The 11 best Judas Priest songs

As the metal gods rev up for this summer, we pick the essential soundtrack for living after midnight and breaking the law

Did a man in studded leather just ride from the wings on a Harley-Davidson, crack a bullwhip and shriek like a banshee hitting its thumb with a hammer? Then you must be at a Judas Priest show – and we guarantee this will be the heaviest night of your life. Formed in Birmingham in 1969, leading the mid-’70s New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, then ram-raiding the mainstream with 1980’s classic British Steel, Priest have spent the last half-century flying metal’s tattered flag, like grizzled soldiers guarding their bunker from the advancing hordes of emo, dubstep and math-rock.

Never softening their jagged edge, nor compromising their signature glass-shattering vocals and pulverising twin-guitar gallop, any one of Priest’s 19 studio albums demands banged heads and thrown horns. But it’s on the stage that singer Rob Halford and his band will crush you, fusing music that sounds like anvils dropped from a Lancaster Bomber with theatrics that will give shock-rock king Alice Cooper a run for his money at their co-headline O2 show this summer.

Before you book tickets, brush up on the 11 Judas Priest songs that no self-respecting metalhead can be without.

11. ‘Screaming For Vengeance’

(Screaming For Vengeance, 1982)

The perfect soundtrack for outrunning cops and fighting bikers, the anarchic title song of the Brummies’ eighth album is vintage metal in excelsis. Resistance is futile as the jackhammer groove ignites into a blur-fingered shred solo – and stick around for an ungodly howl from Halford in the final minute that suggests a horny werewolf. Not bad for a song that was born from a jam. “Sometimes the best songs happened that way,” the singer told The Quietus. “It’s almost like, ‘Feel the Force, Luke…!’”

10.’Painkiller’

(Painkiller, 1990)

Laughing in the face of the back-to-basics grunge scene, Priest doubled down on their modus operandi with this ferocious six-minute thrashathon. Duelling guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton pummel the strings like they’re stoking the engine of a locomotive bound straight for Hell, while it’s ludicrous that Halford still attacks this feral vocal live at the age of 73 (“I can give it a good thrashing and a good whack”).

9. ‘Electric Eye’

(Screaming For Vengeance, 1982)

There’s a reason why Electric Eye has kicked off more Priest sets than any other song. Like the Devil’s defibrillator, the smash ‘n’ grab classic will jump-start the crowd in July, and give due warning of the glorious sweat-soaked melee to come.

8. ‘Living After Midnight’

(British Steel, 1980)

Even Metal Gods need beauty sleep, and this British Steel highlight was conceived in Tittenhurst Park studios when a bleary Halford ordered his bandmates to shut down their small-hours jam (“He came downstairs to complain,” recalled Tipton, “and said, ‘Hey, guys, come on. It’s gone midnight…’”). The title stuck, and with the addition of a three-chord crunch, plus a caveman chorus you could still chant after sixteen sambucas, Priest had their deathless party anthem.

7. ‘Exciter’

(Stained Class, 1978)

Cited by horn-throwing rock historians as the malevolent seed that spawned both speed-metal and thrash, this tearaway opener to Stained Class seethes with kinetic energy, its itchy riffs anchored by drummer Les Binks’ then-pioneering double kick battery. “Fall to your knees and repent if you please!” commands a devilish Halford – and he’ll be preaching to the converted at The O2 this summer.

6. ‘Freewheel Burning’

(Defenders Of The Faith, 1984)

For the Priest hardcore, it’s easy to join the dots between the band’s pedal-to-the-metal early tunes and this opener from Defenders Of The Faith, on which Halford spits lyrics like a Gatling gun. “I’ve got a certain affection for that one,” agreed the singer in 1984, “because it’s very much in the mould of stuff like ‘Tyrant’, ‘Rapid Fire’ or ‘Exciter’. It’s a hard-paced, high-energy song and has that Priest stamp all over it.”

5. ‘Dissident Aggressor’

(Sin After Sin, 1977)

Halford’s insomnia paid dividends in the early-’70s, as the singer wandered out to see the notorious Berlin Wall for himself (“There were these Russian guys looking back at me in binoculars…”). The experience inspired a Cold War protest song that simmers with ultra-violence, as the frontman sings in character as Berlin itself and orders his citizens to ‘stab!’ and ‘punch!’. Even a cover by Slayer couldn’t match the original’s venom.

4. ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’’

(Screaming For Vengeance, 1982)

Stung by the bellyflop of 1981’s Point Of Entry, Priest regrouped at the Ibiza Sound Studios with a fistful of classics to fuel what The Quietus deemed “one of the most important metal albums ever made”. Bafflingly, ‘You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’’ was an afterthought, with Halford later gaping at the band’s decision to “bury” this instantly catchy stomp-rocker deep on the album’s second side. Fortunately, DJs in the US knew better, and the song gave Priest their overdue Stateside breakthrough.

3. ‘Turbo Lover’

(Turbo, 1986)

The planets aligned for 1986’s Turbo, with Halford mopping up his substance abuse before the sessions and the now-inescapable MTV network putting this lead single on heavy rotation. It’s shinier and synthier than anything in Priest’s back catalogue (and therefore split the fanbase). But there’s nothing more cathartic than standing on the front row and shouting back a chorus about having sex with a motorbike. “I just liked the analogy of the motorcycle as a euphemism for love,” shrugged Halford. “It’s just a fun bit of escapism more than anything else.”

2. ‘Hell Patrol’

(Painkiller, 1990)

This Painkiller gem lives up to the title, its ear-bleeding assault sounding like Beelzebub himself sending the riot police into Hades. You’d never guess from his all-in performance that Halford was sick of the drama and headed for the exit, quitting the Priest line-up after the associated tour. As he told BBC Sounds: “We just fell into this terrible miscommunication…”

1. ‘Breaking The Law’

(British Steel, 1980)

In the late-’70s, faced with a nation pockmarked by street riots and miners strikes, Halford set out to write an outlaw anthem that bottled the tinderbox atmosphere. Almost half a century later, the singer’s rasped refrain – alongside smashed bottles, police sirens and a guitar riff that’s soldered into your memory the second you hear it – is still one of the most dangerous moments in rock ‘n’ roll. It’s the sound of pure, distilled rebellion, making you want to pull a bank job, vandalise a phone box (or at least return your library books late).