My Amazon Reviews: Judas Priest "Stained Class"

Priest Coalesced
4 Out Of 5 Stars

For Judas Priest, "Stained Class" was the album where the band's sound coalesced into what became the classic priest. Glenn Tipton and KK Downing began their speed-metal roar, while Rob Halford's operatic wail began reaching new heights of aggression. From the thunderous opener of "Exciter" to the gothic morbidity of "Beyond The Realms of Death," the new wave of British Heavy Metal used this album as the eye to their mammoth hurricane. Any band who wants to claim otherwise (with the possible exception of Motorhead) can - as "Exciter" puts it - "fall to your knees and repent if you please."

There was a real sense of purpose the "Stained Class," as the band ditched any previous blues references and proggy ballads to just ram home their heavy metal vision. The music is often violent and macabre ("Savages" tales of citizens' revolts) or just anthems of rock-helmets everywhere ("White Heat, Red Hot"). There's even the song that put the band in front of a ludicrous court trial when "Better By You Better Than Me" was accused of causing a teen to commit suicide via backwards masking of a lyric telling him to "do it." Even crazier, it was one of Priest's journey into the realm of odd choices for cover songs, this one from Spooky Tooth. Like their cover of Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust," "Better By You" gets turned inside out and gets a bonus dose of heavy metal drama.

The real drama is "Beyond The Realms of Death," where Halford really pours on the dramatics. He cries about living in a world full of sin that he no longer wants any part of, and taunts the listener with his desire to leave. (Funny how this song wasn't the one on trial.) Tipton and Downing let loose with a Sabbath worthy riff behind Halford until the song hits its climax...and leads into "Hero's End," where Halford poses the question "Why do you have to die to be a hero?" There's a lot of power between these two songs, a formula that Priest would refine even more come "Hell Bent For Leather." But if you need to pinpoint the record where Priest reached critical mass, "Stained Class" is it.