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One of the best judas priest albums. Where does this dystopian masterpiece rank for you in their catalogue?

Defenders Of The Faith is my favorite Priest album...and "The Sentinel" is my favorite Priest song.

"Night Comes Down" is a criminally underrated ballad.

Number 2, after Screaming.

Loved it when it came out, bought it before my first Priest show in January 1984 and was a bit disappointed that they only played Freewheel Burning from it.

Great album but it barely makes their top 5 albums for me now. Their 76-86 run is all classics though.

The Sentinel is the best track and in their top 5 songs easily. Maybe top 3.

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 3:29 am Loved it when it came out, bought it before my first Priest show in January 1984 and was a bit disappointed that they only played Freewheel Burning from it.

Great album but it barely makes their top 5 albums for me now. Their 76-86 run is all classics though.

The Sentinel is the best track and in their top 5 songs easily. Maybe top 3.

I guess you don't live in Long Beach, they played every song from the album except for Eat Me Alive!

Psychobolia.com wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:00 am

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 3:29 am Loved it when it came out, bought it before my first Priest show in January 1984 and was a bit disappointed that they only played Freewheel Burning from it.

I guess you don't live in Long Beach, they played every song from the album except for Eat Me Alive!

No, I saw them in Gothenburg, 2nd or 3rd show of the tour. The merch was DotF but the stage and clothes still looked more SFV era.

At the Stockholm show the day before Halford said it is their first time in Stockholm. It is somewhat understandable that he forgot a club show in 1975, but they also played here in 1981....

Number one...I stole a tape of it out of a car when I was 13 or so back in the early 90s. My first Priest album too.

Love it. Easily in the top 2-3 JP albums, IMHO. Not an easy thing to follow Screaming for Vengeance, but they did - and then some. No bad songs on Defenders and most are excellent. The Sentinel might be the best song they've ever written - that fucker has everything. Agree with the earlier post about Night Comes Down being an underrated ballad. All the deep cuts on Defenders are really good. Just a super strong record from start to finish.

LOVE this album! The strongest part of the album is the three-song run of "Ride Hard, Rock Free", "The Sentinel", and "Love Bites", though my favorite song from the album is "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll".

Screaming for Vengeance and British Steel are the best Priest albums. Defenders of the Faith probably ranks #3 or #4 for me. Following up an excellent album like SFV must have been a real challenge, but they did a pretty good job with DOTF.

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 5:45 am

Psychobolia.com wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:00 am

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 3:29 am Loved it when it came out, bought it before my first Priest show in January 1984 and was a bit disappointed that they only played Freewheel Burning from it.

I guess you don't live in Long Beach, they played every song from the album except for Eat Me Alive!

No, I saw them in Gothenburg, 2nd or 3rd show of the tour. The merch was DotF but the stage and clothes still looked more SFV era.

At the Stockholm show the day before Halford said it is their first time in Stockholm. It is somewhat understandable that he forgot a club show in 1975, but they also played here in 1981....

You sorta saw the final final final SFV shows, not really the DOTF show. I think we talked about this before, didnt you say they kept adding DOTF songs during the euro jaunt?

I did see the long beach show (but didnt live in Long Beach), and Psychob is right, every DOTF song except for Eat Me Alive was played.

pieceofme wrote: ↑Sat Jan 04, 2025 2:40 pm One of the best judas priest albums. Where does this dystopian masterpiece rank for you in their catalogue?

Loved this album I’d rank it number two behind SFV. My era of fandom went from British Steel to Turbo. If I had to choose between listening to this era of the band vs Iron Maiden same timeframe I’d pick Judas Priest everyday.

HueyRamone wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 11:09 am

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 5:45 am
At the Stockholm show the day before Halford said it is their first time in Stockholm. It is somewhat understandable that he forgot a club show in 1975, but they also played here in 1981....

You sorta saw the final final final SFV shows, not really the DOTF show. I think we talked about this before, didnt you say they kept adding DOTF songs during the euro jaunt?

Yes, I remember checking setlist.fm, they went from FWB only to about four DOTF songs in Europe then added the rest on the US tour.

I actually like Defenders more than SFV. "The Hellion/Electric Eye" is the best album opener of all time ( even better than "Blackened" ), but I still think DOTF is the better album as a whole.

killeverything wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:24 pm I actually like Defenders more than SFV. "The Hellion/Electric Eye" is the best album opener of all time ( even better than "Blackened" ), but I still think DOTF is the better album as a whole.

I used to like SFV hands down over DOTF, but now I rank them pretty equally. KK, in his book mentioned he, Rob and Glenn listened back to the first 4 tracks in mixing (Freewheel, Jaw, Rock Hard, Sentinel) and Glenn saying something like "Cor, does it get better than this?" And i'm inclined to agree.

HueyRamone wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:35 pm

killeverything wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 4:24 pm I actually like Defenders more than SFV. "The Hellion/Electric Eye" is the best album opener of all time ( even better than "Blackened" ), but I still think DOTF is the better album as a whole.

I used to like SFV hands down over DOTF, but now I rank them pretty equally. KK, in his book mentioned he, Rob and Glenn listened back to the first 4 tracks in mixing (Freewheel, Jaw, Rock Hard, Sentinel) and Glenn saying something like "Cor, does it get better than this?" And i'm inclined to agree.

That's my point. "Hellion/Electric" and "SFV" are the only songs that can hold a candle to those first 4. 4>2.

Freewheel Burning might be the greatest album opener by any metal band, ever. For me, this was the last Priest album I really liked

St_Augustines_Pears wrote: ↑Sun Jan 05, 2025 12:41 am and "The Sentinel" is my favorite Priest song.

As it should be. Great album and absolutely killer song.

I like it a lot. The best one since Stained Class and the last great Judas Priest album. Still much prefer Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, and Stained Class which is my favourite. I don’t really care much for the ones everyone seems to think are classics like British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance and Painkiller. A few good songs on each but highly overrated I think. I lost interest completely after Painkiller and everything after that is very mediocre in my opinion. Defenders is pretty solid all the way through. When Priest were in their prime they were hard to beat

fret123 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:24 pm I like it a lot. The best one since Stained Class and the last great Judas Priest album. Still much prefer Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, and Stained Class which is my favourite. I don’t really care much for the ones everyone seems to think are classics like British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance and Painkiller. A few good songs on each but highly overrated I think. I lost interest completely after Painkiller and everything after that is very mediocre in my opinion. Defenders is pretty solid all the way through. When Priest were in their prime they were hard to beat

Painkiller is overrated but it was their last good album. Don't get the love for their two most recent releases at all. AI judas priest metal.

Just listened to a few off this one a couple of hours ago. Great album! I like Vengeance better, but that might be my favorite album of all time. What a one-two punch those albums were!

Interesting guitar tones on that album. For example the solos for Jawbreaker have a unique sound. The Sentinel is stellar! A lot of people think it's kind of cheesy, but probably my favorite part of the album is the end with Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith.

"Let's all join forces, rule with an iron hand. And prove to all the world metal rules the land."

Great stuff! Just thinking about it now...how many absolutely killer songs has that band been responsible for? A dozen or more at least. Fever is probably my current favorite. Beyond The Realms is very powerful as well. It actually will change my mood for a while when I hear it.

pieceofme wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:33 pm

fret123 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:24 pm I like it a lot. The best one since Stained Class and the last great Judas Priest album. Still much prefer Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, and Stained Class which is my favourite. I don’t really care much for the ones everyone seems to think are classics like British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance and Painkiller. A few good songs on each but highly overrated I think. I lost interest completely after Painkiller and everything after that is very mediocre in my opinion. Defenders is pretty solid all the way through. When Priest were in their prime they were hard to beat

Painkiller is overrated but it was their last good album. Don't get the love for their two most recent releases at all. AI judas priest metal.

If AI existed in the 80s Ram It Down and Painkiller is what it would have come up with. Turbo was their last great album and the last before they got stuck in their "comic book metal" formula. It started creeping in already then with songs like RYAATW and, in a way, Parental Guidance. After that it was all Hard As Iron, Hell Patrol, Leather Rebel and Monsters of Rock...

Ryan81 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 3:57 am many absolutely killer songs has that band been responsible for? A dozen or more at least.

a dozen!? I can think of 3 dozen!

Love_Industry wrote: ↑Fri Jan 10, 2025 6:11 am

pieceofme wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:33 pm

fret123 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 08, 2025 7:24 pm I like it a lot. The best one since Stained Class and the last great Judas Priest album. Still much prefer Sad Wings, Sin After Sin, and Stained Class which is my favourite. I don’t really care much for the ones everyone seems to think are classics like British Steel, Screaming For Vengeance and Painkiller. A few good songs on each but highly overrated I think. I lost interest completely after Painkiller and everything after that is very mediocre in my opinion. Defenders is pretty solid all the way through. When Priest were in their prime they were hard to beat

Painkiller is overrated but it was their last good album. Don't get the love for their two most recent releases at all. AI judas priest metal.

If AI existed in the 80s Ram It Down and Painkiller is what it would have come up with. Turbo was their last great album and the last before they got stuck in their "comic book metal" formula. It started creeping in already then with songs like RYAATW and, in a way, Parental Guidance. After that it was all Hard As Iron, Hell Patrol, Leather Rebel and Monsters of Rock...

Yeah I dunno, for me there were corny ass songs long before that like Take on All The World and United. Screaming and Defenders got them back on track. Turbo was kind of interesting and experimental and I liked some of it. After that they just plain started running out of ideas, like what was happening with Iron Maiden at the same time.