Painkiller (album)
| Painkiller | ||||
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| Studio album by Judas Priest | ||||
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Publication |
3rd September 1990 |
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| Label (s) | Columbia Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
55:03 |
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| occupation |
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Chris Tsangarides |
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Studio (s) |
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Painkiller (English for: " Painkillers ") is the twelfth studio album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest . It was released on September 3, 1990 on Columbia Records . It was the first album with current drummer Scott Travis and became one of the band's most successful works.
background
album
The album was recorded in France in 1990, later mastered in Holland and released for the first time on September 3, 1990 as LP , cassette and CD . A remastered version was released in May 2001 with two bonus tracks. The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance on February 20, 1991 .
Music genre
With Painkiller , Judas Priest continued the path they had started with Ram It Down and followed on from their classic 1980s metal style, using some speed metal elements. This led to their critically-rated album of the decade. It is also seen as one of the most influential albums on European power metal bands such as Gamma Ray or Primal Fear .
Halford's exit
On the tour for this album, singer Rob Halford left the band and almost completely broke off contact with the other members in the 1990s. Tensions within the band as well as Halford's homosexuality were suspected as reasons. During the concert in Toronto he destroyed his Harley-Davidson , which is seen as a trigger for the breakup. However, Halford contradicted this in a 2007 interview. The incident with the motorcycle was an accident. While Halford continued with his own band Fight , Judas Priest continued after a period of inactivity to work with singer Tim "Ripper" Owens , with whom they recorded the next album Jugulator .
The name Painkiller
The Painkiller is one of a series of fictional messiahs by Judas Priest. He is described as a metal messiah who was sent to earth to destroy evil and save humanity from destruction. It is believed to be based on the fallen angel from the Sad Wings of Destiny album (1976).
One of the most striking features of the Painkiller, besides its metallic body, is that it drives the metal monster, a motorcycle with a kite as a chassis and two circular saw blades as wheels.
Track list
All songs were written by Rob Halford, KK Downing and Glenn Tipton, except for A Touch of Evil (see details).
- Painkiller - 6:06
- Hell Patrol - 3:37
- All Guns Blazing - 3:58
- Leather Rebel - 3:35
- Metal Meltdown - 4:48
- Night Crawler - 5:45
- Between the Hammer & the Anvil - 4:49
- A Touch of Evil (Rob Halford, KK Downing, Glenn Tipton, Chris Tsangarides) - 5:45
- Battle Hymn - 0:58 (Instrumental)
- One Shot at Glory - 6:49
Bonus tracks (re-release 2001)
- Living Bad Dreams - 5:21
- Leather Rebel (Live) - 3:39
Painkiller and A Touch of Evil were released as singles.
Trivia
- The song Painkiller was covered by the American death metal band Death on their album The Sound of Perseverance .
- The hard rock band Krokus released an album of the same name back in 1978.
- For the two singles Painkiller and A Touch of Evil were video filmed.
Web links
- Painkiller at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bernard Perusse: Q&A with Rob Halford. (No longer available online.) The Montreal Gazette, Aug. 1, 2007, archived from the original on Oct. 12, 2007 ; accessed on May 11, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
