Judas Priest - Defenders of the Faith - 1984 (iTunes - Amazon)
I really feel like I should put about as much effort into this review as the band did into this record.
Mediocre.
There.
Okay, I'll put in a little more, after all, they showed up to the studio, right?
Talk about finding your formula and mining it for whatever it's worth. There is no ambition on this album. It's a bunch of musicians who know their job, know what they are supposed to do, do it with very little imagination and that's pretty much it.
Unlike it's predecessors, Screaming for Vengeance & Hell Bent for Leather, on this album Halford & Co. know that they are shamans, pied piers to the headbanging unwashed and they also know that those that make up their base will buy what they have, show up at concerts, get drunk in the parking lot, air guitar their asses off and blow the band.
Not a bad way to make a living and at the time, were I Priest fan I would have eaten it up. But it's 22 years later and my job here is to determine the value of this stuff for me, for you, for the world.
You don't need to hear this album.
You've heard it.
This sound, the Ratt/Def Leppard/Whitesnake/ad nauseam super big kick drum, extra echo sound, is, well, not dated as much as it's boring. I think it was kind of boring in 84, but now? I don't care.
This is by the numbers Priest.
It should be noted that the Nerf Herder tune, "Defending the Faith" which is ABOUT headbanging mullethead guitar hero rock star wannabes, is better than any track in this collection.
Grade C
A Side: nothing I can really recommend. Maybe Freewheel Burning
BlindSide: Rock Hard Ride Free,
DownSide: Eat Me Alive, Some Heads are Gonna Roll, Night Comes Down
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