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Album Details

• Artist: Judas Priest
• Album: British Steel
• Label: Columbia
• Year of Release: 1980
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2012-10-29

British Steel was the breakthrough disc for Judas Priest, meaning it was the one that got them onto the radio and into the mainstream. Sure, they had a following before the disc, but British Steel brought them out of the category of cult band. It also established the type of heavy metal sound that would become their standard with subsequent albums. For many people, British Steel was the first thing ever heard from Judas Priest.

The group wasted no time on the disc, firing out with a frantic metal tune appropriately entitled “Rapid Fire.” It’s one of the highlights of the set. Of course, the disc is probably best known for the radio tunes “Breaking the Law” and “Living after Midnight.” While both of those songs have their points, too much exposure via the radio play has rendered them a little trite over the years. Of the two, though, “Breaking the Law” holds up better in retrospect. There are some seriously clichéd moments on the album, but mostly because the sounds became standards of metal, and particularly Priest’s sound and got lots of imitation and repetition as the metal era continued.

The song “United” was another Judas Priest entry into the “We Will Rock You” kind of percussion based anthemic vocal romp style. The song “The Rage” feels like a precursor to the altered metal sound Priest would later explore on Point of Entry. The song “Steeler” is often overlooked, but one of the most frantic and ferocious cuts Judas Priest have ever done. It’s really one of the high points of the set. All in all, British Steel was arguably more consistent than its immediate predecessor Hell Bent for Leather. It’s a strong album that really got the group into the limelight. 

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