Defenders of the Faith is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 January 1984 in the US and on 20 January 1984 in the UK. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA, and spawned the singles "Freewheel Burning", "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll", and "Love Bites".
Recording Defenders of the Faith was recorded in July and August 1983 at Ibiza Sound Studios in Ibiza, Spain, and mixed from September through November 1983 at DB Recording Studios and Bayshore Recording Studios in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. Packaging The cover art by Doug Johnson (who also designed the Hellion in Screaming for Vengeance) depicts the Metallian, a horned, tiger-like land assault creature with Gatling guns and tank tracks conceptualized by the band. The back cover contains a message:
Musical style Stylistically, Defenders of the Faith did not greatly depart from its predecessor and featured a similar formula of short, up-tempo metal anthems with stadium shout-along choruses, although progressive elements returned on some tracks such as "The Sentinel". The track "Rock Hard Ride Free" is actually a re-working of a track entitled "Fight for Your Life", recorded during the 1982 Screaming For Vengeance sessions but not included on that album.
Release The LP and cassette tape were released on 13 January 1984, and the album appeared on CD in July. A remastered CD was released in May 2001. Simultaneously with the album's release, the band kicked off their tour in Europe, with the bulk of concerts taking place in North America during the spring and summer.
The album was an immediate success, only going one spot below Screaming for Vengeance on the US Billboard 200 at No. 18, while also peaking at No. 19 in the UK. By the end of 1984, Defenders of the Faith sold more than 800,000 copies worldwide, and the album would go on to be certified platinum in the United States.
The 30th-anniversary release of the album (released in March 2015) came with a double CD of a live show recorded on 5 May 1984 at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California on their Defenders of the Faith Tour and was originally recorded for a radio broadcast.
Promotion In December 1983, the band did a short tour playing dates in the UK and Germany introducing new single "Freewheel Burning" in the set. In January 1984, the band embarked on the Metal Conqueror Tour across Europe, North America and Japan. On this tour, the band played every song from the album live, with the exception of "Eat Me Alive". During the band's 2008 tour in support of Nostradamus, they played many songs which had never been played live before, one of them being "Eat Me Alive". This made Defenders of the Faith the second Judas Priest album from which every song had been played live (the first being Rocka Rolla), followed by British Steel during the 2009, British Steel 30th anniversary tour.
Reception
The album was generally positively received by critics. However, some critics nonetheless objected to the lack of a standout single comparable to "Breaking the Law" or "You've Got Another Thing Comin", and the album's general similarity to Screaming for Vengeance.
Writing for Allmusic, Steve Huey hailed the album as, "The last quality album from Judas Priest's commercial period," while still conceding, "Defenders of the Faith doesn't quite reach the heights of British Steel or Screaming for Vengeance, in part because it lacks a standout single on the level of those two records' best material. That said, even if there's a low percentage of signature songs here, there's a remarkably high percentage of hidden gems waiting to be unearthed, making Defenders possibly the most underrated record in Priest's catalog."
Controversy "Eat Me Alive" was listed at number 3 on the Parents Music Resource Center's "Filthy Fifteen", a list of 15 songs the organization found most objectionable. PMRC co-founder Tipper Gore stated the song was about oral sex at gunpoint. In response to the allegations, Priest recorded the song "Parental Guidance" on the follow-up album Turbo.
Track listing
30th Anniversary Edition – Bonus Live CDs
Personnel Judas Priest Rob Halford – vocals K. K. Downing – guitars Glenn Tipton – guitars Ian Hill – bass guitar Dave Holland – drums
Lead Guitar Credits Freewheel Burning – Tipton Jawbreaker – Downing Rock Hard Ride Free – Intro: Tipton, Harmony section: both, Lead break: Downing/Tipton, Harmony section at the end: both The Sentinel – Split into seven sections: Tipton/Downing/Tipton/Downing/Tipton/Downing/both Eat Me Alive – Split into four equal quarters: Downing/Tipton/Downing/Tipton Some Heads Are Gonna Roll – Split into two Tipton/Downing Night Comes Down – both
Production Produced by Tom Allom Engineered by Mark Dodson, assisted by Christian Eser, Bruce Hensal, David Roeder, Ben King, and Buddy Thornton Cover design by Doug Johnson, based on a concept by Judas Priest
Charts Chart (1984–85) Peakposition Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) 10Japanese Albums (Oricon) 18
Chart (2014–15) Peakposition
Certifications
References