Defenders of the Faith

Defenders of the Faith is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 January 1984 in the US The album was certified platinum by the RIAA, and mixed from September through November 1983 at DB Recording Studios and Bayshore Recording Studios in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. 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
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

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center;"

! Chart (1984–85)

! Peak<br />position

! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)

| align="center"| 10

!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)

| align="center"| 18

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! Chart (2014–15)