JUDAS PRIEST – Screaming For Vengeance [The Re-Masters] (Columbia/Legacy)

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Score: 5 out of 5

Posted: 9/4/04

Category: Heavy Metal

Original Release: 6/82

Reissued/Remastered: 5/29/01

With the Judas Priest reunion in full swing, we thought we’d take a look back at the band’s remastered reissues that came out during 2001 and 2002. Some of these we covered in our Metal Dreams print magazine – MD#6, but many of them were missed when we transitioned to the web.

1982 was an amazing year for heavy metal, and the release of Screaming For Vengeance was one of the year’s best contributions. While the band had experimented with less aggressive sounding guitars and vocals on Point Of Entry, they went for the jugular on Screaming. This becomes abundantly clear on “Electric Eye,” in which K.K Downing and Glenn Tipton’s guitar tones are razor sharp and their dual axe attack technique was more refined. The leads in this song are classics of the genre, and the fire and fury hasn’t been matched by any of today’s hard music phonies. I have some advice for all these wool cap, facially pierced, talentless, guttural grunters: listen to Screaming For Vengeance over and over until you actually get it. This is what heavy is all about. When I listen to an album like this I realize how the heavy music genre has completely lost its mind, accepting all this talentless drivel instead of fostering real heavy metal. Screaming For Vengeance contains one great track after another (including the heavy metal classic “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”) and contains absolutely no weak moments.

This reissue has been digitally remastered and includes two bonus tracks: “Prisoner of Your Eyes,” a melodic studio track in the vein of “A Touch of Evil” from Painkiller (1991), and a live version of “Devil’s Child.”

The Bloody Truth: Screaming For Vengeance is definitely one of my Top 10 favorite albums of all time. It’s got everything going for it – heaviness, dualing guitars, lyrics that you want to sing (anthems!!!), the fist-factor (the desire for one to thrust your fist in the air as if your at a concert), awesome vocals, and a variety of song styles that all work together. This is pure heavy metal perfection! An absolute classic that must be in any self-respecting metalhead’s collection! If you don’t own this, you are NOT a headbanger.