Judas Priest Album: “Killing Machine [Japan Bonus Tracks]”

"Killing Machine" was released in 1978, and it was the first time Judas Priest delivered the goods all the way from start to finish. The album holds a lot of strong songs and it fits in naturally time wise regarding the band's development from a more or less progressive rock band to metal gods. I would say that there are no weak spots to be found anywhere on this solid effort where the song writing seems to have been in focus. The furious "Hell bent for leather" might be the most known track here, but there are plenty of other highlights to explore. The ballad "Before the dawn" with its beautiful vocals and guitar play is really a gem, and there is no similarity at all to the ballads metal bands used to put on every album during the hair metal days. "Take on the world" is built like "United" from the "British Steel" album, and serves as a sing-along-with-the-band with its melodic and catchy chorus. Other great tracks are "Delivering the goods", "Evening star", "Burnin' up", "Killing machine" and "The green manalishi". I could go on and on, giving you examples of this album's greatness. With such variation in the material, Judas Priest really capture the attention of the listener, and "Killing Machine" is an album you will never grow tired of. I consider this one almost equally great as the classic masterpiece "British Steel", and it's without doubt one of the finest efforts from Judas Priest. This album reminds of a time when the band had too much pride to put out any song that can be seen as a mediocre filler. My advise is: Get it, you won't be sorry!

I don't know why this album was released as HELL BENT FOR LEATHER in the U.S. and as KILLING MACHINE in Europe.

Anyway, this is a fine, very fine, Priest record. It has a great variety of styles, and all of them work (I particularly do not like the weird EVIL FANTASIES, one of the most strange things Priest ever recorded). Their drummer at the time, Les Binks, had great feeling, precision and rhythm.

It is indeed a departure from the style of STAINED CLASS. It's really the beginning of their "leather phase", but this is not wrong. The band got heavier, the songs got shorter, and a whole new group of fans embraced the band.

AS for this remaster, the bonus tracks are fillers, nothing that would make anyone sad had they not been released...