Band:	Judas Priest
Album:	Painkiller
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	September 03, 1990
Guest review by:	Valentin B

01. Painkiller
02. Hell Patrol
03. All Guns Blazing
04. Leather Rebel
05. Metal Meltdown
06. Night Crawler
07. Between The Hammer & The Anvil
08. A Touch Of Evil
09. Battle Hymn
10. One Shot At Glory
11. Living Bad Dreams [Recorded during the 1990 Painkiller sessions] [2001 re-release bonus]
12. Leather Rebel [Live at Foundation's Forum, Los Angeles, California, USA in 13 September 1990] [2001 re-release bonus]

The year is 1990 and after 2-3 softer releases like Turbo or Ram it down, Rob Halford, KK Downing, Glenn Tipton, Ian Hill and new drummer Scott Travis (the five members of Judas Priest) decide to do something so brutal, even by death metal standards of the day. It's so heavy, so fast and shredding, yet so catchy and melodic that no-one has ever heard anything like it before.

The drumwork is so brutal on the title track you'd think Scott had to change a few drum kits to pull off this song in recording, the same as on most songs, but nothing comes close to his work on this song. But for the fans of "softer" drumwork, there is Hell Patrol or All Guns Blazing. No need to worry, softer drumming doesn't mean softer songs altogether. While Hell Patrol isn't a brutal thrash masterpiece, it's quite memorable and extremely catchy, and All Guns Blazing...well...you should listen to "Turbo Lover" and then to this song, and you'd kill yourself before thinking it's the same band. Softer drumwork is also present throughout the rest of the album, except for Metal Meltdown, with its good blast beats and Leather Rebel, where the bass drum really hammers the rhythm.

As far as guitar work is concerned the tremolo picked riffs and the extreme solos (like the intro to Metal Meltdown, which I think even Yngwie Malmsteen would be envious of) are extremely well done. There really is no weak point in this album for the guitars. KK Downing and Glenn Tipton really are at their best here; the doubling of the vocals in the classic heavy metal style is truly wonderful. Well that's it for extreme solos and tremolo picked riffs, and there has to be a place for haunting clean arpeggios, like in night crawler's intro (that then explodes in a monstrous riff creating what possibly is the best song on this album) with a fantastically evil and haunting interlude, accompanied by the marrow chilling spoken part.

Which gets me to the vocals which sound so good with the demonic screaming and midrange power you'll think it's someone who does the screaming and someone else who does the power-vocals, but it's the Metal God...Rob Halford, who has his best vocal performance on this album (and that's saying a lot). From all-round songs with him screaming higher than physically possible (title track, All Guns Blazing, and a little milder screams on A Touch of Evil) to the power of, quite frankly all of the songs except Battle Hymn. I am telling you, this man has the most unbelievable lungs out there.

The lyrics are either stupid (Painkiller, Hell Patrol, Metal Meltdown), anthemic (All Guns Blazing, Leather Rebel), or average (Nightcrawler, One Shot at Glory). But the stupid lyrics are there just to give Rob something to scream about, literally, and you'd be headbanging too hard for the lyrics to matter that much.

I have only described the first 6 songs, and for good reason. They are so brutal, melodic and catchy that they surpass everything ever created before. The next 3 songs (excluding Battle Hymn, which is just an interlude) are more in the vein of classic Priest, except maybe for A Touch Of Evil, which although still has a bit of a Beyond the Realms of Death feeling. Although much much heavier and with keyboards it actually sounds very good, and all in all, is a mixed bag; like I said classic + a touch of experimental. The last track is a wonderful anthem in the usual Priest style, only a bit better and with the wonderful pounding mixed with screaming pinch harmonics.

The last track ends with such a feeling of wanting to bang your head and turn the volume up to 100 and the distortion up to 14, you're not likely to resist it. This is in my opinion, the best Priest album, and for good reason. There are almost no weak points here, and if I'd make a list of the best 10 metal albums of all time, I'd die if I didn't include this one.

Still, only one album deserves a perfect 10, and I've yet to find that album; the one who encompasses everything that metal is about and never stops you from headbanging, a thing which, I'm sorry to say, Painkiller does, although not in a bad way at all. So, 9.5 from me.