Judas Priest
Screaming For Vengeance

THE REVIEW

Rob Halford: Vocals  
Glenn Tipton: Guitar 
K.K.Downing: Guitar 
Ian Hill: Bass 
Dave Holland: Drums 

Tracklist:
1) The Hellion; 2) Electric Eye; 3) Riding On The Wind; 4) Bloodstone; 5) Take (These) Chains; 6) Pain And Pleasure; 7) Screaming For Vengeance; 8) You're Got Another Thing Coming; 9)Fever; 10) Devil's Child; 11) Prisoner Of Your Eyes (Bonus Track); 12) Devil's Child (Live)

The Priest change drummers in 1980, dropping Les Binks (with whom they recorded great albums such as "Stained Class", "Killing Machine" and the Japanese live "Unleashed In The East"), and hiring the former Trapeze member Dave Holland, who is less technically gifted but possesses exceptional compositional skills and has much more chemistry with his new bandmates, which is evident in the beautiful "British Steel" (1980) and in "Point Of Entry" (1981), solidifying the sound shown in the predecessor. In this work, dated 1982, the Priest are at the peak of their form, and present an album capable of competing with the previous "Sad Wings Of Destiny" (1976) to become the best album released by the Glasgow band until then, only to be surpassed by "Painkiller" (1990). The opening is for "The Hellion - Electric Eye", with the eerie introduction of "The Hellion", which paves the way for the magnificent "Electric Eye", a classic heavy metal piece, which does not rely on Halford’s high notes but on well-placed vocal harmonies, a powerful riff, a great solo, and an inspired rhythm section, continuing with "Riding On The Wind", introduced by a great drum roll by Dave Holland, moving forward with a harder sound compared to "Electric Eye", with a tougher riff, a more dominant rhythm section, and Halford unleashed among one high note and another, all without losing the important melodic component.
In fourth position is "Bloodstone", where the melodic component is quite emphasized, producing yet another symbol song of heavy metal, with the usual well-tested elements that do not lose effectiveness: a grand riff, a good rhythm section, a great solo, and Halford’s vocals in a state of grace. Number five is a pseudo ballad called "Take (These) Chains", slower than the others, in a crescendo that benefits it, with a chorus that delivers pure adrenaline, which is then replaced by a gallop on Glenn Tipton's electric guitar, for one of the most beautiful solos of his career. It continues with "Pain And Pleasure" and the title track "Screaming For Vengeance", which are slightly below the first five tracks, to return to the top with "You've Got Another Thing Coming", yet another classic from a band in top form, which in this piece shows the roots of NWOBHM, moving on to "Fever" and the great "Devil's Child", which in the original version is tasked with closing the album.

When it is re-released, two bonus tracks are added, namely the live version of "Devil's Child", and the wonderful "Prisoner Of Your Eyes", a semi-ballad carried forward slowly, where they have the genius idea of inserting small crescendos, with perfect coordination between the bass and drum rhythm section and the grand Halford's voice, with guitars drawing wonderful harmonies, unexpectedly lighter than usual, then distinguishing Tipton's guitar in literally moving solos, concluding the album in the best possible way, although it is unclear why this extraordinary piece was not included in the original version. The album becomes "the album that all heavy fans should own and know by heart," along with a few other albums, such as the early ones of Iron Maiden, and others by Judas Priest themselves; personally, I can say it would represent the perfect heavy quartet, along with "Painkiller" (1990), by the same Priest, and the first three by Iron Maiden, namely "Iron Maiden" (1980), "Killers" (1981), and "The Number Of The Beast" (1982). The Priest will later produce good albums like "Defenders Of The Faith" (1984), "Priest...Live!" (1987), the masterpiece "Painkiller" (1990), and the more recent "Angel Of Retribution" (2005).