Judas Priest’s ‘Killing Machine’ was released at the tailend of 1978 (Nov), and was a quick-fire follow-up to the ‘Stained Class’ effort released in February that year.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Judas Priest
ALBUM: Killing Machine
LABEL: CBS
SERIAL: 83135 (UK), JC 35706 (USA)
YEAR: 1978
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Rob Halford – vocals * K.K Downing – guitars * Glenn Tipton – guitars * Ian Hill – bass * Les Binks – drums
<TRACK LISTING: 01 Delivering The Goods * 02 Rock Forever * 03 Evening Star * 04 Hell Bent For Leather * 05 Take On The World * 06 Burnin’ Up * 07 Killing Machine * 08 Running Wild * 09 Before The Dawn * 10 Evil Fantasies
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
‘Killing Machine’ was the fifth studio album from Judas Priest and was released at the tailend of 1978 (Nov), being a quick-fire follow-up to the ‘Stained Class’ effort released in February that year. Perhaps this one was released due to a combination of already having songs available, plus CBS’s attempts to capitalise on their top 30 chart-placing with the previous ‘Stained Class’ album, and taking into account the increasing interest of the UK HM scene back then.
Judas Priest had also toured North America during the spring/summer, and established their reputation as a result. Heading into fall, the band hooked up with James Guthrie (better known for his work with Pink Floyd) after having utilised the services of Rainbow/Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover on ‘Sin And Sin’ and Dennis MacKay for ‘Stained Class’.
The Songs
Of the songs: ‘Delivering The Goods’ opens it’s account with a rock-solid riff-fest, the duelling guitars and the gruff vocal presentation a standout! ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ is a short and snappy metal workout – ideal as a live anthem I bet. Strangely enough, the foot-stomping chant-a-long ‘from the terraces’ type-anthem ‘Take On The World’ was a Top 10 single in the UK. Goodness, what was UK radio doing back then?
Other highlights include the rampant ‘Running Wild’, and the metal churn-grind of ‘Burnin’ Up’. If people are reading this and weren’t aware that Judas Priest could do a tender ballad, then take a listen to ‘Before The Dawn’. Beautiful acoustic guitar, a subtle keyboard wash, and a killer solo! Only one track doesn’t quite make the grade in my opinion, and that is ‘Evening Star’ which is fairly weak when compared to the others.
In Summary
Though the album reached #32 on the UK charts, and attained a modest #128 on the Billboard chart, it still managed to outdo ‘Stained Class’ for unit/volume sales, holding them in good stead for their next releases.
‘Killing Machine’ was renamed as ‘Hell Bent For Leather’ for the US market, as the American CBS execs didn’t like the ‘killing’ reference (isn’t that ironic?), and it featured an additional track (to the original listing above) called ‘Green Manalishi’, the Peter Green penned song for Fleetwood Mac. The album has since been re-released by Legacy Records and features two bonus tracks: ‘Fight For Your Life’ (previously unreleased studio track) and ‘Riding On The Wind’ (previously unreleased live version).
From this point on, the Judas Priest legacy was assured. A fantastic live album ‘Unleashed In The East’ came out the following year, followed by the metal-anthem LP for 1980 ‘British Steel’, the true breakthrough album for the band. The rest, as they say.. can be read about in the HM discographers history-books.. or on the Internet.
Video
Hell Bent For Leather
Deliverin’ The Goods
