British Steel

Man, 80s metal is so hit and miss. But THIS was a hit. Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and AC/DC defined a whole genre and spawned a dozen half-assed offshoots (coughHairMetalcough). This album is an absolute face-ripping example of the style and I love it. Normally, I comment on guitar tones but the real stand out on this album is the drummer. Dave Holland keeps things tight and crispy without the drums feeling overproduced. The whole tone and feel of the album is built on his nearly mechanical but powerful approach to his drums. Not much else to say. Just a great frikkin' album.

Wish Thatcher would’ve taken this particular British Steel out of the public’s hands.

This was the tits but did get a little samey. Deffo gonna listen to more JP

I went into this with low expectations and was shocked by how much fun I had listening. Bombastic, old-school heavy metal that finds a sweet spot of campy and corny without being annoying or insincere.

Wikipedia: This album was recorded in Ringo's house For some reason I feel that it's the most vital piece of info to share about "British Steel" S'good HL: the singles

Was anyone like "I had no idea that leather clad man with the beautiful operatic vocals was gay" when Halford came out in 1998? I was too young to remember but it seems pretty obvious when we look back on it. All in all a badass classic album that was pretty revolutionary for its time and influenced tons of great metal and probably non-metal bands.

Really liked this, more than I thought I would when I saw Judas Priest

I was torn between giving a 4-star vs. a 5-star review. I bounced of Judas Priest throughout my life; I always thought they were a little cheesy. But, giving this album a critical listen, I can see where I was wrong.

Classic British heavy metal album

British Power metal, can see how Ozzy/Black Sabbath influenced these guys. Also motor head vibes. Yeh dope, 4 stars (just about...)

Now here we go! I'm not going to lie, I haven't listened to a lot of heavy metal albums in their entirety ("heavy metal" in this case referring to the specific metal genre of heavy metal instead of the colloquial definition describing most aggressive music as heavy metal), but I think it is safe to say that this is the best heavy metal album I've listened to. I've sang the lyrics "Breaking the law, breaking the law," since I was a kid, after watching Beavis and Butt-Head sing it when Beavis chopped off Butt-Head's fingertip with a chainsaw. Anyway, one of the interesting things about this album being so good is that it is apparently the band's 6th release. In my experience the vast majority of bands are in decline at that point in their career, so it's cool to see such an iconic release at that stage of their career. My personal enjoyment: 4/5 Did it belong on this list: 4/5

It's kind of edgy but also some of the lyrics are pretty stupid. Guitar is pretty fire though. Although it's good, Black Sabbath is way better.

3/5 decent but didn't fully hold my interest. Definitely dated by now but can see where it would sit in general rock history

This bored me, for me it's at best an average entry for this genre. It's not a terrible album by any means but it gave me nothing. Also there are too many albums of this genre I'd rather listen to that would probably be 3* so it gets 2* from me.

The most interesting thing about Judas Priest is that they present very clearly as a heavy metal band, but their lyrical content seems like it actually toes the line really well with punk, which I think enhances the overall output exponentially as it taps into 2 genres seamlessly.

Wow! I've never really been into metal but this was great!

Very metal, gets me going- third beer hits just right kinda energy

An absolute solid album with some great tracks. I think this album is a great representation of the genre, the sound, the messages, all of it. I will definitely be giving this album another run through to hear some of the lyrics again.

Influential 80’s metal album, better metal albums would come off the back of this, and does sound a bit dated and cheesy now.

I somewhat like this, but is sounds very dated. You listen to this and then Master of Puppets by Metallica (86) or Appetite for Destruction by GNR (87) and this feels 25 years older...

This album is from a definite place and time. Not sure it holds up all that well even though there are a couple of great songs here. Don't think I'd listen to the album again though.

I cannae really be that eloquent here, just shite.

Perhaps the most iconic album from a band that was releasing an iconic album every year at this point. 5.0/5.0: Iconic

Cool metal album

Hard rock meets NWOBHM in an album that gets the best of both worlds. All-time classic!

Short, effective, energetic. A great rock album!

A great metal album that maintains musicality and a powerful lead voice. Get pumped

🤟Labi gabali

Brilliant from start to finish

A lot of great songs in this album. First time listening to this album admin couldn’t get enough of it

Quintessential heavy metal album. A must.

Very nice, been a long time since I listened to that :)

The riffs, the metal. It had me

🤘 🤘 🤘 🤘 🤘. Best track: Breaking the Law

rating the law, rating the law rating the law, rating the law

\m/( >.< )\m/

I love the theatrics of this band, especially coming from singer Rob Halford. What a fun time it was to listen to this! Some obvious hits, but the entire album is a celebration of metal <3

I like some heavy metal, always did. But I was always put off by NWOBHM, especially the dual guitar attack, wannabe Beethoven compositional approach of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. At first listen, this was no exception; I dismissed the first two tracks as totally insignificant, but acknowledged the classic status of Breaking The Law; Argentinean band Riff has a song from 1985, Dios Devorador, which features the exact same riff as Grinder; of course I am not saying that Judas Priest ripped off an Argentinean band, pretty much the opposite, but having known the Riff song for many years made Grinder sound more familiar to my ears. What with United? Isn't that a corny song? Were they attempting to re-write We Are The World for a metalheads crowd? Geez, that's horrible! On to You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise, great title but too long to re-type. Living After Midnight seems to give a template to a whole bunch of too-many-hair-metal-bands that were to come soon, especially out of LA. The Rage is really interesting! A reggae-like guitar, bass and drums intro that soon morphs into a classic metal, bluesy groove and comes back in the middle of the song; this one should have been huge, that's unfair. All along I can't help but think about some 80s movies with rebel teens in them or some kind of horror, and that's fun! And this is the whole point: British Steel comes up as a thing of its time. A second listen reveals some more details that make the experience more entertaining. Suddenly Rapid Fire seems to hint at the thrash that were still to come a few years later; Metal Gods is a headbanging anthem in the most irresistible way. Grinder still sounds great and even more so. I still don't like United though and I guess I never will, while the patriotic Red White And Blue could have been written by Ted Nugent were he British I guess. Let's face it: with its macho-ish, tough guy imagery of fire, steel, and epics, heavy metal hasn't aged well, but British Steel is still a lot of fun to listen to if only at an entertaining level; if you still listen to this with teenage conviction, that's ok honey, there's nothing wrong with you... but I would be worried. (*Hides underneath the table in order to call the psychiatric hospital*) 

This is great! I love Spin̈al Tap!

Sounds like acdc. Hate the British flag song. But I’m Irish. Some cool songs on there, never really listened to metal

Fuck, YES! Judas Priest rock the hell out. Of course I own a physical copy of this classic. This album is great. Not every album has to be some deep philosophical retrospect that makes me feel like I’m falling English class. Sometimes you just want to crank that stereo up to 11 and bang your fucking head. Got a chance to see Judas Priest and Sabaton last year. Great fucking show. Mad respect to these guys for still crushing it in their 70’s. I’m gonna spin my copy of Screaming For Vengeance next 🤘🏻🤘🏻

Awesome, classic.

Classic metal album! "Breaking The Law", "Living After Midnight"... man, what a cool album.

Too bad the last song is so dopey, but it doesn’t matter. Judas Priest rules, Halford rules. Can’t believe this is the same band that also did Painkiller years later. One of the greats.

I liked this a lot. His voice is great, the music is great, the lyrics werent super outdated (unless i wasnt fully paying attention) and it was a really enjoyable album. 5/5

Fantastic album

Richtig starke Platte

Absolute banger

Hell yes!

Was going to give this a 4, but felt hard not to give it a 5. I guess that means 4.5, rounded up.

PRIEEEEEESSSTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!

Ok so I like his voice a lot but something about the backing music doesn’t hit for me. BUT I think that’s a genre thing because I never enjoy the instrument portion of metal music as much as I think I should. I think it’s a balance thing, like it’s too sharp and high pitched compared to what I think of as more dad classic rock. Taking all that into account I give it a 4.5 rounded up to a 5.

Just classic

Classic metal album by Judas Priest. It's truly excellent and it's only overshadowed by their later album Screaming for Vengeance (I'm really fond of Painkiller as well). This is an album everyone should give a listen.

The liked this album. Fantastic selection of songs. Was great music to listen to while running.

100% Biased. One of my fathers childhood albums and i heard allot of Judas when I grew up. This album is essential for metal head's I would say, classic British Heavy Metal. As far as 1001 albums it might be a good representative of heavy metal and pretty easy listened and catchy for the average listener I would say. If you only heard breaking the law I the tracks United and living after midnight be in the same vein.

Very good, love classic rock.

Fantastic!

Wow, I haven't listened to this album since high school. Listening now years later, I can notice that this album contains the essential basis of all heavy metal from the 80s. Mainly Iron Maiden, in which I found several similarities. And now I'm a Manchester United fan.

Super fun, pure, simple rock.

Absolute classic. This album has two of Judas Priest’s biggest hit songs and the other songs on the album are good but not great. They kinda feel like filler unfortunately. That’s what makes this album really hard to review, it has music that I grew up listening to and loving a lot, but the album as whole is not perfect. It gets alittle stagnant after “living after midnight” but honestly I’d still recommend it.

Amazing

LP

This fucking rocks

CLASSIC

I loved every track on this record. It didn't disappoint. The guitar and drums were insane

Y'know, instead of spending half the review on prose like I did the last time I talked about a legend of British heavy metal, let's cut straight to the point: this album kicks serious ass. Front to back, it's 36 minutes of nonstop riffing and soloing, and it's **awesome**. As you can tell, I'm not particularly complex when it comes to what I want from metal albums. Heck, I'd probably even call myself a little simple, or even shallow. It's probably why I have so little trouble loving hair metal as much as I do. I mean, if a metal album makes me scrunch up my face like "Aw, hell yeah, that's **sick**," then it did its job right and **I'M A HAPPY GIRL**. And seriously, this album has all the right things going for it. Like my tastes in metal, they're not terribly complicated, but... Goodness. You take that twin guitar attack from K.K. and Glen... Those just awe-inspiring vocals from Halford... Not to mention, the **choruses** he gets to sing throughout — you might call 'em cheesy and commercial; I call 'em **AMAZING**... And you just lock it all down with Holland's rocksteady drumming... I've called Black Sabbath's "classical metal" for being the prometheus flame of metal, and honestly, I'm incredibly tempted to call this album the same for 80's metal. At the very least I'd call it traditional metal for how much it clearly inspired bands that came afterwards. I can hear so many of them in this album, from Maiden to Metallica... It's inspiring, honestly. (Seriously, though, "Rapid Fire" sounds so much like an Iron Maiden song it honestly kind of stuns me. You just so easily hear Bruce Dickinson singing it, goodness. Gawd, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal — that's really the good shit right there.) No "duh" this album is a full 5 outta 5 for me. It's just so... Fwoof, man, I feel like I've run out of synonyms for "kickass." 'Cuz that's just what it is, without question, and that's all I have and need to say about it. Unless you're just **that snobbish** about metal — and I know some people can be **really** snobbish — I can't imagine not having a good time with this. And I really don't envy the random 60's singer-songwriter psychedelic folk album The Randomizer is gonna give my group after this, 'cuz, boy, ain't it gonna look like an absolute smoldering nothing next to this absolute face-melter. Seriously, jus' give us MASTER OF PUPPETS or Iron Maiden's debut already, I swear...

First with Motorhead, and now with Judas Priest, this just goes to show how absolutely kickass the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was. Solid 5 Stars.

I’m at a 10, and I think I’m learning that I’m actually really into metal. I’ve heard of Judas Priest – I sort of knew their place in the heavy metal canon, but I’ve never *heard* Judas Priest. We’re 10 years after Black Sabbath dropped their debut, so heavy metal was already well established by this point. This is also 6 albums deep into their own discography, so while I was expecting this to be really refined and really good, I still wasn’t really prepared for just how much this feels like *the* precursor to 1980s heavy metal, and specifically, the sound Metallica would refine even further. This feels a lot like a Metallica album, but with just enough of the late 70s present to keep it sort of unique. Didn’t stop me from comparing it to a lot of 90s bands, though. The album just kicks ass, dude. I don’t even want to be super flowery about it – from the opening riffs of the guitar, and the power in Rob Halford’s voice, the album immediately shoots out of a cannon and never looks back. Honestly, though, what struck me the most about the first track, and really set the tone for the rest of the album, is just how fucking good the percussion is. It’s deeply crucial to making each track work, and every single time a fill cuts through the power of the guitar and his vocals, it’s immediately striking & powerful. I could go on an aside about Dave Holland being convicted of sexual abuse in 2002, but that’s the sort of thing that doesn’t drag down the quality of the music, just my opinion on the asshole. I’m just kinda stunned, really – I thought of several bands & artists while listening to this: Metallica, Crush 40, AC/DC, Chicago, Boston, Men Without Hats (somehow), Capcom’s sound team (You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise is just Storm Eagle’s theme), the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Police, Phil Collins (the percussion on Steeler has that same effect from In The Air Tonight), and more. All of it is there, and it’s baked right into 36 minutes of some of the slickest heavy metal I’ve heard yet. It just fucking ruled, and I was encapsulated into every second. Eventually, some of the allure will wear off, and I’ll pick apart some of the more repetitive parts of the album, or how the lyricism isn’t as tight as it could be on some of the songs… but right now, I could fucking care less. It’s a kick-ass album, and it just clicked perfectly for me. Definitely worth a 10. Oh, oh, I do have one thing – I would’ve flipped “Steeler” & “The Rage”. “The Rage” is a way better closer; imagine if the ending of Steeler just kept going and transitioned. That shit would’ve been sick. That’s the only thing I got. Still a 10.

hell yeah man

Great album.

An epic metal album by the God of metal himself, Rob Halford. :)

Judas Priest is my favorite metal band and I have listened to them for many years. They have defined the genre and Rob Halford is probably the vocalist with the widest range of the great metal bands. I highly recommend their earlier stuff as well. Always 5 stars!

Oh, I enjoyed this album a lot. I've known about this album for awhile. My favorite band / artist, the Matthew Good Band, makes reference to it on their song Middle Class Gangsters. And I've known that Judas Priest were metal icons, but I hadn't listened to them outside of the radio. They are not as heavy as Iron Maiden or as dark as Sabbath but I think I understand their place in metal royalty. They are like the link from denser 70's metal to 80's party metal (think Quiet Riot). They still have a bit of fantasy or macabre in pulsing songs like Metal Gods (bang your head), Grinder (great tempo), and The Rage (weird but cool reggae thing but also big riffs) or frantic songs like Rapid Fire (high intensity opener) or Steeler (love the thrash). But they also crank out party anthem, stadium singalong songs like United (a little cheesy but so fun) and Living After Midnight (slick beat, so infectious). And there's still a bit of that stick-it-to-the-man attitude in songs like Breaking the Law (a big anthem itself) and even You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise (again, just fun). If you like your metal real heavy and dark, you probably think these guys watered it down. But if you like music in all shapes and sizes, I think you'll really like it. I loved it.

Best Priest album.

It's a classic, I love old-school rock and roll.

Perfect music for Breaking the Law.

Fantastic. A bit poppy in places for Piest but killer tracks through and through. Well deserved breakthrough album for a wider audience. Highly recommended

yeah. I'll give this a 5. I mean how else does heavy metal and leather meet? Plus the album wails.

One of the 🐐s

I didn’t really know these guys when I was younger but this was easily the best 80’s metal so far

I'm a Judas Priest fan but I tend to overlook this album a bit because "it's the one for casual fans". That's a stupid mentality that I've mostly eliminated over the years. This album is quite terrific feom beginning to end. Yeah, I've heard the big singles to death, but they're awesome songs just the same. The only shortcoming this album has is that Rob never unleashes his falsetto ala Painkiller. I can overlook that. This album is great and an easy 5 stars Just wanted to say that these guys are STILL putting out great albums. Their last 2 have no business being as good as they are coming from a band this long in the game. I guess that's what separates the true masters from the rest.

Seminal.

A true classic! One of the all-time greatest albums!

One of my all time favorite albums and the one that was my introduction to Priest. I love the simple but hooky guitar riffs and soaring vocals. Every track on here is great.

classic metal, uplifting message for the punks

Llegó el viernes. Ayer casualmente estuve viendo una entrevista a Claudio O'Connor, cantante de Hermética (banda fundamental en el heavy metal argentino) y citó a Judas Priest como una de sus influencias. Nunca escuché un disco completo de ellos y hoy toca. Sonido clásico, seguro. Proto-Iron Maiden y previo a todo lo que vino después. Imposible destacar una canción: todo el álbum una joyita, que después de tantos años demuestra que el Metal sigue siendo una salida que nos revitaliza.

I wouldn't call myself a metal fan. I really like this album.

Das ist wahrlich ein Meilenstein und Meisterwerk in der Heavy Rock Geschichte: gradlinig, melodisch, durchdachte Arrangements mit Überraschungen auf höchstem Niveau.

This is a nostalgia trip from my days as a longhaired NWOBHM fanatic. I was more keen on Iron Maiden and Def Leppard, but I was slightly familiar with JP. Back then I only listened to the singles, and listening to this as a whole make me realize how good it is! The playing is brilliant, Halford is a true Heavy Metal God, and they have more variety in this album than most metal bands in their career. The glorious anthem of United, the groove of The Rage, and the majestic light-prog of Red, White and Blue. And that is excluding the bangers Living After Midnight and Breakin' the Law. Didn't think this would get 5 stars, but here we are.

Classic heavy metal. I was 7 years old. My dad didn’t have this one, but our cousins did. I thought they were so cool!

This album is full of bangers that I found enjoyable.

Probably the first really great Priest album. Bangers all the way through. There is a reason it comes up on greatest metal album lists all the time.

Discazo. Puro poder metalero. Me deja prendidísimo para escuchar más de los Judas.

Great album loved it. 8/10

Beyond amazing!!!

When I tell people I like metal I feel like it is misconstrued due to the variety within the genre. Stuff like this, Sabbath, Dio, and Maiden is what I mean. Fair play to all the heavier and more intense things that have followed, but this is the level I vibe with the most.

I have the 1980 US release with Breaking the Law as the first track, but honestly prefer the wider release with Rapid Fire starting things off. This is a top 3 album by a top 2 artist for me personally, so yeah, I was a little excited. There's so much power and commitment in the songs and no slacking. Rapid Fire is the metal song, and Metal Gods and United are the metal anthems. Living After Midnight has gotten stale from me just in seeing them live but I can still recognize that it's a party song. You Don't Have to be Old to be Wise? Heck, that's just something to keep in mind. Also to keep in mind, JUDAS PRIEST FUCKING RULES.

Favorite album by one of my favorite metal gods. This is a perfect album, not a single bad track. Halford at his pinnacle!

Classic Heavy Metal album.