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Album Details

• Artist: Judas Priest
• Album: Point Of Entry
• Label: Columbia
• Year of Release: 1981
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: gwhill on 2012-11-05

While Judas Priest’s Point of Entry album might not fit into what people now think of as “progressive metal,” it was billed as such (possibly the first usage of that term) and clearly was progressing the heavy metal sound. Coming off the heels of their real breakthrough disc, British Steel, Point of Entry was unexpected and threw some fans into “don’t know what to think” territory. In retrospect, it’s quite a stonr disc, but was quite a shocker at the time.

The album at times reached back to the boogie sound that sometimes showed up in the earlier days of the group. The highlights of the set include the opener, “Heading out to the Highway.” It’s more in the vein of the straightforward metal people expected from Priest by this point in their career. “Hot Rockin’” also falls on the more metallic side of the spectrum, feeling a bit like it could have come from Hell Bent for Leather or British Steel. “Desert Plains” has that lush sort of power ballad sound Priest had perfected on tunes like “Evening Star.” In fact, musically it feels related to that piece and is another strong number. “Solar Angels” has the same kind of science fiction vibe to the lyrics that was found on “Invaders” from Stained Class. In some ways it seems musically connected to that tune, too. “On the Run” was another tune that would please the metal fans.

The songs that were most likely to find Priest fans doing some headscratching included “Don’t Go” (which had a stripped back sound and felt like it would have fit on Sin After Sin), “Turning Circles” (which seemed to be a precursor to the sound later heard on Turbo), “You Say Yes” and “All the Way.” Point of Entry was a disc that wasn’t likely to win fans over on the first or second spin, but had a way of growing with each successive time it was heard. With the initial shock value removed, it stands as a solid set in the history of Judas Priest.

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