Priest picks up where they left off…
Judas Priest – Point of Entry – 1981 (iTunes – Amazon)
With Point of Entry, Judas Priest takes everything they learned about how to make more radio friendly music on British Steel and meld that with the no-holds-barred sensibility of Hell Bent. The result?
The first three tracks on Point are prototypes for every hair metal band that was just around the corner. They screech, they blister, and are catchy as hell.
Then the album turns left with the glammy, power poppy Turning Circles. A turn I like, actually. I know this goes against the common accepted truths and wisdoms but I like Point of Entry more than British Steel. And I’m gonna fess up something here: I LOVE that big, arena filling wide, expansive sound. I love bombast and theater. So, having learned how to give the people what they crave on British Steel, all the band is really doing here is cranking up the Priest-juice.
A giant, dual-guitar fuelled track like Desert Plains is MADE for a listener like me. I want my ears to hurt after I listen to a big metal album. I didn’t get that with Steel. I GET that with PoE.
It sounds like the band is having fun making this music. They get it. They know what is expected. But they are being forced to find new ways of doing it. On a track like You Say Yes, they channel Zeppelin ina way they haven’t tried to since Rocka Rolla. And with much more success.
I know I’m being played. I’m part of the game. As long as they’re giving me what I want, I’m in. And, on PoE, they do that. In spades.
Grade B+
A Side: Heading Out to the Highway, Don’t Go, Hot Rockin’
BlindSide: Turning Circles, Solar Circles
DownSide: All the Way (just meandering as opposed to bad), (unlike) Troubleshooter (which is bad all over the place)
