Artist: Judas Priest
Title: Screaming For Vengeance – 30th Anniversary Special Edition
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: 31st August 2012
Label: Sony Music
Album Review
30 years have passed since the first release of ‘Screaming For Vengeance’ so there’s not that much left to say especially when this album proved to be one of the greatest successes of JUDAS PRIEST and went double platinum. Following the – at times – disappointing ‘Point Of Entry’, JUDAS PRIEST managed to show that commerciality can go along with quality just fine. Despite the album’s huge success I remember the diehard JUDAS PRIEST fans dismissing it back then exactly because it didn’t have either the complexity of the band’s earlier work or its ferocity (that goes mainly for the ‘British Steel’). I wouldn’t be surprised if such purists still exist. Yet the 80s have long said goodbye and it is time even for the last of the Mohicans to appreciate the band’s mainstream Heavy Metal that changed forever the soundscape of Metal in general.
In this release there are no surprises; besides the well-known songs, you’ll find some live ones from 1982 of dubious quality, plus the rare but exquisite ‘Prisoner of Your Eyes’, a song that has a slow start and its pace is closer to a Metal ballad. Unfortunately I didn’t have the DVD as well to comment upon which has anthems like ‘Diamonds And Rust’ or ‘Breaking The Law’ and ‘Hell Bent For Leather’. The only negative surprise you will encounter here is the quality of the sound. I have to go by memory, but the vinyl has a by far richer sound. In this CD the sound is somewhat flattened probably by the use of noise reduction and the acoustic levels are higher than the usual. Louder doesn’t mean better but that’s something some sound engineers haven’t figured out yet. Despite all that this album remains what it always has been: a masterpiece of Heavy Metal.
Tracklist
01. The Hellion
02. Electric Eye
03. Riding On The Wind
04. Bloodstone
05. (Take These) Chains
06. Pain And Pleasure
07. Screaming For Vengeance
08. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
09. Fever
10. Devil’s Child
11. Electric Eye – Live at the San Antonio Civic Center
12. Riding On The Wind - Live at the San Antonio Civic Center
13. Screaming For Vengeance - Live at the San Antonio Civic Center
14. Devil’s Child - Live at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee
15. Prisoner Of Your Eyes
Line-up
Rob Halford− Vocals
Glenn Tipton – Guitar
K.K. Downing – Guitar
Ian Hill − Bass guitar
Dave Holland – Drums
Websites
http://judaspriest.com/ / https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJudasPriest
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 6
Total: 7.5 / 10
