Judas Priest
Screaming For Vengeance (1982)

review by: Mike Webb
Date: 11/13/01

I toyed with the idea of going out as Rob Halford for Halloween this year. Not because I wanted to be a queen, but because I wanted to see if I'd look as ridiculous in black, studded-leather as they do. But I'm getting old and fat, and knew that I couldn't fit into the getup (besides I'm a brother, so no one but no one would've made the connection). But it could've been funny - me walking around on All Hallows Eve, blonde-hair wig, screaming in my highest possible pitch songs like "Bloodstone", "Devil's Child", "Pain And Pleasure", "Screaming For Vengeance", etc.

So while I was perusing this idea, I went back and listened to Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance CD. And believe it or not, there's some good metal rock'n'roll on this disc. Clichés aside, the Priest were experts at groovin' and twin-guitar riffin'. There's a tonage of good rockin' here that's pretty simple and really doesn't need much of an explanation. But it's the quintessential yelp that is Rob Halford's voice that sets these guys apart. No one sings like Halford - no one has his command, and very few singers are as obnoxious & annoying, yet as on target as the metal-operatic, leather-clad stud. The boys even dabble in some double entendre's with "(Take These) Chains" as the tortured gay singer pleads to be set free (from hiding his sexuality? Drug addiction? Lost love? Alice In?). Deep stuff for a hard rock band.

Deeper still is "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" with its tight, hard charging backbeat and roaring guitars. Combine this with the video of a guy who's head explodes "because the music's loud", and you've got definitive '80s metal.

(No, I'm not going to end it with - "so tonight I'll be worshiping at the alter of Judas Priest")...