Metal Reviews

If by early Priest you mean Rocka Rolla you're right. If you include here SWOD I'd say you're wrong, that album as a whole is much more metal than any Zep or BS album at that point. While Zep and BS had the ocasional metal song, I'd argue it's Priest who created the first metal album. Need proof? Just revisit Tyrant, Genocide, Ripper, Victim of changes, Island of domination, Deceiver.



Several people said this about Maiden's superior consistency, but I don't get it. Maiden were highly consistent until 7th son and SiT, then they steadily went downhill. Priest, on the other hand, were more impredictable, mixing masterpieces with weird albums. If we are to count them, I think we'll find that both bands have a similar percentage of masterpieces, solid albums and failures. Not much to tell them apart in this aspect.

Maiden's best being better than Priest's best... you're saying this like it's an universal truth, when in fact it's only your taste... The real truth is that both bands are so great, that the dilema of who's best is better is only a matter of personal preference. Many will worship 7th son or Powerslave (which I respect enormously), but I for one will take Painkiller or SWOD anytime over any of them. De gustibus... nothing more.

The real criteria for a challenge between these legends isn't their consistency or better of the best, but the impact they had on metal bands and metal genres. Maiden are more popular, and I think today there are more bands who will claim to be directly influenced by them then by Priest, but on the other hand I think Priest's legacy helped create about 3 metal genres (heavy, thrash and power) and that's an astonishing accomplishment. Oh, and Priest directly influenced Maiden as well, which definitely gives them some edge in my view.

I'll take Judas Priest; I prefer Halford's voice and their latest album was better than Maiden's last. I wouldn't want to be without either of them, though.

Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin and Stained Class are certainly more "metal" than albums like Paranoid and Led Zeppelin III. Just look at Tyrant played live on Unleashed in the East! That's proto-thrash right there. Stained Class in itself influenced about 5695504595 different genres, ranging from speed metal, NWOBHM, to thrash, of course. There's no question that Priest had a huge involvement in the creation of metal, much more, I think, than Sabbath or Zep.

Maiden, all the way. I didn't even have to think about it.

Priest ist still krieg, though.

i agree. Im not sure this is a contest, even tho I do like Priest. This should still not be close (IMO)

Ok...so all you did was complain about how I voiced my opinion without stamping my post with IMHO, which I would figure most people here are intelligent enough to assume, and then give your own opinion in the same fashion. Good job?

Ok, that's albums 2-4 for Priest, ranging from 76-78, and albums 2 and 3 from Sabbath and Zep respectively, from 71 and 70, respectively. Way to ignore the fact that I said "until that point", and not five to six years earlier. Not to mention you picked Zep's most folky and least agressive record, but hey.

If you would compare them to say, Sabotage or the material until then, and the material from Zep up until Physical Graffiti, the gap is narrowed considerably. Sabbath and Zep both packed a punch, their music was powerful. Sad Wings of Destiny hits like a girl. The instruments all sound tame and the performances were loose, in a bad way. And the next two album's suffered from the same general problems, though they did get a little better. The guitars were never as monstrous as Iommi, even compared to his early days. The drums especially, were simply nowhere near as heavy or tight as as either Zep's or Sabbath's, and that powerful, driving percussion did a lot to propell those bands and compliment their heaviness.

At the very least, Priest was more of rock band than Sabbath, who actually had consistently heavy riffs, more than a little distorted guitar, as well as the ability to be ominous and threatening with both their compositions and the performances they put in on record, and also record a superb track like Hole in the Sky that had plenty of rock to it, without sounding weak and tame like Priest's less metal material (which was most of it). And if there ever was a quintessential proto-thrash song to come from that period it belongs to Sabbath and not Priest, in the form of Symptom of the Universe.

Zep established the blueprint, Sabbath built the house. Priest just stayed there for awhile, and happened to leave their dual lead guitars.

And if you want to harp on lead guitar for awhile, I can say without question that the Scorpions had the edge in that department when they had Uli Jon Roth in the 70's. Priest did have a lot of influence, especially with bands that would adopt the twin lead guitar style, but their importance to metal in general is being grossly overstated here and Sabbath is getting brushed off too easily.

Did you even read my post before saying that all I did was complaining? The complaining part was only one sentence in paragraph 3, and only to this part of my post you chose to respond. The rest was actually discussing your points - and to this you replied nothing -, not the way you made them. So quit twisting facts.
Well, I see you replied to Brahm who made a similar point to mine, so I guess I'll take that as an answer.

Oh, and I didn't give my opinion in the same way I criticized you for. Try counting how many times I used the expression "I think". Again, quit twisting facts.

On a side note here: it's not that I, or anybody else, are not intelligent enough to not need a IMHO after each sentence. We all know that everybody is just spilling their opinion here. But the way you voice your opinion is pretty important. Things like "Maiden's best is better than Priest's period" are either doors slamed in face of dialogue, or sparks for future flame wars. Well, flame wars can be fun. But in the end it's dialogue that I'm interested in when I join a forum, not the random opinion of everyone that has one and believes it to be the ultimate truth in life, with all the energy of his 20 years or so. And it's the way you present your opinion that will build a dialogue around it, start another stupid flame war or simply get it to be ignored, even though it may contain valid points. And you don't need the stereotyped "IMO" to accompany your opinion. You know, English is the richest language on Earth.

I voted Maiden since I have not really been interested in Judas Priest, and never heard much by them. Is there any one song that would turn me into a Priest fan perhaps? I'm not buying a whole album.

Depends on the era. If you don't like Exciter, forget nearly all their seventies songs.

If you don't like Screaming For Vengeance, the eighties is out.

If you don't like Painkiller, you're gay.

"Painkiller", off the album of that same name. The video's on Yahoo, or if you're lazy (like me!):
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-252819-videos--Judas-Priest

Yeah, if you don't like the title track off Painkiller, you can pretty much close the book on Priest....and you'd be gay.

I voted for Iron Maiden, they've just always gotten my interest more than Priest. Though to be honest I think the newer stuff from both of them sucks equally.
Painkiller is a good album but in my books its not much against the likes of Powerslave and Piece Of Mind. Plus Halford is gay.

I'm a Priest head so I voted for Priest.

So what if he is.I don't judge a person by his or hers sexual orientation I could care less if he is gay,bi or a damn shemale so as long as he can chug out some damn good metal music.

What if he was black would you still judge him because of the color of his skin.The point is that someone shouldn't be judge because of skin,sexual preference,religious or political point of view.Base your opinion on their music not their private life.

Joke
I just thought it's old enough so everyone gets it without the use of smileys.

If you are old enough, you should know that the web is often über-confusing

Yeah. The thing is, I simply don't care whether or not you want me to reform the way I present my opinion, sorry. You can however, have a good samaritan's badge or something for trying to make the internet a nicer place by convincing me to idiot-proof my statements and make them easier for you to digest, if that would make you feel like you accomplished something.

Yeah, even I like Painkiller. It took them long enough, but they finally got a great drummer, and kicked up their intensity a few notches.

Now to bring more controversy to the subject,What album do you think is better Live After Death or Priest Unleashed In The East?,my vote is for unleashed in the East,since they manage to sound even better than on the actual albums.