Label: Columbia Records
Release date: September 17, 1979
Production: Tom Allom
Length: 44.35 min
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 8.0 / 10
With five studio albums under their belt, the band finally hit the moment for their first live album. This one is really the only true historical, officially released live document that captures the beating heart of Judas Priest, and like the cherry on top of a fruit bowl, it wraps up their creative era and paints a portrait of the band in the seventies. Critics often call it ‘Unleashed in the Studio’ because of the unbelievable sonic perfection, which takes your breath away as you listen and wonder how on earth anyone could pull a recording this good out of a stage performance. Truth be told, there was quite a bit of studio ironing on ‘Unleashed in the East’, way too much when you look at it through today’s lens. But for the time that was business as usual, and “Strangers in the Night” (U.F.O.), released the same year, got similar treatment. That was simply the trend in live album production back then.
The album creaks and crackles from top to bottom with all that mighty electricity and razor-sharp energy. A wild Exciter opens it with a straight right hook to the nose. The guys ‘take a breather’ with the short, loose but no less wound-up Running Wild, then raise hell again with Sinner and carry us into the arms of drama with the naughty The Ripper and Green Manalishi (With The The Two-Pronged Crown). The Diamonds And Rust version on ‘Unleashed in the East’ is still easily the best version of that song out there, and it’s the point where Priest release the tension and carry on their metal march toward the album’s epic peak, Victim Of Changes. Then comes a ballsy barrage across six tracks in total (counting all the bonuses). They crank the rawness, the wildness, the incredible power, the uncompromising stage eruptiveness and, once again, the indestructible heart of the band up to the max. The massive sound of the riffing guitars, the white-hot solos and the ballsy transitions (especially the intros and the fade-outs) radiate extraordinary looseness from both guitarists. Judas Priest upgraded their older songs live, like Sinner, The Ripper, Victim Of Changes, Tyrant, Starbreaker and Genocide, so on this live recording they truly sound not just far more alive, but a lot livelier, more atmospheric, fully metalized and relentless.
Everything live is much faster than in the studio, fuller and more melodic, precisely because of that contrast between the instruments and Halford’s screaming vocals, which improved unbelievably in the five years since the debut and now round off the verses even more beautifully and fully. How convincing his ‘screams’ sound, especially on the older cuts Sinner, Tyrannt, Victim Of Changes and Starbreaker! The whole record is graced by the exceptional tightness of the Binks / Hill rhythm section. Which raises the question: why the hell did Les Binks leave the band after the tour? His fantastic drumming in this period surely left an indelible mark on the music of Judas Priest. Sources say he fell out with the management of the time because they refused to pay him his share for his contribution to the live album, while others say the band never wanted to accept him as a full member and he always carried the frustration of being a hired hand.
“Unleashed in the East” got reworked after the fact at Startling studio by Tom Allom, and that’s why many call it “Unleashed In the Studio”.
The original European release has a little under 45 minutes of music, while the new 2001 remaster runs almost 61 minutes. This time Judas Priest added Rock Forever, Delivering The Goods, Hell Bent For Leather and Starbreaker to the reissue, tracks that had previously only appeared on the original Japanese edition of the album. Despite the excessive studio polish, “Unleashed in the East” is an excellent live album, with stage explosiveness that was downright shocking for its time and the venomous sound of the increasingly popular metal chopping, whose pioneers were now stepping into their most fruitful creative period. The eighties.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik, March 2002
Track list:
1. Exciter (5:38)
2. Running Wild (2:52)
3. Sinner (7:33)
4. The Ripper (2:41)
5. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown) (3:18)
6. Diamonds And Rust (3:34)
7. Victim Of Changes (7:11)
8. Genocide (7:21)
9. Tyrant (4:41)
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 2001 REMASTERED EDITION:
10.Rock Forever
11.Delivering the Goods
12.Hell Bent for Leather
13.Starbreaker
Line-up:
Rob Halford – vocals
Glenn Tipton – guitar
K.K. Downing – guitar
Ian Hill – bass guitar
Les Binks – drums
