Welcome to Bonzo Brad’s Classic Hard Rock and Heavy Metal blog. This blog is for the hard rock and heavy metal lovers and for Bonzo Brad to share his love for this style of music to everyone and have the readers leave finding something new, banging their heads, or having their balls to the wall (ladies included.)
Today’s Underrated Album of the Day comes from legends in the hard rock and heavy metal community. These guys are known as the “Metal Gods.” That’s right, boys and girls, it’s Judas Priest.
These guys really started hitting their stride around the late 70s with records like “Sin After Sin” and “Stained Class.” Then, in 1980, they kicked off the new decade with their heaviest record, the landmark “British Steel” album that would go on to influence many metal bands to come after them. But, the album that is not talked about as much as the ones I mentioned is the follow-up to “British Steel,” “Point of Entry.”
Released in 1981, “Point of Entry” found Priest to go towards more of a mainstream hard rock radio sound rather than a straight up heavy metal sound of their last record. The band decided to do this after having found radio success here in the States with the singles “Living after Midnight” and “Breaking the Law” off of “British Steel.” The result was an album that was definitely a notch below “British Steel,” but an equally as killer album. A lot of critics have dismissed this album as uninspired, bland, and uninteresting. I do not understand that whatsoever, especially when they release an album like “Turbo” 5 years later (which isn’t that bad of an album, but is EXTREMELY commercial compared to the rest of their albums.) The band was in top form, with guitarists Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing delivering riff after riff, drummer Dave Holland and bassist Ian Hill holding the tunes down with the pounding rhythms, and singer Rob Halford just belting out these tunes, screaming a scream so primal.
How I first heard of this record was through the biggest single off of this record, “Heading Out to the Highway.” I first heard the song on a Harley Davidson CD that my Uncle had, and instantly fell in love with the song because of the killer guitars, pounding drums, and catchy chorus. Listening to that song while driving is an incredible feeling, especially during the summer time. It can also piss off all the fucks that like to play Trance music at full blast in their cars, which makes it even more awesome. But, after I listened to that song, I never bothered to buy the album that had that song on it. Plus, my mom was not having an 8 year old running around the house listening to a Judas Priest record (which is extremely bogus, but now, she does not even care. Love you madre!) So, it wasn’t until this past February that I rekindled my interest for this album. I found the video for the song, “Don’t Go,” on YouTube one day and well…the video was very 80s, but the song was a totally different story. The verses reminded me of AC/DC, but turned to 15 and with a wee bit more hair on their balls than them awesome Aussies. Then, that chorus! Good fucking god, that chorus gives me chills every time I hear it simply because of Rob Halford’s voice. He is easily in my top 3 favorite vocalists, and this song, along with the tune “You Say Yes” (Both off of “Point of Entry) show me why he is on that list. After hearing that song, I decided I needed to get a hold of “Point of Entry.” When I did, I was far from disappointed from what I heard.
I was surprised and amazed, especially since I read reviews of this album before I went and downloaded the record. The record was still very Priest, but definitely had a mainstream sound to it like they promised. Comparing this to bands like Van Halen, Rush, and Triumph that were on the radio at the time, these tunes would kick their asses with the heaviness heard on those songs. The thing about the tunes on “Point of Entry” compared to most of the tunes on hard rock radio at the time was that these tunes had hair on their balls. This album is amazing from start to finish. I did not find one bad song on this record. Hell, even the song “Turning Circles,” which many critics and fans found to be the worst song on the record, was pretty good, in my opinion. From tunes like the biker anthem and concert favorite for some time “Desert Plains” to the heavy, but melodic “Troubleshooter,” the album had many killer tunes to choose from. Hearing these songs on “Point of Entry” has left me dumbfounded at the fact that people dismiss this record and hardly ever talk about the record. This album, along with “British Steel” and “Screaming for Vengeance,” are my favorites by Priest, with “Point of Entry” being my favorite record. This album is still very rockin’ and has many shining moments on it, like the killer “Solar Angels.” The album has plenty of melody in the songs and are very arena ready tunes, which would make sense, since they went on an arena tour called “World Wide Blitz” with Iron Maiden and Whitesnake (the killer bluesy hard rock version of the band, which I will get to later on as the blog continues) in support of this record. I suggest all of you guys who have checked this blog out or who have read this whole deal to go get this album now, somehow, someway. You will not regret it one bit. A killer and very underrated hard rock and heavy metal record.
Right above is the cheesy, but killer clip, for one of my favorite songs off the album, "Don't Go."
Album Info
Personnel:
- Rob Halford: Lead Vocals
- Glenn Tipton: Lead Guitars
- K.K. Downing: Lead Guitars
- Ian Hill: Bass Guitar
- Dave Holland: Drums
| Released | 26 February 1981 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recorded | October - November 1980, Ibiza, Spain | |||||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||||
| Length | 37:42 | |||||
| Label | Columbia | |||||
| Producer | Tom Allom |
1. "Heading Out to the Highway" (3:47)
2. "Don't Go" (3:18)
3. "Hot Rockin'" (3:17)
4. "Turning Circles" (3:42)
5. "Desert Plains" (4:36)
6. "Solar Angels" (4:04)
7. "You Say Yes" (3:29)
8. "All the Way" (3:42)
9. "Troubleshooter" (4:00)
10. "On the Run" (3:47)
Bonzo Brad's Standout Tracks:
"Heading Out to the Highway"
"Don't Go"
"Desert Plains"
"Solar Angels"
"Troubleshooter"
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