VA - The Many Faces Of Judas Priest (A Journey Through The Inner World Of Judas Priest) (2017)

While there is widespread agreement to define Judas Priest -alongside Iron Maiden and Motorhead- as the main exponents of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal which started in the late 70s and reached its peak in the early 80s, truth is, "The Priest" (as their fans like to call them) is actually the link between the early 70s golden era of British hard rock (led by Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin) and the aforementioned NWOBHM. Judas Priest released their first album in 1974, in the midst of the hard rock era, but they were able to reached mass recognition by 1980 with the release of their sixth album British Steel, and by then, their sound had changed dramatically from their early albums. From there on, Judas Priest became a key reference of the genre, both musically (many of their songs are essential classics of Heavy Metal) and with their image of leather and tacks, that has been replicated by thousands of bands that came after them. What is also worth notice is their eagerness to always take creative risks, always changing and updating their sound, something to Heavy Metal bands are not usually associated with. For further evidence, you don't need to look further than listen to songs such as Living After Midnight -where they flirted with pop sensibilities-, the ballad Last Rose Of The Summer or their experimentation with new technologies on their album Turbo, which at the time was bashed by the critics.In The Many Faces Of Judas Priest we will get into the inner world of the band and we will enjoy the side projects of some of their members. Also, we will dig into the works of some of their usual music producers, we will explore their fantastic catalog of songs and finally, we will give you a crash course thru the powerful scene of the more underground British Heavy Metal. We begin our journey with Al Atkins, who is none other than Judas Priest's original singer and the one who founded the band in 1969 in Birmingham, England. The group name was inspired by Bob Dylan's song The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest (from 1967's album John Wesley Harding). In the beginning, their sound was closer to Blues, but driven by guitarist K.K.Downing the band gradually moved towards hard rock. Due to financial disputes and problems with the band's manager, Al Atkins left the group and was replaced by Rob Halford. In The Many Faces we include two solo tracks from Al Atkins, with Ian Hill on bass and K.K.Downing as co-writer of both tracks. Two authentic gems. Next up is Violent Storm, the fantastic group formed by bass player Mick Cervino. The two songs we feature in The Many Faces (Deceiver and War No More) were produced by K.K.Downing, who also plays lead guitar. Rocka Rolla, released in 1974, was the band's debut album, produced by legendary Rodger Bain, who was the producer of Black Sabbath's first three albums. In The Many Faces we can hear his work with Hannibal, a superb band from Birmingham that even today is hidden in plain sight to most people except British rock scholars. As we can hear, Rodger push them towards a hard blues sound that shares a strong resemblance with Black Sabbath's debut album. Without doubt, this is a fascinating treasure that we're sharing here. Sad Wings Of Destiny, The Priest's second album from 1976 lead us to Alan Moore, the drummer who played in the album. Moore, also originally from Birmingham, played with the band in their early days alongside Al Atkins. He left the band to join Sundance, from whom we include two great songs. After this experience, Moore returned briefly to Judas Priest to record Sad Wings of Destiny. Moving on, we get to 1977 where the band records Sin After Sin, their third album who was produced by Roger Glover, Deep Purple's legendary bass player. At the time, Glover was also becoming a very sought after producer. In The Many Faces we enjoy Glover with some of his productions for Elf (Ronnie James Dio's band before joining Rainbow) and for The Spencer Davis Group, the celebrated British rock band that is featured with the song Living In A Backstreet, where we can definitely hear the link to Deep Purple's sound. Dave Holland was Trapeze's drummer, a cult band in the British underground scene of which was also part Glenn Hughes (later on a member of Deep Purple). Dave joined Judas Priest in time for the recording of the British Steel album in 1980, and he would stay with them for a decade, becoming one of the "classic" members of the group. In The Many Faces we can hear him along his former band member Hughes in his solo debut after leaving Deep Purple and, as producer, working with the outstanding Spanish band Tigres, that burst from the same scene that brought us Obus and Baron Rojo. CD 2 of The Many Faces is a tribute to the songs of the band, true anthems of the genre, that shows the remarkable songwriting skills they have. The songs are performed by bands from different sub-genres within metal, and showcases the wide and deep influence and respect that Judas Priest has earned among their counterparts. CD 3 presents a selection of emblematic bands from the British metal scene, from Maineeaxe's speed, to Holosade's link with thrash metal. Also present are some more underground New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band such as Gaskin and Ace Lane, and to close the album we have Heritage (led by Paul Johnson, Saxon's bass player) and 21 Guns, led by former Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham. There's nothing missing in this Heavy Metal education that is The Many Faces of Judas Priest.