Moving on in my profile of personal favourites that appear on Sirius, it is time for a few sentences about another great Birmingham metal act. That being the great Judas Priest.

Judas Priest brought several great elements into metal. The earlier Priest material introduced some folk sounds and deep acoustic guitar passages. Vocalist Rob Halford came to the group with an incredible range in his voice. Even to this day Rob can still hit some of those same high notes!

The twin guitar work of K.K.Downing and Glenn Tipton was somewhat revolutionary. They may me the first metal act with two lead guitarists. Together these two had a knack of making simple passages a bit more complex and harmonic.

As a bass player, I also have been a long-time fan of bassist Ian Hill and his work. In the earlier Priest material he often switches from thunderous, well paced lines to intricate melodic fills to make things carry through in an interesting way. The best example of this is in “Victim of Changes” from the classic “Sad Wings of Destiny”.

My personal favourite Judas Priest record has been the above-mentioned classic. Sad Wings contains a smattering of some of my favourite Priest tracks with some stellar instrument performances.

I was fortunate enough to see Judas Priest on the first major reunion tour with Rob Halford. The set was a blistering and loud mix of classics and new material which left my head spinning for days. It was one of the best shows I ever went to.

Check out Judas Priest on Sirius 27 Liquid Metal and Sirius 19 The Boneyard.