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Originally Posted by Wpnfire
Continuing my discussion with Unknown Soldier from my "Rocka Rolla" review...
Alright so I've listened to Sin After Sin, Hell Bent for Leather (Killing Machine), Stained Class, and British Steel.
I agree that Sin After Sin is more refined than Sad Wings while not really sacrificing too much heaviness on many of the songs. I enjoy "Sinner" (like, a lot), "Diamonds and Rust" is of course, fantastic, "Raw Deal" is great as well, and "Dissident Agressor" reminds me of something from Sad Wings, but I would still prefer Sad Wings to this album. Some of the songs I think are far too long and that hurts my interest in the album as a whole. Overall, I would rank this the best of the four albums. Probably a 7/10 for me. |
As I've probably already said I think that Sin After Sin is one of the very best albums in the JP discography. It's certainly the most varied and most daring that the band ever put out and fully encompasses everything that the band were capable of. Also I think the longer song lengths to be one of the album's strengths as well.
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For Stained Class, I agree that it is one of their most accomplished and well-produced albums, although I disagree that it is their most accomplished album, but the music is simply not for me. Yes the material is innovative, but songs like "Exciter" and "Invader" are just not nearly as harsh as their previous albums, and I don't like it.
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Stained Class is a special album and one of the all-time great metal albums, for the simple reason that the band pushed their brutal power to its ultimate conclusion and they played with greater complexity than before, the album is without doubt their purest HM statement. The album basically serves as a blueprint for the technical extreme metal craze of the 1980's.
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Hell Bent for Leather or whatever it is called, is just awful. Absolutely awful. "Burnin' Up" is.............disgraceful. My biggest complaint with this album is easily the vocals. It barely sounds like the same singer from the previous four albums. The lyrics are also very inauthentic/not creative at all.
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It's the band's big push in a commercial direction, a very good album that serves as a prelude to British Steel.
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British Steel I have a love/loathe relationship with. Ignoring it's obvious pop influences and the fact that the guitar is barely audible on many of the songs ("United"), "Rapid Fire" is-
Wait a second why the hell is "Rapid Fire" not track 1 for the U.S.? That destroys the flow to "Metal Gods." That would sound horrid to listen to in that order.
Anyway, "Rapid Fire," "Metal Gods," "Breaking the Law," and "Living After Midnight" are songs I could play over and over and never get tired of. Halford's vocals on "You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise" remind me of their earlier material and I quite like that song as well. Also it has a great solo.
"Grinder" is the part of the album I can not stand. The lyrics for "Grinder" sound like they were created maybe about 5 seconds before they recorded the song-and that's shocking considering that the lyrics for "Rapid Fire" were basically awe inspiring. It reminds me of Killing Machine, and I do not like that direction at all.
I'll give British Steel a 7/10 as well.
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British Steel is British Steel really, such a famous album and the perfect example of pop metal if you like that kind of thing. Even though a newbie would expect something heavier based on its album name.