Judas Priest
Screaming For Vengeance

THE REVIEW

“Hey listen, don’t you let’em get your mind/
Fill your mind with orders, and that’s not right/
They’re playing a game that draws you closer/
Till you’re living in a world that’s ruled by fear/
We are screaming, screaming for vengeance/
The world is a manacled place/
Screaming, screaming for vengeance/
The world is defiled in disgrace.”

“One life, I’m gonna live it up/
I’m takin’ flight, I said I’ll never get enough/
Stand tall, I’m young and a kinda proud/
I’m on top as long as the music’s loud/
If you think I’ll sit around as the world goes by/
You’re thinking like a fool, 'cause it’s a case of do or die/
Out there is a fortune waiting to be had/
You think I’ll let it go, you’re mad/
You’ve got another thing comin’.”

The philosophy of Judas Priest is all here: probably the most influential group in the Heavy Metal scene ever after Black Sabbath, the Priest, recently reunited with their original singer Robert Halford, released in 1982, in the middle of the NWOBHM era, this pleasant album with strongly controversial content towards society and the government, encouraging people to enjoy life and not care about anything or anyone.
Slightly overshadowed by the other main child of NWOBHM, the legendary Maiden’s “The Number Of The Beast”, ”Screaming For Vengeance” is actually a little gem in the discography of the Birmingham band, slightly underrated (the Priestian titans such as “Sad Wings Of Destiny”, ”British Steel”, ”Stained Class” and the magnificent “Painkiller” eight years later slightly overshadow this remarkable album) but absolutely worthy of being re-evaluated.
Always accompanied by endless leather outfits that only let us guess the smell of their onion-scented armpits (to be honest, I wouldn’t be the one to talk, since for me, meeting water is a close encounter of the third kind), the Priest wrote and recorded this album in a Florida studio, and probably the warm atmosphere of the place must have influenced their songwriting, as usual handled by the “Metal Gods” Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing, because many of the songs contained here are capable of giving us not only chills but downright cold sweats.
Just the intro “The Hellion/Electric Eye” is capable of taking the listener's breath away, with perfectly fitting riffs and the usual great guitar work of those two geniuses Glenn Tipton (Benton? Eheheh) and K.K Downing (but do the K.K stand for Kerry King? Who knows).
Excellent is the third “Riding On The Wind”, which showcases the stunning vocal abilities of the great Rob Halford, followed by the beautiful “Bloodstone”, the song with the classic triplet bass line that makes you stand up and dance around the room.
Following is a funny cover of someone I don't know, ”(Take These) Chains”, in which it seems like hearing Bon Jovi played by Priest, a good but tired “Pain And Pleasure”, perhaps the least successful song along with “Fever” of the priestly decade, followed by the "very evil" (for the Priest, that is, it’s not Death Metal!) title track, which together with the subsequent, epic “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”, with a title too long to write, forms the perfect musical duo, the two songs that have become a genuine anthem of the Heavy Metallers of the era, and just the intro of “YGATC” (I write it abbreviated otherwise I’ll still be here tomorrow morning) is worth the price of the trip.
Between two masterpieces lies the tired “Fever”, lacking bite and inspiration, followed by “Devil’s Child”, a song that closes another priestly masterpiece as best it could.
Nothing to say: as the Priest themselves say about this album…
“Great times and great music!!!”