#84 - painkiller

Years ago when I was a metal neophyte I was introduced by buddy Mike to the Judas Priest song Painkiller.

From their last album (for a while) with original lead singer Rob Halford The song starts out with those pounding drums and then that screaming guitar attack. Painkiller is about a metal messiah sent to earth to set us free by way of Armageddon. Honestly I always thought it was about drug addiction, while others contend it was about some guy Halford was into.

"Faster than a lazer bullet
Louder than an atom bomb"

Those lyrics from the song describe the band to a tee. No one in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal was faster or louder. People always talk about the double guitars but for me Judas Priest is about the voice. Halford's voice is the voice of Heavy Metal. Unrelenting, intense and honest.

As the years have gone by there are other Judas Priest songs I like better but Painkiller was that first taste that has stuck with me all these years later.