Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Judas Priest
Label: Columbia Records
Released: 1982
Runtime: 38:42
Rating: 4/5
“Screaming For Vengeance” (1982) was a 100% about-face from its predecessor “Point Of Entry” (1981). With it, the “eighties” Judas Priest stepped into the most fruitful stretch of their career. “Screaming For Vengeance” neatly marries the maturity the band showed on “Point Of Entry” with the untamed force of “British Steel” (1981). What’s more, Judas Priest sounded louder and more devastating. K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton, for the first time in a really pronounced way, brought the splitting of solos into several parts into the band’s musical style. And through the eighties the two guitarists kept building on it and polishing it in the Judas Priest picture. Usually they’d saw off two solos, one each, back to back, but now this brilliant duo started pouring all their wit into crafting instrumental sections out of multi-part split solos, so that five or even seven lead breaks could follow one another. In the transitions they once again slotted in one-of-a-kind bits, short, explosive and finished off, all wedged inside the album’s sharp riffing. The two elements work like amplifiers feeding each other, and the result is a record that Judas Priest fans, out of all the Judas Priest records, still love to put in first place today.
The opening salvo The Hellion alone is a magnet that instantly intoxicates the listener and warns that a whole heap of sinful pleasures lurk behind it. The drums are massive, the bass tears in deep, and the rhythm line rules above all in the mid-tempo tracks like Bloodstone, where the contrasts between the front line and the back line, and Rob Halford, are at their most expressive. This is where the cult Priest classics Hellion/Elestric Eye, Riding On The Wind, Screaming For Vengeance and You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’ saw the light of day. It’s a marvel of a band that can create an unrelenting bomb like Electric Eye, which, with its aggressive stance, offers a one-of-a-kind mood, mostly thanks to the excellent production. Rob’s vocals in the lines are deliberately warped and robotized through an effect that brings to life a giant eye, watching vigilantly and making sure the state is constantly “clean”. We’re slaves of total surveillance, a product of our own fear, and for that “imagined safety” we’ve sold off all our freedom.
(Take These) Chains is a song written for Judas Priest by Bob Halligan Jr., a member of Ceili Rain, who otherwise offer a fusion of Irish and Scottish folk elements with rock music. This guy went on to become a much sought-after songwriter, especially after he also put together Some Heads Are Gonna Roll for Judas Priest, which came out on the next record, “Defenders Of The Faith” (1984). Later on Halligan wrote for acts like Blue Oyster Cult, Kiss, Joan Jett, Ted Nugent, Michael Bolton and Cher. (Take These) Chains is a track tailor-made for Rob Halford’s emotive voice. An ultra-melodic, fluid number with a simple solo, built from the ground up as a hit single. The emotional charge carries over to the atmospheric Pain And Pleasure too.
Standing firmly behind the lofty album title is above all the title track. Red-hot all the way through, a wound-up, bristling basher where Halford screams, screams on purpose as much as he possibly can, sending shivers all down your body, holy hell. And that bomb flows dynamically into the passionate You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, with its punchy, down-tuned riff and massive mid-tempo groove, topped with Rob’s singing full of fervor. Toward the end the guys deliver the atmospheric peak of the record with Fever. The open rhythm drive sounds deep and comes close to the sound that glam metal bands would soon start adopting. Down-tuned riffs, guitar triplets in the chorus and emotionally passionate vocals. The energy and the captured mood the track radiates carry us straight on to the next record, “Defenders Of The Faith”, which added a further upgrade of mood and dynamics to what “Screaming For Vengeance” had started.
The closing bomb Devil’s Child is the moment when Rob shines in all his glory with his sheer excellence. This is definitely his song from head to tail. Surrender to the birth of a sorcerer! The pulse of stage magic from the “World Vengeance” tour is served up by Judas Priest with the live bonus track Devil’s Child, where the singer deliberately pushes the already sky-high lines even higher, which proves that Halford kept improving, record after record, in expression and vocal power. He built that power carefully into his innate sense of subtlety. The other bonus track is the fantastic half-ballad Prisoner Of Your Eyes, which fits the record perfectly in both sound and style. Priest added guitar synths to it. The atmosphere is loaded with emotion, and the work of both guitars and Rob Halford puts them literally in the middle of a trance. Strange that the band never put it on one of their studio albums.
With “Screaming For Vengeance”, Judas Priest went a step further in everything. A record that fuses aggression with a gorgeous dose of melody and exceptional feel, it helped Judas Priest finally conquer the whole wide world. “Screaming For Vengeance” went double platinum in the USA. Those were big times, just right for the architects of heavy metal, Judas Priest.
Line-up
Rob Halford – vocals
K.K. Downing – guitar
Glenn Tipton – guitar
Ian Hill – bass guitar
Dave Holland – drums
Production
Tom Allom
Track list
1. The Hellion
2. Electric Eye
3. Riding The Wind
4. Bloodstone
5. (Take These) Chains
6. Pain & Pleasure
7. Screaming For Vengeance
8. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
9. Fever
10. Devil’s Child
BONUS TRACKS ON THE 2001 REMASTERED EDITION:
11. Prisoner Of Your Eyes
12. Devil’s Child (live)
Album runtime: 51:04
