Label: Columbia Records
Release date: May 11, 2004
Compilation length: 303.03 min
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 10/10
The year is 2004! It’s been 30 years since Judas Priest dropped their debut “Rocka Rolla” (1974). This year the band, with the long-lost runaway Rob Halford back in the fold, are working on a new studio album and conquering the world’s concert halls again as the golden lineup. So a new compilation seems like a perfectly legit move, especially when you consider that, for all the compilations out there, only “Metal Works” (1993) really gives you a true sense of what Judas Priest are about.
“Metalogy” is a limited-edition box set made up of 4 CDs and a DVD. That’s five complete chunks of music. It’s by far the most comprehensive retrospective of the band. Really, it’s the first proper retrospective, one that actually covers some of the biggest moments of their rich history, if not all the peaks of their career. The songs follow each other chronologically from disc to disc, this time (finally) starting with “Rocka Rolla” (the track Never Satisfied) and running all the way to the album “Demolition” (2001) with the song Feed On Me, 65 tracks in total. Given that most of Judas Priest’s studio classics were made without a single slip-up, the average listener probably won’t see much point in buying such a huge box and will rather grab all the studio albums instead. For example, a whopping 8 tracks from “Defenders Of The Faith” (1984) made it onto this compilation, so almost the whole record (although that record is, again, full of divine creations).
For true Judas Priest fans, of course, “Metalogy” is a must-have for the collection too. A few unreleased recordings on it should keep them happy. But the number of “unreleased” tracks gets cut in half in a heartbeat if you happen to own “Priest, Live & Rare” (1996). A big plus of this retrospective is the excellent DVD, which shows Judas Priest truly at the peak of their powers (the stage explosiveness never ends, and Halford is in a trance like a proper “führer”!!!). The footage is from the 1982 “Screaming For Vengeance” tour (Memphis, USA), which was released again as a standalone DVD in 2006. On top of that, the box includes a hefty booklet, nicely stuffed with photos and text singing the band’s praises. A quick flip through the booklet also makes it clear that the photos mostly feature just Halford, Downing, Tipton and Hill, which may be annoying for such a “historic” compilation, since you get the feeling that Judas Priest have always just hired their drummers. As I was leafing through the pages of pictures, I was of course soon afraid they had “ignored” Tim “Ripper” Owens too, who did, thank God, earn the honor of appearing in a whole two photos. In short, the “booklet” is really just a quick biographical overview and not some in-depth study of Judas Priest. The outer design of the “box” is truly striking, though. It’s dressed in a “fake” leather outfit, with the leather completely studded along the edges, and when you pick up the box it feels like putting on Halford’s leather spiked coat. At the same time, this design is a great symbolic touch, since it clearly points out that Judas Priest are the band who introduced the leather – tasteless standards into Heavy Metal, which every metalhead soon embraced after them without much hesitation.
“Metalogy” is hands down the best Judas Priest compilation. With material as mighty as theirs, of course, you couldn’t expect anything less. In scope it’s reminiscent of the Motörhead compilation “Stone Deaf Forever!” (2003). They started out as a modest, barely noticeable hippie – blues band, grew and grew through the seventies, pledged allegiance to heavy steel, and marched straight out of the concrete jungle with cries of vengeance, defenders of the faith. A band that offered the flock not just one but a whole bunch of effective “painkillers”. Judas Priest are the pioneers and fathers of the heavy metal religion. The crowned creators of an eternal, unique and indestructible “metalogy”. They were the chosen ones. However I weigh it, “Metalogy” is the real bible of “Heavy Metal” rock!
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
CD 1.:
1. Never Satisfied
2. Deceiver
3. Tyrant
4. Victim Of Changes (live)
5. Diamonds & Rust (live)
6. Starbreaker (live)
7. Sinner
8. Let Us Prey
9. Dissident Aggressor
10. Exciter
11. Beyond The Realms Of Death
12. Better By You Better Than Me
13. Invader
14. Stained Class
15. The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) (live)
CD 2.:
1. Killing Machine
2. Evening Star
3. Take On The World
4. Delivering The Goods
5. Evil Fantasies
6. Hell Bent For Leather
7. Breaking The Law (live)
8. Living After Midnight
9. Rapid Fire
10. Metal Gods
11. Grinder (live)
12. The Rage
13. Heading Out To The Highway
14. Hot Rockin’ (live)
15. Trouble Shooter
16. Solar Angels
17. Desert Plains
18. The Hellion/Electric Eye (live)
19. Screaming For Vengeance
CD 3.:
1. Riding On The Wind
2. Bloodstone
3. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
4. Devil’s Child
5. Freewheel Burning
6. Jawbreaker
7. The Sentinel
8. Love Bites (live)
9. Eat Me Alive
10. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
11. Rock Hard Ride Free
12. Night Comes Down
13. Turbo Lover
14. Private Property
15. Parental Guidance
16. Out In The Cold
17. Heart Of A Lion (demo)
CD 4.:
1. Ram It Down
2. Heavy Metal
3. Come & Get It
4. Blood Red Skies
5. Painkiller
6. Between The Hammer & The Anvil
7. Touch Of Evil
8. Metal Meltdown
9. Nightcrawler
10. All Guns Blazing
11. Jugulator
12. Bloodstains
13. Machine Man
14. Feed On Me
CD 5. (DVD):
“Live from Memphis ’82”
1. The Hellion/Electric Eye
2. Riding On The Wind
3. Heading Out To The Highway
4. Metal Gods
5. Bloodstone
6. Breaking The Law
7. The Sinner
8. Desert Plains
9. The Ripper
10. Diamonds And Rust
11. Devil’s Child
12. Screaming For Vengeance
13. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
14. Victim Of Changes
15. Living After Midnight
16. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
17. Hell Bent For Leather
Musicians:
Rob Halford – vocals
Tim “Ripper” Owens – vocals
K.K. Downing – guitar
Glen Tipton – guitar
Ian Hill – bass guitar
Alan Moore – drums
Simon Phillips – drums
Les Binks – drums
Dave Holland – drums
Scott Travis – drums
