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According to dictionaries, the term "classic" refers to something that constitutes "an exemplary model," or, in reference to the formalizations of a theory or style, its "systematization," even in opposition to more modern directions.
I believe it's the adjective that best fits the fourth official album of Judas Priest, whose songs for the first time defined the characteristics of heavy metal, already sketched out in the previous works of the Birmingham quintet, such as Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin: it is in this album that the insights of the previous works find their perfect formal synthesis and the compositional elegance that would characterize the group for the rest of their career, and on a purely aesthetic and iconographic level, the salient features of heavy metal are codified. Just look at the cover reproduced alongside: indecipherable, alien in its modernity, and at the same time tied to tradition by the three-quarter pose assumed by the head of the subject represented, as in the best sculptures from ancient Greece.
The importance of Stained Class for the career of Priest isn't conceivable on a strictly musical level, considering how the album gained a sulfurous fame from the mid-'80s, being at the center of the suicide of two American fans of the group, due to the alleged subliminal messages contained within the album's tracks. It's worth mentioning that the court involved in the controversy, in which the band members themselves were charged with incitement to suicide, concluded with the acquittal of Priest, who were nevertheless marked by that human and legal ordeal. However, it doesn't change the fact that online, even on Italian sites, legends about SC and the content of its tracks continue to flourish, characterized by mostly speculative logics best left untouched.
Both in content and form, Stained Class crystallizes the metal language that would later be revisited by a myriad of English and American bands straddling the '70s and '80s: sharp guitars with solo exchanges, a square yet not particularly inventive rhythm section, always at the service of the riffs produced by the two axemen, and above all, the sharp silhouette of Rob Halford's voice, sometimes declamatory, sometimes more violent. Compared to the coeval Killing Machine, a few months later, SC severely cuts ties with the hard blues of origins, accelerates rhythms, and simplifies arrangements, significantly compacting the tracks. The lyrics, with references to the Middle Ages, alien presences, and extrasensory experiences, color the music with a doomed aura, without superstructures or messages to convey, in the spirit of a self-referential language devoid of cultural references that are the very limit of the Priest's musical proposition (similar to Black Sabbath and unlike Blue Öyster Cult).
Coming to the content of the individual tracks, the album opens with the classic Exciter, with arrangements stripped to the bone and Halford's voice reaching unheard-of heights, giving a sense of claustrophobia and anger (it's no coincidence that one of the most influential bands of the early '80s took their name from this track); it is followed by the equally stunning White Heat, Red Hot, with a broken and hammering chorus that increases the listener's heartbeat, with almost disturbing effects. The third track, Better By You, Better Than Me—a cover of Spooky Tooth—shifts to perhaps a more ordinary rock, but catchy and pressing, which contrasts well with the preceding tracks, thanks to a Halford in great shape. The title track, with more refined rhythmic solutions, especially in the harmonic progression leading to the chorus, is one of the album's most successful pieces, both lyrically and in terms of emotional impact and sound hardness. The trio represented by Invader, Saints in Hell, and Savage should be considered as a unit, as they are pieces with a similar pace, extremely tense in the verses and explosive in the choruses, in a perfect blend of executive grit and melody that appears as the group's fundamental legacy to the emerging NWOBHM. The subsequent Beyond the Realms of Death, written by drummer Les Binks, is the emotional heart of the album, steering towards a dark sound reminiscent of the Sabbath lesson and similar to some pieces of Sad Wings of Destiny, albeit characterized by a greater rhythmic cohesion and effective sound synthesis: beyond the purely musical aspects, it is a piece that communicates to the listener a sense of genuine discomfort and unease. The concluding Heroes End, with a beautiful rhythm, best summarizes the group's style in the early part of '78, combining the devilish tones of the singer with the clanking riffs from Downing and Tipton's guitars, well-assisted by Ian Hill's bass.
An album to have, without being surprised if by the end of the listening, you are overwhelmed by a certain anxiety… but it's only heavy metal.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Exciter (05:35)
Racing' cross the heavens
Straight into the dawn
Looking like a comet
Slicing through the morn
Scorching the horizon
Blazing to the land
Now he's here amongst us
The age of fire's at hand
Stand by for Exciter
Salvation is his task
Stand by for Exciter
Salvation bids to ask
Everything he touches
Fries into a crisp,
Let him get close to you
So you're in his trip,
First you'll smoke and smoulder
Blister up and singe
When ignition hits you
the very soul of your being will cringe.
Stand by for Exciter
Salvation is his task
Stand by for Exciter
Here he comes now
Fall to your knees and repent if you please
Who is this man?
Where is he from?
Exciter comes
For everyone.
You'll never see him
But you will taste the fire upon your tongue
He's come to make you snap out
Of the state that you are in
Looks around and make you
See the light again
So much self-indulgence
Results in shattered eyes
Predominant complacency
Leads to beguiling lies.
Stand by for Exciter
Salvation is his task
Stand by for Exciter
Salvation bids to ask
When he leaps amidst us
With combustive dance
All shall bear the branding
Of his thermal lance,
Cauterising masses
Melting into one
Only when there's order
Will his job be done.
Stand by for Exciter
Salvation is his task
Stand by for Exciter
Here he comes now
Fall to your knees and repent if you please
Who is this man?
Where is he from?
Exciter comes
For everyone
You'll never see him
But you will taste the fire upon your tongue
Racing past the heavens
Straight into the dawn
Looking like a comet
Slicing through the morn
Scorching the horizon
Blazing to the land
Now he's here amongst us
The age of fire's at hand
Stand by for Exciter
Stand by for Exciter
Stand by for Exciter
Stand by for Exciter
03 Better by You, Better Than Me (03:25)
You could find a way to ease my passion
You listen to the blood flow in my veins
You hear the teaching of the wind
Tell her why I'm alive within
I can't find the words
My mind is dead
It's better by you better than me
Guess you'll have to tell her how I tried
To speak up thoughts I've held so inside
Tell her now I got to go
Out in the streets and down the shore
Tell her the world's not much living for
It's better by you better than me
Everybody
Everybody knows
Everybody
Everybody knows
Better by you better than me
You can tell what I want it to be
You can say what I only can see
It's better by you better than me
Guess I'll have to change my way of living
Don't wanna really know the way I feel
Guess I'll learn to fight and kill
Tell her not to wait until
They'll find my blood upon her windowsill
It's better by you better than me
Everybody
Everybody knows
Everybody
Everybody knows
Better by you better than me
You can say what I only can see
You can tell what I want it to be
It's better by you better than me
Better by you better than me
You can tell what I want it to be
You can say way all they can see
Better by you better than me
05 Invader (04:16)
I came across a smoking field, pulsating afterglow
I saw a searing flash of light erupt and skyward go
I staggered back in dazed surprise
What was it I had seen?
And as I stood there mesmerised I heard my spirit scream
Invader invader nearby
Invader, invader is nigh
This is the first of more to come in carefully planned attacks
If it is so we must prepare defences to fight back
The call is out throughout the world
United we must stand
To build a line, strategic force, they will not take a man
Invader invader nearby
Invader, invader is nigh
When they come to take control every man must play his role
They won't take our world away when the children we leave
Will have to believe in today
We warn you now you things out there
Whatever you may send
We won't give in without a fight, a fight until the end
With vigilance by day and night our scanners trace the sky
A shield is sealed upon this earth, a shield you won't get by
Invader invader nearby
Invader, invader is nigh
07 Savage (03:27)
Who gives you the right to come here and tell me
I have to leave this place my home
To you it's a jungle, to me it's a kingdom
Where (my) people are free there to roam
Born with the stars we are happy and peaceful
'Til now we were left undisturbed
But you rupture the forests our gardens
And fill them with filth from your cities unheard
Savage, who is savage
Leave your morals, stake your claim
Savage, you are savage
Modern man can take the blame
You poisoned my tribe with civilized progress
Baptizing our blood with disease
You christened our bodies with sadness and suffering
Saying then that your God is well-pleased
What have we done to deserve such injustice
Explain to us please if you can
But you can't, no you can't, we can see it in your eyes
Of us both who's the primitive man
Savage, who is savage
Leave your morals, stake your claim
Savage, you are savage
Modern man can take the blame
You poisoned my tribe with civilized progress
Baptizing our blood with disease
You christened our bodies with sadness and suffering
Saying then that your God is well-pleased
What have we done to deserve such injustice
Explain to us please if you can
But you can't, no you can't, we can see it in your eyes
Of us both who's the primitive man
Savage, savage
Savage, savage
Who's the savage
Modern man
Who's the savage
Modern man
08 Beyond the Realms of Death (06:54)
He had enough
He couldn't take anymore
He'd found a place
In his mind and slammed the door
No matter how they tried
They couldn't understand
They washed and dressed him
Fed him by hand
Yeah! I've left the world behind
I am safe here in my mind
I'm Free to speak with my own kind
This is my life, this is my life
I'll decide not you
Withdrawn he'd sit there
Stare blank into space
No sign of life
Did flicker on his face
Until one day he smiled
It seemed as though with pride
The wind kissed him
Goodbye - and then he died
Yeah! I've left the world behind
I'm safe here in my mind
Free to speak with my own kind
This is my life, this is my life
I'll decide not you
Keep the world with all its sin
It's not fit for livin' in
Yeah! I will start again
It can take forever, and ever, and ever
And ever, but I'll still win.
SOLO (Glenn)
How many like him
Are there still
Who to us all
Seem to have lost the will
They lie in thousands
Lank and lost
Is nothing worth this bitter cost
Yeah! I've left the world behind
I'm safe here in my mind
Free to speak with my own kind
This is my life, this is my life
I'll decide not you
Keep the world with all its sin
It's not fit for livin' in
SOLO (K.K.)
Beoynd the realms of death.
09 Heroes End (05:03)
I heard a human voice who sang like no one else
I heard a proud lady singing loud
Lived her life as she liked, didn't give a damn
But soon she found she was underground and wasted
I watched her hitting notes as she strutted stage
Her body shook oh, she did her stuff
She screamed and quake, give and take, maybe took too much
If you take the smooth you gotta take the rough
Why do you have to die to be a hero
It's a shame a legend begins at its end
Why do you have to die if you're a hero
When there's still so many things to say unsaid
I heard a man's guitar electrify a crowd
I felt the sound shower 'round
And he would take you with him where no music's been before
As you merged the power surge together
His music knew no limits if you were in it's wake
You had no choice, no, but hear its voice
And you would listen hypnotised, and in a dream
But once so strong survive or become weak
Why do you have to die to be a hero
It's a shame a legend begins at its end
Why do you have to die if you're a hero
When there's still so many things to say unsaid
If you gaze across timeless years you'll find them always there
And many gods will join the list compiled with dying care
Hungry mouths are waiting to bite the hand that feeds
And so the living dead carry on immortal deeds
I saw on silver screen an actor's rise to fame
But fast car user lose
That legend's born from death and that is such a shame
'cos every year new ones appear
Why do you have to die to be a hero
It's a shame a legend begins at its end
Why do you have to die if you're a hero
When there's still so many things to say unsaid.
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Other reviews
By Cronos
"An album to have because it has marked the history of Heavy Metal."
"The album is a strong pillar of Priest’s discography and includes some great masterpieces loved by fans."
