Sony's The Essential Judas Priest collection is the perfect middle ground for those who found 2004's four-disc Metalogy box a bit too daunting.
Each and every one of the 34 tracks is indispensable, chronicling the group's rise from Queen-worshipping debutantes to revolutionary metal gods.
It's often the case that when career retrospectives take a non-linear approach to their sequencing, the resulting play list becomes a mess of clashing recording techniques and jarring style changes, but Priest has always held true to its vision, experimenting early on with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in ways that seamlessly bridged the gap between their Gull and Columbia years.
From the opening avatar scream of 2005's comeback single "Judas Rising" to the introductory guitar swells of Screaming for Vengeance's "The Hellion/Electric Eye" -- no live cuts or Tim "Ripper" Owens-era tracks were included -- this is one compilation that's worthy of its moniker.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Breaking the LawK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 02:34 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | The HellionK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 00:42 | 1 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | Electric EyeK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 03:38 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | You've Got Another Thing ComingK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 05:10 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Screaming for VengeanceK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 04:44 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Turbo LoverK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 05:33 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | NostradamusK.K. Downing, Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton | Judas Priest | Play | 06:43 | 15 MB | 0 MB |
| 29 mins | 66 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dave Axtell | Artwork, Design |
| 2 | Joan Baez | Composer |
| 3 | Geoff Barton | Liner Notes |
| 4 | K.K. Downing | Composer, Guitar |
| 5 | Richie Faulkner | Composer, Guitar |
| 6 | Rob Halford | Composer, Vocals |
| 7 | Ian Hill | Guitar (Bass) |
| 8 | Judas Priest | Primary Artist |
| 9 | Travis Shinn | Band Photo |
| 10 | Glenn Tipton | Composer, Guitar |
| 11 | Scott Travis | Drums |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |