Unknown Soldier

Overview
I’ve constantly mentioned on previous album reviews about how the Sad Wings of Destiny and Sin After Sin, were literally towing the true metal line from Sabbath to the arrival of the key bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal now just a few years off. Also the previously reviewed Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather album had also seen the band turn in a more commercially metal direction, but before that album’s release, the band had released earlier in 1978 this dark mogadon monster of an album, that would trawl the gutters of darkness and slate Judas Priest’s name as hotter than that of the Devil! Stained Class would therefore be the third album in the classic ‘troika’ of Judas Priest albums at this time. So if the Sad Wings of Destiny had laid down their landmark sound with some 1970s metal classics, then Sin After Sin had seen the band expand on this landmark sound with both touches of adventure and excellence. But it was Stained Class that would be the most essential and most focused album of the three, and most importantly the most revered as well! The band lyrically also put out their most malevolent set of songs probably ever and for this reason alone this album surely stands as their darkest. A fact made even more prominent some several years later, when two teenage kids were supposedly driven to suicide by the lyrics of one of the songs on the album! The court case involved two teenagers one of which actually committed suicide and the other was left disfigured in a suicide attempt, facts which left a very dark shadow over the band and most specifically this album! The band had also pushed the boat out on their last two albums with both fantastical and grim album covers, now on Stained Class the band would go in for a cold almost non-emotional approach on the album cover this time around. Yet again the band had the drum stool to fill, after the excellent Simon Phillips had departed after the previous Sin After Sin and so the band drafted in the very technically gifted session drummer Les Binks, who would stick around for both this and the Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather album, along with the live Unleashed in the East album which was released in 1979. Les Binks was an excellent technical drummer and had served his time with numerous artists, and his work in his tenure with the band, would make him probably the best drummer ever to serve in the band along with the previously mentioned Simon Phillips. The album unsurprisngly is on a number of ‘greatest ever metal listening lists’ which is unsurprising given the quality on offer here.

Rob Halford- Vocals
K.K Downing- Guitar
Glenn Tipton- Guitar
Ian Hill- Bass
Les Binks- Drums

Production- Dennis Mackay

Album
Exciter- The frantic album opener gets underway with the drumming of Les Binks and the song is then dominated by the speed vocals of Rob Halford, and is also interspaced with some great guitar work throughout. The song is one of many jointly written on the album by Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton. White Heat, Red Hot- Great album track that shows the outstanding depth and quality on this album, and it’s accompanied by some great guitar work. Better By You, Better Than Me- A cover of the old Spooky Tooth song and as expected the Judas Priest version is both far less blusier and a damn sight heavier than the original. The fact of the matter is though, that both versions are actually great songs and this is also the song that provoked the future court case. Stained Class- The title track is loud and potent and a galloper as well, and the song is full of that ever so special disjointed metal tunefulness that the band were always able to harbour. Invader- Futuristic and sci-fi inspired, and has Rob Halford accounting a tale about alien monsters. The future Iron Maiden song “Invaders” isn’t exactly a world away from this song both name and soundwise. Saints in Hell-The only song on the album where K.K Downing contributes on the writing credits and this time it’s with both Rob Halford and Glenn Tipton. The song is a steady grower and saves its best parts till its later sections. Savage- A primal tale about as the name does suggest savages. Beyond the Realms of Death- Probably the showpiece track of the b-side with its morbid feel and epic musical accompaniments, and the song feels totally at ease for its almost 7 minutes in length. Heroes End- A great album closer, with one of Rob Halfords great vocal displays across the whole song and I the way the rest of the band follow him here is pretty amazing at times! Some versions of the album have the bonus track “Fire Burns Below” which actually sounds like a beefier AOR track and the sort of thing that Foreigner would soon tie down to perfection, it’s a great track as well.

Verdict
With each studio release Judas Priest had been pushing the boundaries of brutal power, scintillating speed, greater technicality and pure heaviness within the heavy metal genre, aspects that were literally making the band a legend in their time. Also the band were taking the dark lyrical overtones and dark subject matter that had characterized the majority of Black Sabbath’s work, and they had now turned this lyrical and subject matter into a much meaner and even more sinister focused beast than even Black Sabbath could muster! Now the first thing that strikes you upon hearing this album, is just how focused the band were at this point and even more importantly, just how true they were to the true heart of heavy metal as we know it! The album is chocca full of metal classics from the speed and power of the album opener “Exciter” and its even more impressive brother the later album closer “Heroes End” and then we go onto steadier songs like “White Heat, Red Hot” with its combination of melodic metal, steady guitar interplay and echoey vocal arrangements. All of which are in contrast to the purposefully sounding disjointed title track “Stained Class” another album highlight and a great example of the complexities of some of the songs on the album. Then there is of course the infamous Spooky Tooth cover of “Better By You, Better Than Me” along the colourful tales that are accounted in songs like “Invader” “Saints in Hell” and “Savage”. Gone would be the ballads and the gothic themed tracks that had characterized previous band afforts and there is nary even a hint of experimentation but there is plenty of complexity, as the band are just too busy piledriving their way through tight dark riffs and accounting tales, that literally are living and breathing a true metal sound and feel in the process! In fact the only song that echoes of their earlier material here is the morbid sounding “Beyond the Realms of Evil”. Now I’ve constantly stated how this album or that album were vital influences on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but when it comes to the biggest single piece of work to influence that movement, then I’d say that Stained Class is probably the single biggest influence on that movement. So enjoy this album because it’s one of the most revered metal albums of its time, with its tight metal riffs and chugga metal rhythms with delicious chops to match, and its complex playing certainly forewarned us about the soon to arrive technical extreme metal of the 1980s!

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Also Check This Out........
This is an extra album from the same year that I've chosen, that either just missed the final cut, I think could be of interest, or even from a different genre that could be of interest or influence on the hard rock/heavy metal genre.


Sorcery were a Hollywood based heavy metal band that took ‘The Alice Cooper Show’ to extreme lengths. Not only would the band perform on stage as expected, but their stage show also inorporated two magicians in Paul Haynes and Curtis James Hyde, whose on-stage personas represented both ‘good and evil’ in the band’s stage performance and the show was known as “The King of the Wizards against the Prince of Darkness” a somewhat predictable topic to say the least! The band members Greg Mcgee, Richard Taylor, Richie King and Perry Morris had worked fairly extensively in the local area, especially on soundtracks and background music for the local film studios, and bassist Richard Taylor had also featured with Legs Diamond. The band put out a brand of metal that relied on energy rather than songcraft and unsurprisingly the band were looking to tap into the Kiss visual appeal market. Most of the easily accessible material by the band on the Stunt Rock album, actually comes from the Stunt Rock movie made just a few short years later. As said the band would go onto provide the soundtrack and to star in the movie that was also known as Stunt Rock in 1980, after the far better known Foreigner had turned down the offer for the film. The film was something of a flop and was one of a number of movies that were released in this time period, that tried to exploit the concept of movies meets rock. Needless to say, Sorcery were probably one of the lesser talented gimmick acts of their time, but their brand of heavy metal will be of interest to anybody that enjoys the cheesier aspects of metal and as always the Stunt Rock movie is something that I finally aim to see one of these days.

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Albums that missed the cut.........
Other good albums worth checking out that were also released in 1978, but weren't quite good enough to make the top 10 and are listed below in no set order, so the best of the rest:

Uriah Heep
Fallen Angel 1978

With an even greater shift to a more mainstream AOR sound, this album is competent without ever excelling where it matters, but it does have some great driving stuff and none come any better than “I’m Alive”.

Granmax
Kiss Heaven Goodbye 1978

This Nebraskan band released two albums in the mid to late 1970s and this album their second and the lesser known, is the stronger of the two and is really highlighted with quality songs like “This Life’s For Me” and the stunning “Respected Man”.

Shakin’ Street
Vampire Rock 1978

The debut album from this French heavy metal band, who combined metal and punk in a potent cocktail and were fronted by singer/actress Fabienne Shine, the group would also feature future Manowar guitarist Ross ‘The Boss’ Friedmann on their next album.

Gary Moore
Back on the Streets 1978

The second album by Gary Moore which despite being instrumentally top-heavy, was at certain times like a Phil Lynott album in everything but name. Some good material and helped open the door for his return to Thin Lizzy to replace Brian Robertson.

Whitesnake
Trouble 1978

David Coverdale since the folding of Deep Purple had released a slew of albums and Trouble would be the most focused to date now under the Whitesnake name. The album also displays the band’s edgy sound and blueprints their forthcoming albums.

Rose Tattoo
Rose Tattoo 1978

A slice of AC/DC inspired hard rock with pint-sized Angry Anderson matching Bon Scott where it matters. A collection of solid rockers that are highlighted by power gems like “Astra Wally”.

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Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

Despite the reservations I’ve had over the year of 1978, it surely yielded some of the finest live albums of the decade and with so many on offer I’ve decided to review the best four in the genre concerned here with this diary and then another four worth checking out as well. So below in no set order of preference:


AC/DC’s first official live album is without doubt one of the most revered live albums ever released and it was released at a time when the Bon Scott era of AC/DC were approaching the height of their popularity. This peak of couse would occur on the following year’s Highway to Hell album, which also sadly proved to be the swansong of Bon Scott as well. One of the great aspects of the If You Blood You’ve Got It album, is that unlike a lot of live albums from this period that were chopped from different live performances, the vast bulk of the material here actually comes from one concert, which was performed at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow as part of their Powerage album tour. The album from beginning to end, is simply chocca full of Angus Young’s guitar riff antics, a staunch rhythm section and Bon Scott’s whiskey-soaked yelp and his witty humourisms. The listener can hardly fault the song selection here either, as probably the best track choices cover the cream from the band’s preceeding studio albums. The album is probably one of the best produced live albums around as well, as from the album opener “Riff Raff” it sounds like the listener has a front row seat at the concert, due to both the loudness and especially the clarity of the delivery being churned out by the band here. No doubt studio enhancement has been used here, as it was so often used on live albums around this time anyway, but on If You Want Blood You’ve Got It, the studio enhancement is simply one of the best applied and does what enhancement actually should do. The highlights of the album surely include “Bad Boy Boogie” “Whole Lotta Rosie” and “Let There Be Rock” but to be fair there’s not a bad choice on offer here anyway. The album is not only an essential live release from the decade, but it’s also one of the perfect documments from the Bon Scott era of the band and a prime example of what raw blues inspired hard rock should sound like in a live setting. Strangely enough there has never been an official dvd release of the concert, which is indeed strange considering that footage of the performance was actually recorded, but to this day it has just been available in segments. This is certainly strange considering just how famous the band are and how well remembered Bon Scott actually is!

Bon Scott- Vocals
Angus Young- Guitar
Malcolm Young- Rhythm
Cliff Williams- Bass
Phil Rudd- Drums

Production- Harry Vanda and George Young
Apollo Theatre Glasgow 1978

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History

Unknown Soldier

The best way to hear Ted Nugent’s testosterone no-frills brand of hard rock, was usually in a live setting rather than in the confines of a studio album, because by and large as a studio artist he was often found wanting, despite the fact that he does offer some good studio albums. His best studio album by far, had been his third the previous year’s Cat Scratch Fever (see review) but its follow up album 1978’s Weekend Warriors now with a new rhythm/vocalist in Charlie Huhn and a new bassist in John Sauter, fell well short of Cat Scratch Fever quality wise! Thus making the sprawling double live-set Double Live Gonzo! released in between these two albums, the essential Ted Nugent release for 1978. Double Live Gonzo! consists of eleven tracks and a large amount of these tracks aren’t featured on any of the previous three studio albums by ‘The Nuge’ either. These songs include “Yank Me, Crank Me” “Great White Buffalo”” the excellent “Gonzo” and the lengthy “Hibernation”. The utilizing of non-studio album tracks was often the case around this time anyway, thus making live albums at this time, important parts of an artist’s discography. There is also a version of the much covered Big Joe Wiiliams song “Baby Please Don’t Go” early on the album as well and there are well known stellar tracks like “Stranglehold” “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang” and the addictive “Cat Scratch Fever”. The album is produced by ever present producer Tom Werman, who was also at this time still busy dishing out those legendary early Cheap Trick albums! The album would also see the final release from Ted Nugent’s best ever line-up, as the talented Derek St.Holmes would depart after this release and not return until the band’s seventh album Nugent in 1982, also to depart would be bassist Rob Grange as well. Double Live Gonzo! came out at a time, when there was certainly a level of blandness afflicting a number of hard rock and heavy metal bands, and this album offered much like the AC/DC album above, a blast of raw and honest hard rock served up on a platter and basically what you saw is certainly what you got here! The album is basically one big heavy guitar based party in a live setting, enjoy!

Derek St. Holmes- Rhythm/Vocals
Ted Nugent- Guitar/Vocals
Rob Grange- Bass
Cliff Davies- Drums

Production- Tom Werman
Various US locations 1976-1977

__________________
Metal Wars

Power Metal

Pounding Decibels- A Hard and Heavy History