Judas Priest
Sin after Sin (1977)
Stained Class (1978)
Hellbent for Leather (1978)
Unleashed in the East (1979)
Columbia Legacy
By David Chiu

If you cannot get enough of Judas Priest the first time when a couple of reissues (which focused on the early to mid '80s output) were released this past spring, these next batch of earlier albums from the Priest catalog will further whet your metal appetite. No question that Priest's music introduced a new wave in heavy metal that many a young metal band followed such as Def Leppard and Accept. The Birmingham , England group formed by K.K. Downing and Ian Hill, the group evoked a very threatening and raunchy style (leather and aggression), and with the sinister vocals of Rob Halford, gave metal a much needed kick in the arse after the pale imitations following Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Sin After Sin contains a metaled-up version of Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust" as well as the popular Sinner; Stained Class is notorious because of the legal controversey it ensued involving two misguided teens-its popular tracks include "Better By You, Better By Me," "Beyond the Realms of Death," and "Exciter"; Hellbent for Leather (originally titled Killing Machine) scored the band its first UK top ten hit in "Take On the World" and delivers the rock on "Rock Forever"; it also features a slamming cover of the old Fleetwood Mac's "Green Manalishi." Unleashed in the East is Priest's live raucous document of a tour in Tokyo featuring "Diamonds in Rust," "The Ripper," "Sinner," "Running Wild," etc. As usually done best by Legacy, each of these reissues feature some additional bonus tracks, original packaging, and new liner notes by the band. Priest is still popular today with Ripper Owens in front instead of Mr. Halford so the timing of this couldn't be more perfect; Every metal head will find a perfect excuse for headbanging nostalgia with these endlessly rocking records that, to paraphrase one of their songs, deliver the goods.

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