Stained Class from 1978 is the 4th Release from These British Heavy Metal Pioneers JUDAS PRIEST and this is where things are really starting to heat things up in the world of Heavy Metal! To put things in perspective at this point you really only had Black Sabbath putting out Metal albums and whilst they were ruling the charts there wasn’t much else. Motorhead were still only really playing to an underground audience and unless you count KISS or hard rockers like Deep Purple this is probably the second band to play “Metal” and make any real impact on the charts. Stained Class is the first Priest album to chart reaching number 27 on the UK charts and making a small impact on the American charts.
The album opens up with the long time staple of the bands live set, “Exciter”. From the start we’re seeing a Judas Priest with more energy, and that trademark Judas Priest Guitar tone is really taking shape now. The speedy double kick courtesy of new drummer Les Binks is one of the first real examples of double kick (of course the song “Overkill” by Motorhead was still a year away from being released) and also one of the first time the twin guitar attack was used in the way it is in this song. The double guitar harmony single handedly redefined the way thousands of up and coming metalheds would view their guitar playing!
“White Heat, Red Hot” keeps things moving nicely and then we get the third track “Better By You, Better than Me” which in the next few years would land the band in an infamous court case when a young fan committed suicide after listening to the song. The album keeps on rockin’ with “Stained Class” and “Invader” so far this is a very satisfying listen and a journey filled with great hard rockin’ riffs and of course Robs amazing vocals. In my opinion the bands best and most coherent work, up until this point.
Later on in the album we the timeless classic “Beyond the Realms of Death” which is another long time staple of the bands live set and a great opportunity for Rob Halford’s magnificent vocals to absolutely shine. We’re treated to some awesome riffage and amazing guitar work though out this song. Glorious Stuff!
This is a essential listening for fans of Heavy Metal for both the quality of the music and the way this shaped Heavy Metal. This is where I think Priest really got their act together with the Heavy Metal guitar sound and heavier drumming as well as getting a good sound out of the studio. Now that you had 2 bands charting and a few of the major metal bands releasing albums to a strong following we can finally say Heavy Metal is becoming a movement. A movement that 50 years later is still going strong thanks in a major way to Judas Priest.
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