Label: Columbia Records
Release date: 09.10.1978
Production: James Guthrie
Album length: 35.06 min
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 8.5 / 10
“Killing Machine” is the record where Judas Priest dropped complexity altogether and gave themselves over to raw, punchy riffing. Songs like Victim Of Changes, Sinner or Beyond The Realms Of Death? Forget about them right away.
So in the space of a single year, Judas Priest put out two pretty different albums. Besides the leap in style, there’s a leap in production too, since “Killing Machine” was produced by James Guthrie, who the band were really happy with after his work on Better By You, Better Than Me (“Stained Class” was produced entirely by Dennis Mackay, apart from that one song). “Killing Machine” has an even more crystalline sound than its predecessor: the highs and lows are more distinct, the sonic contrasts bigger, the overall picture fuller and the sound deeper. What matters is that Mackay managed to wring out of the band, more convincingly, the thing Judas Priest had been hungry for all along: sounding outrageously sharp and loud. And that’s where “Killing Machine” is the definitive upgrade over “Stained Class”. Sure, Judas Priest sacrificed a pinch of sophistication, but the tighter compactness of the more simply built songs on the new record only boosted the punch and directness of their whole being. On top of all that, this excellent remaster gives you an even more precise riffing foundation across the entire platter, which is especially noticeable in the transitions and during the guitar solo shredding. The synths in Before The Dawn are also far more expressive and atmospheric.
The 2001 remaster includes two bonus tracks: an early version of Rock Hard, Ride Free (originally released on “Defenders Of The Faith”, 1984) called Fight For Your Life, with the same verses and pre-chorus but a completely different chorus, a few different transitions and guitar solos, plus a “live” blast of Ride Like A Wind, originally released in 1982 on “Screaming For Vengeance”. Some of you might be bugged, like me, by having both songs on this record, since chronologically they don’t follow the band’s evolution, but they’re undoubtedly must-haves in the CD collection of every Judas Priest fan.
This album has it all. Effective bangers like the fantastic opening terrorizing aggressor Delivering The Goods, the crumbling Rock Forever and Running Wild, and of course the cannonball Hell Bent For Leather (that’s what the original title of the record sounded like when it came out in the US). The mid-tempo reps are the erotic Burnin’ Up and Evil Fantasies, plus the title track with its obscure lyrics about our boundless prostitution for money. One of the melodic highlights is the commercial-sounding Evening Star, simple but effective, played off the cuff. The anthemic Take On The World had to be there too, and once again they showed off their genius feel for covers. This time they went for the Fleetwod Mac classic Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown). The song is tragic by nature, as schizoid as its author, the master of “Anglo-blues” Peter Green, really was in the years when he wrote it, and in Judas Priest’s hands it sounds downright vampirically wicked. Judas Priest also contributed the sadly tender acoustic ballad Before The Dawn, which keeps a genuine link to the seventies, so the album’s contrasts really stand out.
To their roar, which had become an indelible trademark, they added leather. Studded leather and chains. The leather idea was supposedly brought to the band by none other than Rob Halford, straight out of the night-time disco gay clubs. Leather wasn’t exactly new on stage. Before Judas Priest, Alice Cooper and Kiss had already dressed up in it. But Kiss were still so “unreal” on stage in their getup, like total aliens, while Alice Cooper, on the other hand, looked like an occasional crazy harlequin. Judas Priest, though, actually bewitched the crowd with the leather image, since they brought their new look, combined with ruthless, destructive guitar chopping, to the masses without any reservations and in a dead simple way. On stage they looked “of the people”, like guys from the street who’d simply come to take what’s theirs. They showed the masses that you can pluck the forbidden fruit and get away with it. On that front too, Judas Priest’s popularity started climbing steeply.
All the pieces on “Killing Machine” fit together perfectly. The album is blessed with incredible dynamics, and the songs offer different moods of high atmosphere. Anger and rage, sadness, love… and all of it radiates an incredible glow and a will to “be whatever you feel like being”. What always appealed about this band was the sincerity and the courage. Priest always experimented fearlessly, and in their entire history it’s hard to find two albums where you can’t detect a positive step forward.
Judas Priest were on the verge of catapulting themselves into the ranks of rock’s immortals. “Killing Machine” captures the mindset of a band closing in on the peak of its powers, with incredible creative drive and the charged-up energy that the band’s chemistry gave off. The hearts of all the band members were truly set on the same thing (the lyrics of Rock Forever say it all). And once you realize that, with a strong will, you can make every dream come true, no obstacle on the road to your goal can stop you. Judas Priest were simply on the right track, and at that moment they realized it more than ever before. While discos were full of hot, sweaty bodies moving to the beats of Boney M, Tina Turner and the Bee Gees, and the stubborn virus of a freak called punk had long since devoured the giants of early-seventies prog, the embryo of a new musical dimension was slowly getting ready to come kicking into the world. The moment of explosion and the general heavy metal resurrection was drawing near, and after it the world was never the same again.
author: Aleš Podbrežnik, March 2002
Tracklist:
1. Delivering The Goods
2. Rock Forever
3. Evening Star
4. Hell Bent For Leather
5. Take On The World
6. Burnin’ Up
7. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
8. Killing Machine
9. Running Wild
10. Before The Dawn
11. Evil Fantasies
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 2001 REMASTERED EDITION
12. Fight For Your
13. Riding In The Wind (Live)
Lineup:
Rob Halford – vocals
K.K. Downing – guitar
Glenn Tipton – guitar
Ian Hill – bass guitar
Les Binks – drums
