Album Review: Judas Priest - Screaming for Vengeance (1982)

When I first heard the acclaimed British Steel, my initial perceptions of the album were lukewarm.  It didn't feel like a metal album to me - after all, I was acclimatized to the heavier, harsher thrash metal sounds of bands such as Metallica and Megadeth.  But since then it has grown on me significantly as the classic album that it righfully is.  Now, when I listen to the album I'm reviewing here, Screaming for Vengeance, I'm thinking to myself, "this is perhaps a more mainstream archetype of heavy metal music, this is certainly my impression of heavy metal as it was when I was a kid.  And it's friggin' good too!"  This album is why I love the band.  That, and 1990's Painkiller.  Halford's piercing scream, coupled with Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing's ripping guitar work, creates a unique and sensational sound that quite rightly deserves its perception as a de facto poster boy of sorts for the heavy metal subgenre.  A great opening with the prelude "The Hellion", which in turn leads on into the powerful and electrifying "The Electric Eye."  "Screaming for Vengeance" rips your ears a new one with its speed metal rage attack, and let us not forget the classic "You've Got Another Thing Comin.'"  If you're into classic heavy metal and don't know that song, you're in trouble.  "Riding On The Wind" and "Fever" are likewise worth listening to as well and shouldn't be skipped under any circumstances.  One of Judas Priest's best albums by a country mile.  A-