Stained Class - Judas Priest (1978)
Ideated from: In a way, the 80s started in 1978. A lot of huge 80s artists and their signature sounds were just debuting or just getting up to speed in 1978.
Judas Priest had already made a splash with a number of smart and capable hard rock albums. They sounded very much in line with a lot of louder 70s rock, but had an edge and a fury to them that made the band stand out.
I don’t know if Stained Class is a difference of kind or degree, but right around here somewhere is the sound of 80s metal starting to form.
Dennis MacKay produced this record, after having spent the previous years producing fusion (mahavishnu orchestra), proggy pop (Kayak, Curved Air), and more general 70s ass rock (Gong, Tommy Bolin). He wasn’t a master of heavy music, but he was skilled at getting the details of what the band could do best.
The sound is pretty conventional riff-based rock in places, but it does let the coming Priest sound shine through: much heavier, edgier, and more restlessly angry than what a lot of bands were doing. Rob Halford’s vocals are always amazing, and he gets to cut loose here.
Certainly not Priest’s best record, but an early statement.
Traks I Liked
Exciter - as much as anything else, a template for louder and heavier music in the coming decades.
Invader - angular and nasty
Beyond The Realms Of Death - eerie and tense acoustic intro, cutting to the noisy groove. Not like it hadn’t been done before, but done here extremely well. Very Black Sabbath in the best way.
