Judas Priest "Painkiller"

Painkiller is the twelfth studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in September 1990. It is the last Judas Priest album to feature lead singer Rob Halford until his return for the 2005 album Angel of Retribution and the first to feature drummer Scott Travis.

Painkiller is the first Judas Priest album to feature drummer Scott Travis, who replaced long-time drummer Dave Holland in 1989. Travis was previously a member of Los Angeles band Racer X and with his heavy use of double pedals and blast beats, it gave Judas Priest a new sound and heavier edge.

The album was recorded at Miraval Studios, Brignoles, France in early 1990 and mixed at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, the Netherlands later that year. It was produced by the band and Chris Tsangarides, marking the first time since 1978's Killing Machine that Judas Priest had not worked with Tom Allom.

Despite the album being finished in March 1990, the album's release was delayed due to the pending, much-publicized subliminal message trial that began on 16 July 1990. The band was the subject of a civil lawsuit alleging their recording was responsible for the suicide attempts of two young men in Reno, Nevada on 23 December 1985. The case was eventually dismissed on 24 August 1990. With the trial behind them, the band finally released the album on 3 September 1990 on LP, cassette and CD.

The album was certified Gold by RIAA in January 1991. A remastered CD was released in May 2001, including a live recording of "Leather Rebel" and a previously unreleased song, "Living Bad Dreams". The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Metallica's cover of the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy".

The critical reaction to Painkiller has been overwhelmingly positive, especially from the metal community. On metal-archives.com, the album holds an average score of 93% based on 23 reviews.

When polls of the greatest all-time metal albums are conducted, Painkiller is typically highly regarded. For example, the website Metal Storm conducted a top 200 metal albums poll and Painkiller ranked number six.

Most of the album's tracks were performed live on the Painkiller World Tour, with the title track becoming one of the band's concert staples. "Hell Patrol", "All Guns Blazing", "A Touch of Evil", "Night Crawler" and "Between the Hammer and the Anvil" have all returned to the setlist on later tours, while "Metal Meltdown" and "Leather Rebel" were retired after only a few performances in 1990. "One Shot at Glory" and the intro "Battle Hymn" are the only tracks not yet performed live from the album.

Following the tour for this album, singer Rob Halford left the band in May 1992 and maintained little contact with his former bandmates throughout the 1990s. The reason for this was growing tensions within the band, along with Halford's desire to explore new musical territory by creating a new band of his own, Fight, which forced him to legally leave Judas Priest to allow this creation to be sold. Judas Priest remained inactive for several years after Halford had gone; however, the band would eventually re-vamp, record, and tour, recruiting new singer Tim 'Ripper' Owens in 1996, who would perform on the studio albums Jugulator and Demolition.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K. K. Downing, except where noted.

Side one

1. "Painkiller" 6:06
2. "Hell Patrol" 3:35
3. "All Guns Blazing" 3:56
4. "Leather Rebel" 3:34
5. "Metal Meltdown" 4:46

Side two

1. "Night Crawler" 5:44
2. "Between the Hammer & the Anvil" 4:47
3. "A Touch of Evil" (Tipton, Halford, Downing, Chris Tsangarides) 5:42
4. "Battle Hymn" (Instrumental) 0:56
5. "One Shot at Glory" 6:46

2001 bonus tracks

1. "Living Bad Dreams" (Recorded during the 1990 Painkiller sessions) 5:20
2. "Leather Rebel" (Live at Foundation's Forum, Los Angeles, California, 13 September 1990) 3:38

Recording information:

- Recorded at Miraval Studios, France.

- Recorded and mixed at Wisseloord Studios, Holland.

- Mastered at The Townhouse Studios, London.

Judas Priest "Ram It Down"

Ram It Down is the eleventh studio album by Judas Priest, released in 1988 through Columbia Records; a remastered edition containing two bonus tracks was reissued in 2001. The album earned gold certification (500,000 sales) on 18 July 1988. The band toured in Europe and North America to support the release of the album. This is the last album to feature long-time drummer Dave Holland.

In 1986, Judas Priest intended to release a double album entitled Twin Turbos, of which half would consist of melodic, more commercial hard rock, and the other half would be heavier and less synth-driven. Columbia Records objected to the double album concept, and the project was ultimately split into two separate releases, 1986's Turbo, and 1988's Ram It Down. At least four songs, "Ram it Down", "Hard as Iron", "Love You to Death" and "Monsters of Rock", were written for the Twin Turbos project.

Drummer Dave Holland experienced health problems during recording, and the band elected to utilise a drum machine on much of the album rather than bring in another drummer. Ram It Down would be the final Judas Priest album recorded with the longtime drummer, as well as producer Tom Allom. Allom would later return as co-producer to the 2009 live release A Touch of Evil: Live. 

The band recorded a rendition of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", intended for inclusion on the soundtrack for the 1988 Anthony Michael Hall comedy film Johnny Be Good; the song found its way onto Ram It Down and was the album's first single. It was also played during the first few concerts of the band´s 1988 tour, along with the title track and three other songs from the album. The only Ram It Down songs to have been played on later tours are "I'm a Rocker", during the Retribution Tour; and "Blood Red Skies", during the Epitaph World Tour. 

Originally, the song "Thunder Road" was to be put on the album; however, after the album producers were asked to do the cover of "Johnny B. Goode", "Thunder Road" was replaced. Some of the parts from the song made it into the cover of "Johnny B. Goode". "Thunder Road" was released as a bonus track on the 2001 remaster of Point of Entry. 

Although Judas Priest's fanbase was big enough to push the album to gold status in North America, critical reaction was fairly negative, arguing that the band failed to produce any new creative ideas, and the songwriting was inferior to their past efforts. 

Halford said that Ram It Down was harmed by the inclusion of the "Johnny B. Goode" cover, which he called "silly". His take on the rest of the album is that it was "a very heavy record", with Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing "really rip[ping] it up on a lot of those riffs". Halford said the band recorded a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire"; he said it was "a shame" that the song did not make the album. 

Track listing

All tracks are written by Glenn Tipton, Rob Halford and K. K. Downing, except where noted.

Side one 

1. "Ram It Down" 4:48
2. "Heavy Metal" 5:58
3. "Love Zone" 3:58
4. "Come and Get It" 4:07
5. "Hard as Iron" 4:09

Side two 

1. "Blood Red Skies" 7:50
2. "I'm a Rocker" 3:58
3. "Johnny B. Goode" (Chuck Berry) 4:39
4. "Love You to Death" 4:36
5. "Monsters of Rock" 5:30

2001 CD edition bonus tracks 

1. "Night Comes Down" (Live at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California, 5 May 1984) 4:33
2. "Bloodstone" (Live at Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, Tennessee, 12 December 1982) 4:05

In his 2018 autobiography, KK Downing admits that they "recorded the bulk of Ram it Down with a programmed drum machine".

An 11-minute long version of "Blood Red Skies" was released on a 3 track promo single containing edit, album and extended version.

Recording information: 

Recorded and Mixed at Puk Studios, Denmark 

Mastered at The Town House, London. 

• An unknown song was recorded for inclusion on the album but the tape was lost during a chaotic period which resulted from Halford's decision to leave the band following the group's next album, Painkiller, and Tim "Ripper" Owens' hiring as his replacement. For this reason Ram It Down is the only remastered Judas Priest disc with no added bonus studio tracks, just two added live tracks.
• The song "Blood Red Skies" was released as a promo only single with a 4:51 radio edit, the album version and a 10:33 extended remix.
• Although drummer Dave Holland is credited on the album, the band used a drum machine on a majority of the songs.
• The band recorded three tracks with pop producers Stock-Aitken-Waterman – two originals "Runaround" and "I Will Return" and a cover of The Stylistics' hit "You Are Everything. However, they were ultimately not included on this album due to a management decision. Pete Waterman calls them "probably the best tracks we ever did" and admits that "I occasionally dig the record out and play it to people, and they're amazed that we made heavy metal." Around this time, Glenn Tipton also recorded guitar solos for songs by another Stock-Aitken-Waterman produced artist, Samantha Fox, and was officially credited on the track "Spirit of America".