Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Judas Priest
Label: Columbia Records
Release: 1984
Length: 39:43
Rating: 5/5
Personally, this is my favorite Judas Priest album. It’s a brilliant successor to “Screaming For Vengeance”. As a whole, “Defenders Of The Faith” isn’t packed with the same explosiveness as its predecessor “Screaming For Vengeance”, but it’s an album that carries a streak of rare melancholy and hidden, eternal longing at every turn, which hits you right in the heart hardest in Night Comes Down. In terms of atmosphere, emotional charge, sophistication and sheer polish of the songs, “Defenders Of The Faith” is the perfect upgrade on “Screaming for Vengeance”, which is why many heavy metal fans rate it even higher than “Screaming For Vengeance” or “British Steel”. This is the point where classic Judas Priest hit their creative peak as songwriters. It’s an album where aggression and “feel” live side by side in perfect symbiosis at every turn!
A new manifesto of uncompromising metal extravagance comes at you through the supersonic Freewheel Burning and Sentinel, the wicked Love Bites and Eat Me Alive, the melodic, high-atmosphere bursts of Rock Hard Ride Free and Some Heads Are Gonna Roll, all the way to the hymn-like closing pair, or satanic march (take your pick), Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith, one more wild, high-dynamic free-for-all from classic Priest.
“Fast And Furious….” No two ways about it, absolutely true. That’s Freewheel Burning. Wild single-string shredding, drumming with full expressive depth, fantastic production. The incredible contrasts are clearly emphasized and together they fill the entire sound spectrum. K.K. and Glenn built on what I talked about on the previous record, so all the multi-part guitar “lead breaks” shine in these songs with even more intensity. The peaks of the guitar duo’s perfection: The Sentinel with no fewer than seven “lead breaks”, Eat Me Alive, Rock Hard Ride Free and Some Heads Are Gonna Roll. After Freewheel Burning comes another bolt from the blue. Jawbreaker, venomous as a viper, spits fire with undiminished intensity. With songs like The Sentinel and Rock Hard Ride Free, Judas Priest reached one of the epic, romantic peaks of their career. These two songs are put together from head to toe so well that they simply couldn’t be any better. All the bold guitar transitions, solos, exits, entrances, the subtly soulful singing, the drum rolls and whatever else you can think of are flawless. Both are seasoned with a heaping dose of melody while keeping all the punch of the Judas Priest phenomenon. The choruses of both songs carry, besides their one-of-a-kind vocal lines, such magic that they are without a doubt among the most beautifully composed songs in heavy metal that have gone overlooked to this day.
The remaster once again shockingly upgrades the original. Besides all the more clearly audible, pumped-up contrasts, some of the little embellishments are more pronounced too, ones that didn’t poke the ear enough on the original to really grab your attention (e.g. Halford’s mocking laugh at the end of Love Bites, Rob’s echo samples in Eat Me Alive and Love Bites).
The remaster also offers a brilliant, never-before-released bonus track, Turn On Your Light, with a great metallic-acoustic live intro where you hear the pick tapping against the strings, creating a special effect and mood that turns into a total rendezvous of electric and acoustic, with Rob stepping in with soulful vocals to put the song in focus, before it wraps up with an outro of outstanding classic guitar solos. The second bonus track is an interesting rarity: a “live” recording of Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith from the “Defenders Of The Faith” tour.
A record made up entirely of superior songs, it’s a perfect mix of the “feel” approach and the band’s ever-resurgent steel backbone. Every single track is an expressively powerful song that leaves a very special impression on the listener, because this time around Judas Priest literally shower all their songs with emotion. For fans of melody who appreciate the band’s remarkable sense of sophistication, which shines with its special charm most intensely of all Judas Priest albums right on “Defenders Of The Faith”!
Lineup
Rob Halford – vocals
K.K. Downing – guitar
Glenn Tipton – guitar
Ian Hill – bass guitar
Dave Holland – drums
Production
Tom Allom
Tracklist
1. Freewheel Burning
2. Jawbreaker
3. Rock Hard Ride Free
4. The Sentinel
5. Love Bites
6. Eat Me Alive
7. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
8. Night Comes Down
9. Heavy Duty
10. Defenders Of The Faith
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 2001 REMASTERED EDITION:
11. Turn On Your Light
12. Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith (live)
Album length: 49:43
