Screaming For Vengeance Overrated

It's a great album, but it's not my favorite album from them.

The reality is WITHOUT this disc Priest probably woulda been dropped and that would've been the end of it.

Point of Entry flopped. Columbia wanted a HIT.... British Steel and Hell Bent obviously are brilliant, but neither of them had A HIT..... I mean a true Hit.....

Screaming needed to break them through and it did. If it flopped it I would venture to say that it was over. that's not to say they wouldn't of been signed by someone else, but......

So for many of us it was our first Priest disc (it was mine, after I bootlegged a King Biscuit Flower Hour from that tour). 1982 in the USA was a not a metal time. This is their highest selling disc, first platinum disc in the states....
http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS

"Riding On the Wind" is one of the best Priest tunes ever IMO. "Devils Child", "Blood Stone".... "Electric Eye".... Yes YGATC was overplayed to death and whenever a radio DJ said "JP next..." they'd play that song...(after all it was put together by Tom Allom from a collection of jams they had on tape)... But it broke 'em and left us 'Screamin' for more.... (couldnt resist)... The US Festival who could forget that!
The live in 'Memphis' concert on MTV....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgXPgPEXc_E

speaking of the US Festival ...........

British Steel owns this record.

This album is far from overrated! Its rated up there just fine. There are no fillers to me either as every track stands on its own to me. Not my favorite, but its up close to it!!

I don't think SFV is overrated either. I think it's a classic!

included in JP Favourites !

B L O O D S T O N E ! extra extra ....

That does it! I'm going to LaLa and put these on my "want" list!

Looks like my next classic Priest album is going to be this one.

DallasBlack wrote:

Looks like my next classic Priest album is going to be this one.

Bro,

You won't regret it.... Once you hear the opening chords of "The Hellion" it will be all over.....

SoldierUnderCommand wrote:

British Steel owns this record.

Nah. 9 words. You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise.

It is classic to me being that its from my early teenage years of discovering metal. Killer sound, killer vibe, and it came out just at the right time that some JP fans like myself were hoping it wouldnt be as bad as Point Of Entry. Looking back, however, I can see Rattpoison's point how it does have about 4 tracks that arent great and side 1 just bogs way down after Bloodstone. Not really that overrated at all but IMO not even in the top 5 favorite JP albums.

mr.electric39 wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Looks like my next classic Priest album is going to be this one.

Bro,

You won't regret it.... Once you hear the opening chords of "The Hellion" it will be all over.....

Oh I know The Hellion/Electric Eye real well, as well as some other songs on that album. It's the ones I have yet to hear that are more interest to me (one of my main reasons for starting a classic Priest collection.

DallasBlack wrote:

mr.electric39 wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Looks like my next classic Priest album is going to be this one.

Bro,

You won't regret it.... Once you hear the opening chords of "The Hellion" it will be all over.....

Oh I know The Hellion/Electric Eye real well, as well as some other songs on that album. It's the ones I have yet to hear that are more interest to me (one of my main reasons for starting a classic Priest collection.

There are two tunes on SFV that are relatively weak, "Take these Chains" (written by bob halligan jr. who also wrote "Some Heads are Gonna Roll") and "Fever". Neither one really cranks for me. But neither did "Before the Dawn" on Hell bent for Leather or "The Last Rose" on Sin after Sin.

British Steel is probably my favorite old disc (took awhile to get into "United" thought it was a United Airlines commercial or something when I was 14!!). But SFV is what broke 'em and that's why it's a classic.

Hearing the ripping solos on "Riding on the Wind" or the brutality (for 1982) of the title track, early speed metal?... Hearing Halford scream the verse in 'Devil Child'...

You took my heart
And left it blown to smithereens
I gave my body as a slave
You cut my flesh
And drank my blood that poured in streams
I'm left here broken and ashamed

"Pain & Pleasure" a heavy but slower tempo track (aka 'heads gonna roll'), good tune.... "Bloodstone" rocks... !

See, I love "Take the Chains", "Riding on the Wind", "Fever", etc. I
just think this album flows perfectly from beginning to end. It usually
has me headbanging and singing along for the entire ride.

"Screaming for Vengeance" isn't neccesarily my favorite Judas Priest
album, but I hardly think it's overrated. It's just good heavy metal. A
defining moment in the genre if you ask me. Many copied it's format,
few matched it. "You Got Another Thing Coming" also broke open a lot of
doors commercially. It was one of the few metal tracks to receive play
on rock radio in the early 1980's, aside from "Metal Health".

ultmetal wrote:

It's just good heavy metal. A
defining moment in the genre if you ask me. Many copied it's format,
few matched it. "You Got Another Thing Coming" also broke open a lot of
doors commercially. It was one of the few metal tracks to receive play
on rock radio in the early 1980's, aside from "Metal Health".

Couldn't agree more.... Now watch some wanker will argue with you that 'Metal Health' isn't 'metal' enough. I guess they had to be there.... We can either hear more Boz Skaggs, Doobie Brothers, or Quiet Riot.... let me think....

Just listening to Metal Health yesterday (on vinyl) as I lifted in the garage. I never had it back then....so I'm catching up on those classic metal albums on vinyl for the garage.

#1 - Metal Health is GREAT!
#2 - It's METAL!!

nevermore wrote:

I don't think SFV is overrated either. I think it's a classic!

+1

You need to take albums like this into context, when this came out it was cutting edge and the majority of metal as we know it didnt even exist. If you were 14 years old and sporting a newly grown mullet it was a life changing experience.

I'd take Screaming and Defenders over British Steel anyday.

GREAT album, not overrated. I always prefered Defenders over SFV, but that is personal opinion. Most people I know prefer SFV, but it's all personal opinion. Now, I do like Painkiller even better, but that was one of those "holy cow" moments from the second the drum intro to painkiller kicked in.

Screaming for Vengeance is a great album, the only song that I really don't like on it is Pain and Pleasure. The rest are Classic Priest!

I don't think it's overated, but I wouldn't say it's their best, either. It's a good album, but I think Sad Wings Of Destiny and British Steel are better.

The only classic Priest albums I have are Sad Wings, British Steel, and Defenders Of The Faith. Out of those, so far, my favorite is British Steel.

I'm relatively new to non-radio Judas Priest. A few months ago I picked up a few and I now consider Screaming For Vengeance a masterpiece. The more I listen to it the better it gets. Amazing!

I don't think this is as overrated as 'Painkiller' is. It's a little stiff here and there but I think it is a good album. I think 'Defenders' perfected what it started, however. 'Painkiller' is the tall poppy to me, and the fact that 99% of people usually want to kill me after saying that is teh proof.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

I don't think this is as overrated as 'Painkiller' is. It's a little stiff here and there but I think it is a good album. I think 'Defenders' perfected what it started, however. 'Painkiller' is the tall poppy to me, and the fact that 99% of people usually want to kill me after saying that is teh proof.

I agree with all of this. Finally someone sees it my way.