it will feature a live DVD performance of the album from the recent tour that they did as well. That is pretty cool for them to do. Back in 2006 I started reviewing some of the Judas Priest remasters that had come out in 2001. You can check out that article by clicking HERE. I opted to paste that Amazon.com link below instead of the first remaster since its something that all of you should add to your collection.

Official Website: www.judaspriest.com
Official Album Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Steel_%28album%29

Judas Priest was back in action and touring for the 30th Anniversary of “British Steel”. I could hardly believe that the album was reaching such a milestone. The tour would bring along Whitesnake who last delivered “Good To Be Bad” to their fans and with such a great pairing we knew we had to be in place to report on it. The first band up was Pop Evil but the fates were not on our side to catch them, but a full commentary and plenty of photos of Judas Priest and Whitesnake are ready to be enjoyed. Just click the bands logo below to be taken to our article on the main PiercingMetal.com site.

Metal Fans that have interest in seeing the Judas Priest “Metal Masters” article from last year can click HERE to do so and those Whitesnake fans that wish to enjoy our images and words from a media only CD listening can click HERE. Keep the horns raised for the Metal and remember to support your bands.

The Metal Masters Tour was an event that found the might of Judas Priest and Heaven and Hell combining forces with both Motorhead and Testament and we were sure to be on point to bring this story to the masses. It was one of the best shows of the year and for readers to see our comments on all of the performers and photos of each please click on the logo below to be brought to our main PiercingMetal.com article. Keep the horns raised high legions.

In my top three bands of all time I keep Judas Priest among those numbers and as a fan for decades already I am not just saying this. Tonight the band would be performing at the PNC Bank Arts Center and be doing so with Queensryche as their direct support. I was not going to miss this at all. Check out the photos and coverage by clicking the link below. That will take you over to the main PiercingMetal.com site where you can enjoy it in full.

If you have been a fan of Heavy Metal for any number of years then it is without question that you already know about Rob Halford, the legendary lead singer for the equally legendary Judas Priest. Their music has defined a generation of Metal music and formed its fanbase to record proportions. As a member of The Priest, Halford has recorded some of the genres most popular anthems and off the top of my head the ones that everyone seems to key into are “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”, “Breaking The Law”, “Living After Midnight” and “Hell Bent For Leather”. There’s a ton more and I know that I am annoying my fellow Judas Priest acolytes by leaving some “signature” tunes out, but this is just a musing and not a complete recap of the band’s history or their overall discography. After almost two decades with the group Halford decided to move on and front a band of his own design. The parting from Priest found him forming the band Fight, who were a brutalizing quintet when it came down to it. With Fight the singer would record two albums War Of Words and A Small Deadly Space. From Fight he would record with Trent Reznor under the moniker Two but this effort was very ill-recieved since it was not what the larger fan base had expected to come from The Metal God. When he had finished his plans with Two he jumped right back into the fray of Metal by forming and fronting a band very aptly labeled – HALFORD. These albums kicked new levels of ass for the singer and we would get two studio releases and a live album (Resurrection, Crucible, & Live Insurrection). The reception to Rob Halford’s revisit to Metal was met with great response and while we all anxiously awaited another studio album the news came in that he had reunited with his former band Judas Priest and a tour would be among the first things planned. The rest is pretty much recent music history with the exception of the fact that in late 2007 he would launch his own label imprint “Metal God Entertainment” and with this we would see a lot of great surprises released.

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