Defenders of the Faith

Defenders of the Faith

Track Listings

1. Freewheel Burning

2. Jawbreaker

3. Rock Hard Ride Free

4. Sentinel

5. Love Bites

6. Eat Me Alive

7. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll

8. Night Comes Down

9. Heavy Duty

10. Defenders of the Faith

11. Turn on Your Light [*]

12. Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith [Live][*]

Tracks:

Freewheel Burning
Jawbreaker
Rock Hard Ride Free
Sentinel
Love Bites
Eat Me Alive
Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
Hight Comes Down
Heavy Duty
Defenders Of The Faith
Turn On Your Light
Heavy Duty / Defenders Of The Faith ( Live)

Album Details

Digitally Remastered Re-issue featuring Two Bonus Tracks: 'turn on Your Light', and 'heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith (Live)'.

Average customer rating:

Defenders of the Faith
Judas Priest
Manufacturer: Sony Japan
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00092QTZY
Release Date: 2005-06-13

Tracks:

Freewheel Burning
Jawbreaker
Rock Hard Ride Free
Sentinel
Love Bites
Eat Me Alive
Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
Night Comes Down
Heavy Duty
Defenders of the Faith
Turn on Your Light [*]
Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith [Live][*]

Album Description

Japanese digitally remastered limited pressing of the band's 1984 album with 2 added bonus tracks 'Turn On Your Light' (unreleased) & 'Heavy Duty' (live). Packaged in a miniature LP sleeve. CBS. 2005.

Album Details

Includes the Bonus Tracks "Turn on Your Light" and "Heavy Duty (Live)".

Average customer rating:

The last GOOD Priest album of the '80s...
Classic Priest(4.5)
Pinnacle of 80s heavy metal
"Tempt not the blade all fear the Sentinel"
ALL FEAR THE SENTINEL !!

Defenders of the Faith
Judas Priest
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Screaming for Vengeance
Painkiller
British Steel
Turbo
Ram It Down

ASIN: B0000025YM
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

Freewheel Burning
Jawbreaker
Rock Hard Ride Free
The Sentinel
Love Bites
Eat Me Alive
Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
Night Comes Down
Heavy Duty
Defenders Of The Faith

Customer Reviews:

The last GOOD Priest album of the '80s..........2006-10-12

I remember when this first came out in early 1984. I was in my heavy metal heyday then - mostly with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but also with Anvil from Canada, Black Sabbath with Ian Gillan on vocals and this new band called Metallica...

From the first track, "Freewheel Burning", it was obvious that Judas Priest had been observing the nascent "speed metal" form. This one really did burn, and to this day, "FB" and "The Sentinel" are among my favourite Priest songs.

"The Sentinel"! Truly epic. Rob Halford shows how good he is as a storyteller, the song is crunching and heavy, and Glenn Tipton and KK Downing trade off solos in trademark fashion. I hope this always remains in their live set.

There's some other good stuff too, but also some weaker material. "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" is a too-obvious calculated attempt to replicate "Living After Midnight" and "You've Got Another Thing Comin'". "Night Comes Down" - well, I just don't like this band showing vulnerability! "Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith" - 22 years on, to this 40 year old, just kind of sounds silly (Halford in his early stages of attempting to write "rock anthems"), but in 1984 to an 18 year old, was pretty cool!

Halford is in fine form vocally, Tipton and Downing are crunchy and almost telepathic in their guitar interplay, you can occasionally hear Ian Hill...but Dave Holland is one of the most bog-awful drummers I've ever heard in the heavy metal genre! Here it's not even his normal "boxy" sound; it's more techy, mid-'80s Simmons drums (remember those?) though not nearly as bad as on the next album "Turbo". They were foolish to lose Les Binks and wise to get Scott Travis.

Not perfect, but still an essential part of the soundtrack to my misspent youth.

Classic Priest(4.5).......2004-10-12

This is classic music here folks. It's my third favorite Judas Priest album behind "Painkiller" and "Sad wings of Destiny".

This gem is full of many masterpieces. The classic fast rocker "Freewheel Burning. The song that will get any rocker pumped up "Rock Hard Ride Free". The last two tracks Heavy Duty/Defenders of Faith is always sun to listen to also.

Classic album. You must buy!

Pinnacle of 80s heavy metal.......2004-08-18

I could never understand the fuss around "Screaming for Vengeance", this album's predecessor. Surely, it's Judas Priest biggest selling album, and all. But it was so poppy sounding, and had almost no punch at all! Imagine my relief when I heard "Defenders of the Faith" for the 1st time. My Judas Priest, the band that I loved for their hellish energetics, piercing vocals, and relentless riffing attack, was back!

Even now "Defenders" stands strong against any competition, and is doubtlessly one of the best JP albums ever, on par with the groundbreaking "Stained Class" and Rob Halford's goodbye "Painkiller". The band threw away any poppy influence it might had and put out 40+ minutes of heavy metal classics. Right from the start, "Freewheel Burning" and "Jawbreaker" epitomize everything that is great about this music, running at breakneck speed with energy enough to rival an atomic explosion. And the incredible, arguably best JP song ever, "The Sentinel" adds up to the impression. Judas Priest throw in much variety, and alongside the speedy tracks there are a mid-tempo heavy metal anthem "Rock Hard, Ride Free", unexpectedly slow "Love Bites" and "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll", a return to JP's 70s trademark metal-ballad style "When the Night Comes Down", a stadion-stomper medley "Heavy Duty"/"Defenders of the Faith", and a faster "Eat Me Alive" with some dual-faced lyrics, considering Halford's declared homosexuality.
There's no need to mention that throughout the album K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton once again prove themselves as one of the best guitar duo in metal history, Rob Halford's vocals are in top-form, and the rhythm-section does its job remarkably well with some powerful drumming by Dave Holland.

I won't exaggerate much by saying that "Defenders of the Faith" is a mandatory album for any serious heavy metal fan. I'd advise to buy the new remastered edition, because its sound quality is better, and it features a couple of nice bonus-tracks/

"Tempt not the blade all fear the Sentinel".......2004-07-16

Judas Priest's 1984 release Defenders of the Faith is my third favorite 1980s Priest album behind Screaming for Vengeance and barely behind British Steel. Many of the tracks off Defender are better than British Steel but it is not quite as solid as the 1980 classic.

Defenders offers some of the best all-time Priest tracks: "The Sentinel," "Love Bites," and "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll." They have a unique guitar sound that is difficult to explain in words. The sound gives me images of a futuristic gladiator arena where metal gods do battle overlooked by the feared Sentinel. What would that sound like? Listen to this album. My favorite track, however, is the power ballad "Night Comes Down." It is beautiful with, as one would expect, amazing Rob Halford vocals.

The rest of the album is fairly solid. The single "Freewheel Burning" is fast and furious. Although it is not one of my favorite tracks, hearing Halford sing at breakneck speed is incredible! "Jawbreaker" is a Sentinel-style song with that unique guitar sound. "Rock Hard Ride Free" is a catchy rocker. "Eat Me Alive" got the PMRC leaders' pantyhose in a knot with the highly suggestive lyrics (probably giving some guys the creeps now that Halford has officially "come out") and the line "I'm gonna force you at gunpoint." It is not one of their better tracks. "Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith" starts out like "Eat Me Alive II" with some risqué lyrics but ends up being a salute to metal. The title track is just a 1:30 chanting of "We are defenders of the faith." I'm not a big fan of songs that celebrate the band, its fans, and what they do (Ram it Down has a lot of self congratulatory songs like "Heavy Metal" and "I'm a Rocker"). Though it ends on a low note, most of Defenders of the Faith is excellent and one of Priest's best.

ALL FEAR THE SENTINEL !!.......2004-02-21

One of the best Priest albums ever!! All of the tracks on this album are great! Starting off with "freewheel burning", it set`s the standard for the whole album. From there on it`s kind of a metal parade, that makes you wanna ROCK HARD...and RIDE FREE!! When "The Sentinel" arrives you just have to keep on Rocking, you can`t relax at all! This song you can play til you drop!..it get`s me everytime! The raw "eat me alive" and "when the night comes down" are also tracks that you will play over and over again. So THUMBS up and 5 stars for Halford,Tipton & K.K. Downing!!

Average customer rating:

somewhat of a let-down
Their Final Masterpiece
Not their best,but OK
Defenders Of Heavy Metal! Indeed!!!!!!
Defenders Of Heavy Metal

Defenders of the Faith
Judas Priest
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Screaming for Vengeance
Hell Bent for Leather
British Steel
Turbo
Point of Entry

ASIN: B00005K9LM
Release Date: 2001-05-29

Tracks:

Freewheel Burning
Jawbreaker
Rock Hard Ride Free
The Sentinel
Love Bites
Eat Me Alive
Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
Night Comes Down
Heavy Duty
Defenders Of The Faith
Turn On Your Light
Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith (live)

Customer Reviews:

somewhat of a let-down.......2007-05-23

The love most people are showing for this album is probably a result of when they were introduced to Judas Priest. Screaming For Vengeance was a big album for them and a lot of new fans came on board. However, as a fan from about the time of Hell Bent For Leather I found it somewhat of a let-down. I appreciate that rather then sell out after Screaming they decided to continue to rock out. The sell out, of course was Turbo.

There are only two great songs here. Freewheel Burning and Love Bites. Most are down a notch from the earlier songs they try to recreate, like Jawbreaker and the silly Heavy Duty/Defenders of The Faith. The Sentinel is okay, but over-rated and I like Eat Me Alive and Some Heads Are Gonna Roll to a certain degree.

Also, the production is too wet. There is a pervasive wall of reverb that makes the over-all sound somewhat indistinct rather than crystal clear and focused. This production really hinders Night Comes Down and Rock Hard, Ride Free which have the potential to be good songs.

As I said (and you can probably tell by this review), I was a little let down by this album. They were losing the edge somewhat and it was obvious the ground-breaking days of British Steel were in the past. If anyone is new to Priest and is looking for their strongest work, that's the place to start. Also, the new Essential Judas Priest is a pretty good over-view.

Their Final Masterpiece.......2007-04-19

I will admit that Screaming is probably the best JP album, but Defenders is my favorite. So many great songs, Freewill Burning, Jawbreaker, Eat Me Alive, etc.. I mean, every single song is a hit. In that sense it seems like Defenders was crafted more to have a greater mass appeal than their previous stuff. The legendary guitar work is there, the presence of Rob Halford dominates as usual. Simply put, a classical album from a legendary band.

Not their best,but OK.......2007-03-13

When this album was released in March 1984,I was not that wild about it then and not today either.It was a bit of a disappointment when compared to the previous album,Screaming for Vengeance which some Priest fans consider to be their best work.Defenders of the Faith along with Accept's Balls to the Wall and the Scorpion's Love at First Sting were I think three of the most overrated metal albums of 1984.

Defenders of the Faith was the first of two mid 80's Priest albums where the band took a more commercial approach as if they were trying to sound like Twisted Sister.The songwriting,for the most part was pretty lame but there are a couple of good ones."Freewheel Burning" sounded good along with"Love Bites".The songs on this album just didn't have a natural feel to them like they did on previous albums not to mention the overproduced sound.The guitar tracks sounded pre-processed from a cookie cutter and the drumming was a bit weak as well.Rob Halford's vocals were great and the album cover is fantastic which is the high point of the album.

My main complaint is that the songs on this album sort of sounded like a rough blueprint for Turbo which was the next album.The chorus lines sounded slightly cheesy and somewhat anthematic.It was as if Judas Priest was trying its hardest to get their music on MTV and FM radio which they did,but more in a way in which they were trying to appeal to a more mass,mainstream rock audience,not just the metal crowd.

Only Priest fans who are completists and have to have this for collection purposes need to buy this.Otherwise if you want true musical quality,I would suggest other albums instead of these mid 80's "experimental" albums.Judas Priest albums from the late 70's,early 80's and even the early 90's are better than this.

Defenders Of Heavy Metal! Indeed!!!!!!.......2007-02-14

This album would have been the second best Judas Priest album(Possibly on The 10 Best Metal Albums Of All-Time list),if it weren't for some of the cheesefests on it.I don't really care for Heavy Duty/Defenders Of The Faith.This is what brought it really down on the list of the best metal albums of all-time.If you compare this album to Powerslave(Iron Maiden),through the first six or seven songs it is right up there with it(That Says Alot!!!!!).If this album only had the songs Freewheel Burning,Jawbreaker,Rock Hard Ride Free,The Sentinel,Some Heads Are Gonna Roll,Night Comes Down,and even the ballad from the remasters Turn On Your Light,this would be on the top 5 Metal Albums Of All-Time list.It would be like this: 1.Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son,2.Powerslave,3.Somewhere In Time,4.Sad Wings Of Destiny,5.Defenders Of The Faith.Tipton and Downing lay down some of the best solos from Judas Priest on this album,also who can forget Rob's performance on this one,he sounds menacing.Good Album though.

Defenders Of Heavy Metal.......2006-11-28

Defenders is often said to be one of the best Priest albums, And their right. From the adrenaline rush of Freewheel Burning, To religious chanting of "Defenders Of The Faith" This album will not disappoint EVER.
Probably the best song writing of Rob Halford's Career was put into The Sentinel, And the emotional stage favorite Night Comes Down are only a few of the Gems in this album. This album is worth buying for Rock Hard Ride Free alone! (My Favorite Judas Priest Song...)

Average customer rating:

Arguably the ultimate Priest album

Defenders of the Faith
Judas Priest
Manufacturer: Sbme Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005CBTI
Release Date: 2002-04-23

Customer Reviews:

Arguably the ultimate Priest album.......2005-06-23

Defenders Of The Faith (1984.) Judas Priest's ninth album.
By the time 1984 rolled around, the eighties heavy metal scene was in full swing. By this time, Judas Priest had more than proved that they were one of the greatest metal bands of all time - but they weren't about to stop rocking. Even with all the other metal bands that began to appear on the scene, Rob Halford and the boys were going to keep on rocking until the decade was through. In 1984, the band released its ninth studio album, Defenders Of The Faith. Is this an amazing classic metal album that more than exceeds the hype fans create around it, or is it a subpar entry in the Priest catalogue? Read on for my review.

The band starts things off with one of their fastest and most furious hard rockers, Freewheel Burning. In various reviews for this album, you may have seen this track getting a lot of praise. And why not? This is one of the finest tracks the band ever shelled out. Having it start the album off was a very smart move, because it grabs the listener's attention and holds on to it. And, of course, we have The Sentinel. This is another track that many reviewers praise, and they are right to do so. Many Priest fan favorites were also born on this album. Rock Hard Ride Free is actually a rewrite of an older song the band did, but never issued (although the original version of the song has since been reissued on the Hell Bent For Leather remaster as a bonus track.) The band had actually been playing Jawbreaker live for years before this album, but it wasn't until the release of this album that they actually recorded a studio version. I wonder why they waited so long? This is one of their finest rockers! And then there's the infamous vampire song, Love Bites (this is NOT the Def Leppard song.) This one's got a memorable beat, and a chorus that sticks in your mind long afer you're done listening to the album. Another fan favorite this album spawned was Some Heads Are Gonna Roll. It's one of the band's finest songs, even if it never achieved the vast popularity that some of their material did. The album closes with a medley of two songs, Heavy Duty and the title track. This was a good way to close out a classic album.

The new remastered version of the album features two bonus tracks - a rare studio session entitled Turn On Your Light, and a rare live version of the medley of Heavy Duty and the album's title track. These tracks don't hold a candle to the material that actually made it on to the album, but they are still a nice bonus nonetheless, and they make buying the remaster more worthwhile than buying the original compact disc pressing. However, if you already bought the original CD pressing, it's not worth buying the album again for a sake of these tracks.

With this album, Judas Priest proved that they weren't going to stop rocking. It's really no surprise that many of the band's fans call this their favorite album. If you're a fan of the band, or maybe you're just a fan of classic eighties metal, this is an album I strongly recommend purchasing. Just make sure you get the remastered version so that you get the bonus tracks!

Average customer rating:

Defenders of the Faith
Judas Priest
Manufacturer: Sony International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0000DERX9
Release Date: 2002-01-08

Music Track: