Throwback Thursday: Judas Priest – Hell Bent For Leather
- July 29th, 2010
- Posted in Throwback Thursday
- By Snagon
- Write comment
Judas Priest, everything about this band screams HEAVY METAL. The true forefathers of NWOBHM seeing as they came about around the same time as the almighty Black Sabbath yet were different. Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, and Ian Hill all excellent at their craft and comprise this amazing group. My choice here is a bit different than you might expect seeing as my choice was neither Screaming For Vengeance or British Steel. Now don’t get me wrong they are both stellar like 90% of their catalog with an exception or 2 (*cough Turbo cough*) but I just have a different favorite than most and that is this week’s choice for Throwback Thursday, 1978′s Hell Bent For Leather (or Killing Machine for you Brits).
Running out of the gate we have ‘Delivering The Goods’ seeing the excellent guitar work of Tipton and Downing which they are absolutely stellar at. Halford belts it out for all to see and they more than deliver said goods with solos that make your face melt ten times over. ‘Rock Forever’ slows things down a bit and puts more of the spotlight on Halford as he soars with his excellent singing voice which is in my honest opinion the best there ever was. We next move into a song with a terrific intro that gives way to the band coming together as one great cohesive unit on ‘Evening Star’. Ian Hill’s bass work is very present on this album and almost makes the bass sound as fat as Steve Harris (remember I said almost) I think Steve Harris’ bass produces sounds never heard by human ears before.
If you don’t recognize that motorcycle, you don’t know shit!
I can try and apologize for coming out of left field with this choice of a Priest album but ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ should bring even the most casual fan of theirs back for more. This is the song that most people would recognize right away, more so than any other and with solos like these provided by the absolute best guitar duo of all time, how could they not be? A simple song yes but it more than gets the job done. ‘Take On The World’ can you think of a more metal song title from the time period? I didn’t think so and for the most part this isn’t an overtly metal song either, it just conveys an excellent message that probably led to songs like ‘United’ from British Steel. This is yet another example of the excellent songwriting that Priest was so great at.
‘Burnin’ Up’ has band showing off the great guitar sound and working into an all-around fun track, that has terrific atmosphere provided by each band member respectively, before another stellar set of solos clearly written by a higher power of sorts. ‘The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)’ is a live favorite of many Judas Priest fans (including me) which is actually one of the slew of cover songs that Priest has covered over the years. Originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac you would never know it as the band takes the song and makes it all their own, complete with their signature sound.
We now come to the “title track” of sorts in the form of ‘Killing Machine’ yet another very “metal” song title. Telling the story of a person who does exactly what the song title implies; killing. “I’ve got a contract on you” says Halford in a very hushed and evil way, which gives the impression that he really is playing the part. Moving onto a very fast song we see ‘Running Wild’ which seems to imply the kind of person who takes on all who challenge him very similar to Defenders Of The Faith‘s ‘The Sentinel’, it seems to me that Halford and the boys really seem to relish the tough guy role, especially with all of their studded leather, which became a staple of their look during the time of this album in particular.
‘Before The Dawn’ sounds like one of the Joan Baez ballads that Priest had covered in the past and really shows what an incredibly gifted singer Rob Halford is in any kind of musical setting. You almost forget that it is a Priest song until the guitars kick in, but even then you can clearly see that Thin Lizzy’s sound may have affected the band in some way. Closing out the album we have ‘Evil Fantasies’ showing off a very sexually charged Halford and is an excellent song to get some of the ladies involved in the band. This is a song that does not hint at what he wants to do but he really goes and does it unlike many of the cut and paste R&B singers of any era. Hot and heavy action is what this song is filled with, you shall not be disappointed.
Well I hope I have helped shed light on what i truly believe is an over looked heavy metal classic album. This album may not have the “hits” but it more than makes up for it with an extremely fun and well written album that does the job every time it is played. Until next week Throwback Thursday fans.
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Hahahahahahaha
You suck Snagon!
I LOVE JUDAS PRIEST!
And you thought I didn’t
Shame on you…..
Sad Wings of Destiny is personally my favorite Judas Priest album, but Hell bent for leather is of course also great. I honestly though dont appreciate British Steel that much and i think it is a bit overrated, when compared to their other releases.
@Tarjei
Sad Wings is AMAZING. Definitely one of the best (if not the best) Priest albums. Hell Bent for Leather is a damn good album in its own right.
Im a painkiller fan myself.
I did a writeup awhile back on That Devil Music on these guys and it wasn’t very flattering. In fact it was similar to DGR’s( I think it was DGR) write up on Tool.
Bottom line is I wouldn’t get carried away with the excellent at songwriting statement. Maybe the first 4 albums where they were concentrating more on the songs then image. Priest has never been very consistant and Hell Bent was like an awkward virgins early attempts at screwing. Trying to find the g-spots and getting there about half the time. A transition album for sure.
@Rob Liz
I dunno Rob I feel that Priest were always one of the most consistent bands of any time period I can only think of 2 albums of theirs that were bad (i.e. Turbo and Ram It Down) and a hit and miss palooza in Point Of Entry. I also never understand why some traditional metal doesn’t get it’s true respect in this day and age, but hey to each his own.
I agree about to each his own. My perspective is probably going to be skewed because I grew up listening to them during their heyday. Screaming for Vengeance was one of the very first cassettes I ever bought. So almost 20 years later my tastes have changed and I’ve become more aware of nuances of the band that I never realized back then.
Sad wings is totally my favorite (unless Unleashed in the East counts)
@SPna15
Sad Wings will probably see time in this column. I’m ot opposed to giving a band more than one mention, credit is due where credit is due
I really love Painkiller and Screaming For Vengeance, but I wouldn’t exactly describe myself as a tr00 Priest-fan.
I fucking love Judas Priest, they come right after Megadeth in terms of my all-time favorite band. Screaming for Vengeance is my favorite album, but there’s no doubt that Hell Bent For Leather is a goddamn great album, too. Hell, I’m with Snagon in that I can only think of 2 “bad” priest albums.
One of my favorite things about Priest? They’ve still got it. Saw them last year on the British Steel tour and they killed it on every single song. Halford might still have some trouble with Painkiller these days, but the guy’s in his 50′s and he had trouble singing it when it came out.