Review Summary: Priest still continue to go the mainstream route with the leather-and-studs look.
British Steel was released in 1980 and is considered their breakthrough album. Les Binks quit the band due to disliking the commercial sounding direction from the last album and in the future. He was replaced by Dave Holland. His drumming skills are just rock beats with occasional fills. After Killing Machine, they would start writing more simple music, but really catchy on this album onwards. It's regarded as a classic by critics and fans. It features on of metal's biggest anthems such as
Breaking the Law and
Living After Midnight.
1980 was a big year in music. Albums such as Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden, Heaven and Hell by Black Sabbath, and Blizzard of Ozz by Ozzy Osbourne to name a few. The album for me is both overrated and underrated. Overrated because when some people listen to it sometimes, people give it too much credit and there are some flaws. Underrated sometimes because it can get highly bashed by some fans.
What British Steel has is catchiness. It shows on
Rapid Fire which has catchy verses and Rob's vocals on it:
Quote:
Pounding the world like a battering ram
Forging the furnace for the final grand slam
Chopping away at the source soon the course will be done
Leaving a trail of destruction that's second to none
Hammering anvils straining muscle and might
Shattering blows crashing browbeating fright
Fast devastating and desolisating the curse
Blasting the cannons of truth through each man of this earth
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The catchiness keeps up on
Breaking the Law,
Metal Gods,
Living After Midnight, and
You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise which has some of the most notable sing-along choruses in metal and even outside of metal. Dave Holland pounds with a beat that sets the mood of the songs perfectly.
Now we get to the cheesy side of the album.
Grinder has one of the cheesiest choruses ever:
Quote:
Grinder, looking for meat
Grinder, wants you to eat
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But the riffs and solos kick ass.
United is exactly like
Take On the World but less cheesy but is still really cheesy:
Quote:
United, united, united we stand
United we never shall fall
United, united, united we stand
United we stand one and all
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The Rage starts off with a groovy bass intro with Dave Holland giving a drum beat the follows it but the lyrics ends up weak overall. Finally,
Steeler is just dull and boring, not even the solos are appealing, but at least it's the final track because the album would be less enjoyable if it wasn't the closer. But the songs that standout less, it works on this compared to Killing Machine were it didn't.
+The standout tracks are catchy as hell
+One of the more consistent Priest albums
+Solos on heavy songs
-The simplistic approach could be getting too simplistic
-Though the other songs work, it doesn't stand out as well
-Still some cheesy lyrics on certain songs
Recommended Tracks:
Breaking the Law
Metal Gods
Rapid Fire
You Don't Have to Be Old to Be Wise
Living After Midnight
