Formed in Birmingham in the early 1970s, Judas Priest helped establish the twin-guitar attack and leather-and-studs aesthetic that became heavy metal's defining visual and sonic language. Rob Halford's operatic range, stretching across albums like Screaming for Vengeance and Defenders of the Faith, set a vocal standard that generations of metal singers have chased ever since. Two CD set. The Essential Judas Priest collection is the perfect middle ground for those who found 2004's four-disc Metalogy box a bit too daunting. Each and every one of the 34 tracks is indispensable, chronicling the group's rise from Queen-worshipping debutantes to revolutionary metal gods. It's often the case that when career retrospectives take a non-linear approach to their sequencing, the resulting play list becomes a mess of clashing recording techniques and jarring style changes, but Priest has always held true to it's vision, experimenting early on with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in ways that seamlessly bridged the gap between their Gull and Columbia years. From the opening avatar scream of 2005's comeback single "Judas Rising" to the introductory guitar swells of Screaming for Vengeance's "The Hellion/Electric Eye" - no live cuts or Tim "Ripper" Owens-era tracks were included. Tracklist Disc 1 1. Victim Of Change 2. The Ripper 3. Sinner 4. Diamonds And Rust 5. Exciter 6. Beyond The Realms Of Death 7. Hell Bent For Leather 8. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown) 9. Delivering The Goods 10. Before The Dawn 11. Breaking The Law 12. Metal Gods 13. Living After Midnight 14. Heading Out To The Highway 15. The Hellion 16. Electric Eye 17. You've Got Anouther Thing Coming 18. Screaming For Vengence 19. Love Bites Disc 2 1. Freewheel Burning 2. Jawbreaker 3. The Sentinel 4. Turbo Lover 5. Blood Red Skies 6. Ram It Down 7. Painkiller 8. A Touch Of Evil 9. Night Crawler 10. Hell Patrol 11. Judas Rising 12. Revolution 13. Nostradamus 14. Dragonaut 15. Redeemer Of Souls UPC: 888750753229Label: Sony LegacyRelease Date: 3.31.15Format: CD
