The Albums That Shape Us - Judas Priest: Painkiller (1990)

The early 1990s were a great time to be a hard rock/heavy metal fan. Grunge hadn’t happened yet. It seemed like everyone listened to some version of hard rock or heavy metal, even if it was in a “light” form like Poison or Bon Jovi.

 

In 1991, every long-haired guy in my school had a “Clash of the Titans” tour shirt. The North American lineup had Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax headlining, with “newcomers” Alice in Chains opening.

 

Metallica’s Black Album came out in 1991 and made them even more globally massive with “Enter Sandman.”

 

But let's go back to 1990. Some of the bands were at the absolute pinnacle of their careers: 

 May 15  Sacred Reich released The American Way 

 July 3  Suicidal Tendencies released Lights...Camera...Revolution! 

 July 24  Pantera released Cowboys from Hell, changing the trajectory of thrash metal (in my opinion) 

 September 4  Queensrÿche released Empire, and you couldn’t turn on a hard rock radio station without hearing “Silent Lucidity” or “Another Rainy Night” 

 September 17 Judas Priest released Painkiller, and nothing in my music collection sounded like it.

 

There was a grocery/magazine store at the bus stop where I waited every morning for the B49 bus to take me to school. Once a week, I’d look at the new heavy metal magazines, some of them imports like “Metal Hammer” and “Kerrang!!”, to check out new promo pics from my favorite bands and see upcoming release dates and tour listings I was too young to attend. This was back when we’d tear the glossy posters out of magazines and hang them on our walls. The running joke with my friends was that they had Bon Jovi, Europe, and Cinderella in their bedrooms, and I had Judas Priest, Motörhead, and Iron Maiden.

 

There was nothing like buying those magazines and seeing the new promo pictures (which were probably weeks or months old by the time we saw them): “Oh look, Tipton has a new hairstyle,” “Look, Dickinson dyed his hair...” Really stupid shit now that I look back, but it was fun.

 

There was no internet. No YouTube. No social media. If you missed those magazine photos, you might never see them again.

 

We all knew bits and pieces about Judas Priest’s now infamous 1990 trial in Reno. In 1985, two young men in Sparks, Nevada made a suicide pact after drinking, getting high, and listening to Stained Class for hours. One died instantly; the other survived with severe injuries.

 

Their families sued the band and CBS Records for $6.2 million, claiming hidden backward messages like “do it” in “Better by You, Better Than Me” pushed the boys toward suicide. Prosecutors and hired “audio experts” played the track backwards, forwards, sped up, slowed down; anything to make the accusation stick. Rob Halford explained that the supposed “do it” was just him taking a breath.

 

It was ridiculous, but for a moment the metal world genuinely didn’t know how it would end. This was still the era of PMRC panic, Parental Advisory stickers, and the “Filthy Fifteen”, all the albums we immediately went out and bought.

 

Fresh out of their legal victory, Judas Priest unleashed Painkiller. Longtime drummer Dave Holland was out, and gasp, an American named Scott Travis (Racer X) was behind the kit. He announced himself like a bulldozer through a condemned building. When the title track kicks off with that opening double-bass drum manifesto, we instantly knew this was a new era for Judas Priest.

 

To put this into perspective: this was the first new Judas Priest album since Ram It Down in 1988. That album was ... I don’t want to say disappointing, but it wasn’t one of their finest moments. We won’t discuss the cover of “Johnny B. Goode”...

 

Maybe I have nostalgic, happy, fuzzy memories of this album because it was a simpler, more innocent time in my life. But listening to it now with over-the-ear studio quality headphones, 36 (!!) years later, it still stands up. Out of the gate, it’s the one-two punch of the thrashy title track into the mid-tempo, double-kick drum heavy “Hell Patrol.” Then “All Guns Blazing,” which literally starts off with the band doing just that, Rob Halford a cappella in full glass-shattering falsetto:

 

“Twisting the strangle grip 

Won't give no mercy 

Feeling those tendons rip 

Torn up and mean”

 

Rob Halford’s voice is on another level on this album, almost in King Diamond territory on some songs.

 

Honestly, there are no filler tracks here, although “Metal Meltdown” is not one of my favorites, but it’s not terrible by any means. “Leather Rebel” is a standout to me, especially the chorus. “Between the Hammer and the Anvil” is about the harrowing literal trial the band just faced (according to Rob Halford).

 

The album comes to a roaring close with the beautiful guitar harmonies on the instrumental “Battle Hymn” into “One Shot at Glory.”

 

Oh did I fail to mention the absolutely stellar guitar work by Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing throughout this album? You can hear their Hamer guitars squealing throughout. The CD booklet credits have a breakdown of which guitarist played which solo. Amazingly, I still have my original CD that I bought from Sam Goody in 1990.

 

Bassist Ian Hill locks in with Scott Travis and gives the band the steady foundation they need to show off their thrasher side.

 

Listening back to this album as I write this puts a stupid smile on my face as I remember the time when the cassette didn’t leave my Walkman, but I’m dating myself here.

 

Maybe it's nostalgia talking, but I don't think so. Almost 40 years later, Painkiller still hits like a freight train. Some albums take me back to a certain time in my life. This one practically drops me right back on the B49 bus with a Walkman in my pocket. Maybe that's the mark of a truly great album, it doesn’t age, it just becomes part of who you are.

 

-Rys