Judas Priest - British Steel

8.5 | 878 votes |

Release date:	19 April 1980
Style:	Heavy metal, Hard rock
Owners:	1142 have it 54 want it 1 trades it

01. Rapid Fire
02. Metal Gods
03. Breaking The Law
04. Grinder
05. United
06. You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise
07. Living After Midnight
08. The Rage
09. Steeler
10. Red, White & Blue [Recorded during the 1985 Turbo sessions] [2001 re-release bonus]
11. Grinder [Live at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California in 5 May 1984] [2001 re-release bonus]

Top 20 albums of 1980: 10

Review

Lyrics (10)

Line-up
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford - vocals
Kenneth "K.K." Downing - guitar
Glenn Raymond Tipton - guitar
Dave Holland - drums
Ian Frank Hill - bass

Additional info
Produced by Tom Allom.

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Staff review by
Pierre Tombale

Rating:
5.0

Obviously not the best start into the 80's is this Judas Priest album, although it contains some of the bands classics such as 'Metal Gods', 'Breaking The Law' and 'Living After Midnight', but even these songs have seen better times especially as on stage performances.

Nearly all songs on 'British Steel' fail to bring up the metal feeling that the 70's stuff did. The faster the songs the poorer they are, maybe Priest were still tired of their world tour when they recorded this album saying: hey let's make something slower.You can consider it better looking at it as a rock album (with slight american influences regarding the style, which is really irony of fate when you look at the title) than as a metal album. As a rock album it is fun listening, but not at all times, you should at least be in the mood!

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published 16.11.2003 | Comments (62)

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Comments: 20 Visited by: 497 users

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Nightfall Posts: 103 From: Chile	25.09.2012 - 06:52 Nightfall Posts: 103 From: Chile I can't judge a whole album by one song, but I remember listening to "Breaking The Law" a bit after I got into metal and I just found it so lame... Loading...
megadeath13 Account deleted	17.11.2012 - 13:08 megadeath13 Account deleted Breaking the law and Metal Gods are classics, but the rest doesnt impress me at all. Its their most popular but by far not their best Loading...
Cream Account deleted	+1 03.02.2013 - 19:25 Cream Account deleted Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. Loading...
Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1194 From: Australia	+1 04.02.2013 - 04:01 Rating: 6 Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1194 From: Australia Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. I think you might be on to something here. I reckon it could be the most overrated album in history. There are some good solos here and there but overall, this is a real disappointment compared to their earlier brilliant albums and even compared to what came later. ---- The sun shines over The Fool... Loading...
Cream Account deleted	+1 04.02.2013 - 20:07 Cream Account deleted Written by Ace Frawley on 04.02.2013 at 04:01 Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. I think you might be on to something here. I reckon it could be the most overrated album in history. There are some good solos here and there but overall, this is a real disappointment compared to their earlier brilliant albums and even compared to what came later. All their trademarks that made Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin, Stained Class agelesss classics are missing here, most notably Hadfords high pitched vocals which are just flat on this album or the dueling guitars which are scare and when found are so watered down and uninteresting that they just aren't worth listening to. The albums is just a collection of annoying anthems and filler material. Even the average Killing Mashine is a timeless classic compared to this testament of generecism. Agree on the most overrated album in history. Loading...
HellriderRising Posts: 79 From: Greece	26.01.2014 - 01:28 Rating: 10 HellriderRising Posts: 79 From: Greece Loading...
Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1168 From: Poland	11.02.2014 - 16:44 Rating: 9 Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1168 From: Poland Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. This album is what rock'n'roll is all about. Loading...
Pennywise Account deleted	18.03.2014 - 15:33 Pennywise Account deleted Written by Hex_Omega on 11.02.2014 at 16:44 Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. This album is what rock'n'roll is all about. So rock'n'roll is about being uninspired and flat? Loading...
Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1168 From: Poland	18.03.2014 - 15:35 Rating: 9 Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1168 From: Poland Written by Guest on 18.03.2014 at 15:33 Written by Hex_Omega on 11.02.2014 at 16:44 Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. This album is what rock'n'roll is all about. So rock'n'roll is about being uninspired and flat? Is about being simple, catchy and ass kicking. Loading...
Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1194 From: Australia	19.03.2014 - 04:10 Rating: 6 Ace Frawley The Spaceman Posts: 1194 From: Australia Written by Hex_Omega on 18.03.2014 at 15:35 Is about being simple, catchy and ass kicking. hahaha, this album is lame but at least you like it. Certainly some simple songs on here - especially "United", and also some catchy stuff. But ass kicking - nope, can't agree with that. ---- The sun shines over The Fool... Loading...
Nihil Aeternum Posts: 106 From: Germany	30.03.2014 - 17:55 Rating: 2 Nihil Aeternum Posts: 106 From: Germany The anthems on this album are really stupid and annoying. The right stuff for football hooligans and a painfulness for the metal genre. Loading...
Dr. Strawberry Posts: 694	16.06.2014 - 21:39 Dr. Strawberry Posts: 694 Written by Hex_Omega on 11.02.2014 at 16:44 Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. This album is what rock'n'roll is all about. Exactly ! - I didn't like it for more than two decades until recently I listened to it very carefully then I started to realise this album infused a lot of blues rock with metal. - If listeners expect this album to be aggressive as Painkiller then they're on the wrong path. Loading...
Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 39419 From: The Netherlands	17.06.2014 - 02:19 Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 39419 From: The Netherlands Listened to it today again because I was going through their entire discography because on Wednesday I've got a listening session where we will get to hear their entire new album and damn British Steel is a very mediocre to bad album. Painkiller is quite average as well to be honest but this one is way worse. ---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 Loading...
Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 39419 From: The Netherlands	17.06.2014 - 02:20 Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 39419 From: The Netherlands Written by Hex_Omega on 11.02.2014 at 16:44 Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 Most overrated piece of boredom shit in rock\metal history. Flat, stupid and generic in all possible ways. This album is what rock'n'roll is all about. NO it is not. This is just uninspired middle of the road averageness. An album containing a terrible football anthem such as United CAN NEVER BE CONSIDERED AS SOMETHING WHAT ROCK AND ROLL IS ABOUT ---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 Loading...
Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1168 From: Poland	17.06.2014 - 13:36 Rating: 9 Hex_Omega Gem Seeker Posts: 1168 From: Poland Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 17.06.2014 at 02:20 NO it is not. This is just uninspired middle of the road averageness. An album containing a terrible football anthem such as United CAN NEVER BE CONSIDERED AS SOMETHING WHAT ROCK AND ROLL IS ABOUT Honestly? I think it depends on what you expect from the album and what is your actual mood. This album is awesome for a party when you are drunk with your friends (then even Limp Bizkit is good but whatever lol). Anyway songwriting may be poor and generally this album may look a bit silly but I just like it the way it is. Sometimes I just want listen to this kind of albums and I stand by what I said before -> this is what rock'n'roll is for me -> maybe mindless but fun and enjoyable. Loading...
Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 From: Canada	12.07.2014 - 06:27 Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 From: Canada Written by Guest on 03.02.2013 at 19:25 generic in all possible ways. That's the perfect way to describe this album. When I think of generic , it's exactly this kind of album that comes to mind. ---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?" Loading...
Dalleo Posts: 6 From: The Netherlands	26.02.2015 - 23:23 Rating: 9 Dalleo Posts: 6 From: The Netherlands Rapid Fire, Grinder, The Rage, Steeler some really great songs Loading...
LuciferOfGayness Account deleted	02.11.2015 - 19:17 LuciferOfGayness Account deleted Lol what a horrible review. It isnt Priets best album but it certainly deserves a better reviewer Loading...
BlackMetalDay Posts: 61 From: France	30.05.2016 - 16:51 BlackMetalDay Posts: 61 From: France "United, united, united we stand..." This song is quite incredible. At least you can get a good laugh when you listen to it for the first time. I guess this album gets an average rating of 8.5 due to the fact that it is really mainstream. Like the black album from Metallica. Same thing according to me: many people like them because the music is simple and catchy. Personally it bores me when the music is too simple, which is the case here in most of the songs. Especially when the band released much more complex and IMO better albums before -> definition of a let-down. Loading...
TrueMetalJope Posts: 1313 From: Finland	28.10.2016 - 16:28 Rating: 7 TrueMetalJope Posts: 1313 From: Finland Not bad, not great either. I can pick a couple of strong tracks here ("Rapid Fire" and "The Rage") and some minor classics like "Metal Gods" and "Breaking the Law". ---- The guitar is my sword, I'll fight 'til I die /../ Loading...