Search - Judas Priest :: Killing Machine

The first time Priest got it right all the way

L. B. Ivarsson | Rock City | 11/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Killing Machine" was released in 1978, and it was the first time Judas Priest delivered the goods all the way from start to finish. The album holds a lot of strong songs and it fits in naturally time wise regarding the band's development from a more or less progressive rock band to metal gods. I would say that there are no weak spots to be found anywhere on this solid effort where the song writing seems to have been in focus. The furious "Hell bent for leather" might be the most known track here, but there are plenty of other highlights to explore. The ballad "Before the dawn" with its beautiful vocals and guitar play is really a gem, and there is no similarity at all to the ballads metal bands used to put on every album during the hair metal days. "Take on the world" is built like "United" from the "British Steel" album, and serves as a sing-along-with-the-band with its melodic and catchy chorus. Other great tracks are "Delivering the goods", "Evening star", "Burnin' up", "Killing machine" and "The green manalishi". I could go on and on, giving you examples of this album's greatness. With such variation in the material, Judas Priest really capture the attention of the listener, and "Killing Machine" is an album you will never grow tired of. I consider this one almost equally great as the classic masterpiece "British Steel", and it's without doubt one of the finest efforts from Judas Priest. This album reminds of a time when the band had too much pride to put out any song that can be seen as a mediocre filler. My advise is: Get it, you won't be sorry!"