Let's rank Judas Priest, #17

1. Defenders of the Faith (1984) 24% of the vote
2. Painkiller (1990) 30% of the vote
3. Screaming for Vengeance (1982) 29% of the vote
4. Stained Class (1978) 40% of the vote
5. British Steel (1980) 50% of the vote
6. Sad Wings of Destiny (1976) 67% of the vote
7. Sin After Sin (1977) 40% of the vote
8. Killing Machine / Hell Bent for Leather (1979) 35% of the vote
9. Firepower (2018) 35% of the vote
10. Point of Entry (1981) 42% of the vote
11. Ram It Down (1988) 50% of the vote
12. Rocka Rolla (1974) 28% of the vote
13. Turbo (1986) 29% of the vote
14. Jugulator (1997) 56% of the vote
15. Angel of Retribution (2005) 47% of the vote
16. Redeemer of Souls (2014) 70% of the vote


In the penultimate poll Redeemer of Souls captured the 16th spot. An excellent album, in my opinion.

But now it's time for the very last poll in the series. Which one of these final two albums avoids last place?

My Top 17

1. Screaming For Vengeance
2. Stained Class
3. Defenders of the Faith
4. British Steel
5. Sad Wings of Destiny
6. Killing Machine
7. Sin After Sin
8. Point of Entry
9. Redeemer of Souls
10.Firepower
11.Painkiller
12.Rocka Rolla
13.Ram It Down
14.Turbo
15.Jugulator
16.Demolition
17.Nostradamus

"Nostradamus" has its moments, but it has a lot of misses and quite a bit of filler. Then again, I'm 50/50 when it comes to concept albums. "Demolition" fits the scene in 2001, but I'm not sure that is necessarily a good thing.

"Demolition" by default.

Nostradamus gets my vote

Nostradamus. I listen to that one more.

Nostradamus. A great album.

Geez, this is like asking "Which is better, slamming your nuts in a car door, or setting your hair on fire?"

I honestly can't vote cuz I have no use for either of those albums.

I voted for Nostradamus when it was vote #4 !
Of course, I do have many books and DVDs about Nostradamus.
He died at age 62. He not only predicted his death.....
But was buried with a date around his neck......
A soldier, during fighting a war, dug up the body to drink wine from his skull.
It was that date - but to get his powers....drink up !
The first sip = killed by an enemy bullet.

I also voted Nostradamus. It was an attempt to create their magnum opus, and while it didn't quite get there, songs like "Alone" and "Visions" are brilliant. The second disc I find quite strong.

Demolition was an attempt to appeal to nu-metal youth.

Nostradamus is boring. I prefer Demolition.

Nostradamus by default. It's a double-disc sleeping pill. Given the opportunity, I could probably whittle out a decent 5 song ep from the track listing. On the other hand, I do not own Demolition. It's the only Priest disc I don't have, which speaks volumes.

Nostradamus

It has more syllables

On wait

I voted for Demolition. While I do prefer the two songs "Persecution" and "Alone" off of Nostradamus over anything on Demolition, I think it is the better album overall. "Bloodsuckers" "Devil Digger," "Feed on Me," "In Between,"... I think those are great songs and I like the flow of the album better.

For some reason I just really do not like the chorus of "Prophecy," which, for me, sets a bad tone from the start of Nostradamus. With all of the short interludes, and songs like "Exiled" that don't seem to go anywhere over the course of 6+ minutes, it is my least favorite album from the Priest catalogue.

Subterfuge has got to be one of their best songs ever:

Gilbert wrote:

Subterfuge has got to be one of their best songs ever:

That's a cool one. It was also a b-side to the Machine Man single that I got before the album was released. Really liked it, very heavy. Kind of like it could have been on Jugulator, but even more modern.

I bought that single from Spinefarm shop in Helsinki and the clerk was Esa Holopainen from Amorphis. He gave me a discount because the case was cracked.

Funny the things you remember, but then can't remember where I parked at the mall.

Quote :

I bought that single from Spinefarm shop in Helsinki and the clerk was Esa Holopainen from Amorphis. He gave me a discount because the case was cracked.

Wow, that's really cool!

Lari wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

Subterfuge has got to be one of their best songs ever:

That's a cool one. It was also a b-side to the Machine Man single that I got before the album was released. Really liked it, very heavy. Kind of like it could have been on Jugulator, but even more modern.

I bought that single from Spinefarm shop in Helsinki and the clerk was Esa Holopainen from Amorphis. He gave me a discount because the case was cracked.

Funny the things you remember, but then can't remember where I parked at the mall.

This single might be pretty rare by now, i presume.

Gilbert wrote:

Lari wrote:

Gilbert wrote:

Subterfuge has got to be one of their best songs ever:

That's a cool one. It was also a b-side to the Machine Man single that I got before the album was released. Really liked it, very heavy. Kind of like it could have been on Jugulator, but even more modern.

I bought that single from Spinefarm shop in Helsinki and the clerk was Esa Holopainen from Amorphis. He gave me a discount because the case was cracked.

Funny the things you remember, but then can't remember where I parked at the mall.

This single might be pretty rare by now, i presume.

Nah, it goes for $2.50-$3.00 on Discogs market. Priest still sold enough physical copies at that point. Either way, I'd much rather keep it for sentimental value.

I think we are done with the final ranking. Thanks everyone for voting!

Some polls were more lopsided than others, but I think it's appropriate that the #1 spot was the most tight/controversial. Defenders of the Faith no longer leads that poll, so it was just a matter of a cut off point that it happened to win. Priest really has such a vast catalogue and so many albums in that legendary top echelon that about 4-5 albums could have won that first spot.

Defenders of the Faith, Painkiller, Stained Class, Screaming for Vengeance, Sad Wings of Destiny and British Steel all are heavy metal classics. And you could even add to that. Everybody has a different ranking.

I'm thinking maybe it should work like an election where if an album doesn't reach 50%, there'd be a runoff poll so a winner would always need a majority backing. Maybe we'd get different results. The downside is that maybe some less known albums would suffer from that system. That's not right either.

Either way the results here are not "wrong". Just the way it went down in 2020. Let's try again in a decade and see what happens

Oh, and let's not forget to celebrate NOSTRADAMUS for winning 17th place!



This is the copy I have. Very cool package. A nice addition to the collection. Last album with KK.

As for Demolition, I have the digipak with the black cover and two bonus tracks:





I saw them on both tours obviously. I think I actually preferred the Ripper show. Medium sized concert hall, intimate... aggressive. The band sounded angry. They certainly felt a lot OLDER when touring for Nostradamus.

Quote :

I saw them on both tours obviously. I think I actually preferred the Ripper show. Medium sized concert hall, intimate... aggressive. The band sounded angry. They certainly felt a lot OLDER when touring for Nostradamus.

I saw them not too after Nostradamus came out, but they were playing British Steel in its entirety with Whitesnake opening. They did play a mixed set after British Steel, in which "Prophecy" was the only song off of Nostradamus, as I recall. I never saw them with Ripper, as they were playing the House of Blues where I was still too young to get into! I do like the live albums they put out with Ripper through.

Lari wrote:

I saw them on both tours obviously. I think I actually preferred the Ripper show. Medium sized concert hall, intimate... aggressive. The band sounded angry. They certainly felt a lot OLDER when touring for Nostradamus.

I feel just the opposite. I saw them with Ripper and yea, while it was cool to see them in a smaller, close-up venue, I felt they seemed bored and just going through the motions. They seemed positively rejuvenated a few years later when Rob was back at the helm.

There were some surprises. I was expecting Painkiller to be in N.1 and Redeemer of Souls to rank much higher.

Good poll overall.

What's next Lari? Accept would be fun.

I'd like to see a King Diamond poll, but not sure if there are enough fans of his here to make it fun.

Are you kidding me ?
If you’re into metal....you’re into King Diamond and Mercyful Fate.
If a person says they’re a metal head......and doesn’t own -any of their CDs .....
I’d outrightly laugh at them.
Maybe even attack them ! Ha !