Judas Priest

Judas Priest are one of the most famous rock bands, that has influnced many heavy metal groups, sold over 35 million albums worldwide and finally earned the nickname Metal Gods, from their own song of the same name. The band's history started in 1970 in Birmingham, when local ensemble named Judas Priest (after Bob Dylan's song The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest) broke up, and the band's singer Al Atkins approached K.K. Downing and Ian Hill as a new members. At the same time he decided to move from bluesy tunes towards heavy rock. Later, Bob Halford joined Judas Priest as a singer.

Recording of the first album Rocka Rolla (1974) was a trouble. Technical problems led to poor sound quality. Producer Rodger Bain, who previously worked with Black Sabbath, was making decisions the band did not agree with, for example, leaving band's most popular songs, such as Tyrant, Genocide, and The Ripper, off the album. So with their next albums, Sad Wings Of Destiny (1976), Sin After Sin (1977) and Stained Class (1978), the band participated more in the production. The band has began to gain more popularity with the release of Killing Machine (1978) (Hell Bent For Leather (1979) in America) and British Steel albums with songs that were shorter and had more mainstream radio hooks, but retained the heavy metal feel. Screaming For Vengeance (1982) and Defenders Of The Faith (1984) continued in the same way, while many critics were pointing that Judas Priest must accuse themselves in plagiarism.

But then the glam metal era has begun, so on their next album Turbo (1986) Judas Priest gave their music more poppy feel by adding synthesisers. As a result, the album went Platinum and had a successful tour in support, but some critics argued the album was a betrayal of the old fans. Next album, Ram It Down (1988), also met cold acclaim, being called "stylistic confusion" and "cornball metal", "that resulted from the band's attempt to return to the classic sound". Next album, Painkiller (1990), became more successfull attempt. Judas Priest went on a world tour, using bands such as Pantera, Megadeth and Sepultura as opening bands. At the same time Judas Priest were alleged in including a subliminal message of suicide in their song Better By You, Better Than Me, which resulted in death of two fans. But then, for nearly five years, Judas Priest remained in the shadows. Bob Halford left the band, being replaced by Tim Owens, who has previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band called British Steel. This line up released two albums, Jugulator (1997) and Demolition (2001) as well as two live albums - '98 Live Meltdown (1998) and Live in London (2003). But finally, Bob Halford returned to Judas Priest to release new album Angel of Retribution (2005), which became critical and commercial success. In 2008 it was followed by Nostradamus-themed album Nostradamus, currently the last Judas Priest studio album. In 2009 the band released the live album titled A Touch Of Evil: Live, which included records from Judas Priest world tours in 2005, 2008 and 2009.