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Sin After Sin

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Sin After Sin is the third studio album by English heavy metal group Judas Priest, released in 1977. It was remastered in 2001 with two bonus tracks added.

The album represented several major milestones in the group's career; the band made their major label debut and were able to work with a famous musical artist as their producer, former Deep Purple member Roger Glover. The band also fully embraced an aggressive metal sound with this release, significantly toning down the arena rock and blues rock influences shown in their past work, and the group achieved widespread popularity on the radio stations for their first time, oddly enough with their hard-edged version of Joan Baez's song "Diamonds & Rust".

Background

Judas Priest formed in 1969 in industrial West Bromwich, Birmingham.[1] By the time they released their first album Rocka Rolla in 1974, there had been so many lineup changes that no original member remained.[2] Finances were tight: the record label Gull provided a recording budget of £2000 for each of the band's first two albums.[3] During the recording of their second album Sad Wings of Destiny (1976), the band members restricted themselves to one meal a day, and several took on part-time work: Tipton as a gardener, Downing in a factory, and Hill driving a delivery van.[4]

The band grew dissatisfied with lack of financial support from Gull.[5] Sad Wings of Destiny caught the attention of CBS Records, and with the help of new manager David Hemmings, the band signed with CBS and received a £60,000 budget for their next album,[5] which was to draw its title from the phrase "sin after sin" from the lyrics to "Genocide" on Sad Wings.[6] The signing required breaking their contract with Gull, resulting in the rights to the first two albums and all related recordings—including demos—becoming property of Gull.[5]

Production

Rehearsals took place at Pinewood Studios in London and recording in January 1977 at The Who's Rampart Studios in the Battersea district. Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover produced it and Mark Dodson was engineer.[7]

Judas Priest began recording themselves, but the label wanted a professional producer and had the sessions restarted. The band agreed to Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover,[8] but after one session the band informed Glover they would rather produce themselves.[9] After a few weeks of unsatisfactory recordings the band recalled Glover and began the sessions over, with only six allotted days remaining. By this point the band had replaced drummer Alan Moore with Simon Phillips.[10]

The album includes a cover of Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust", a decision which was encouraged by producer Roger Glover in the interest of adding a more commercial track. It was the first song by Judas Priest to get any radio play, and Baez herself reportedly enjoyed the cover. This was the band’s second attempt to cover the track, and the earlier version from the Gull Records era was only released later on compilations and as a bonus track on reissues of Rocka Rolla.

Touring

Phillips had commitments to another band, he declined to join Judas Priest as a permanent member, and so for the album tour, they hired Fancy drummer Les Binks, an acquaintance of Roger Glover, as Binks was able to play double bass, and was one of the few drummers who could replicate Phillips' sound live.

Judas Priest embarked on their first-ever tour of the US for this album, where they supported REO Speedwagon and Foreigner.[11] Judas Priest also opened for Led Zeppelin on two dates in Oakland, the Day on the Green festival, and opened the 1977 Superjam, headlined by REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent, at Busch Memorial Stadium in St Louis before an audience of 45,000[12]

The progressive rock influences from the previous two albums were toned down on this album; however, there are still notable moments of it, notably in the multi-sectioned “Sinner” and “Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest”, the complex lyrics, and in the Gothic ballads “Last Rose of Summer” and “Here Come the Tears”. These influences would further dissipate in their next album Stained Class before being completely abandoned afterward.

Songs

As the band continued to develop their sound and playing techniques, Sin After Sin displayed elements of proto-thrash metal on "Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest" and "Dissident Aggressor", both vying for the heaviest songs released up to that point.

Of the eight tracks on Sin After Sin, only "Sinner" became a concert staple (K. K. Downing described it as one of his favourite songs), along with "Diamonds & Rust", and both were regularly played live until the Turbo Fuel for Life Tour in 1986 when all pre-Killing Machine songs were dropped from the setlist ("Victim of Changes" made a return in place of "Hot for Love" or "Desert Plains" on some legs of that tour). "Sinner" was revived during the Ram It Down Mercenaries of Metal Tour two years later before disappearing again until the 2008 Nostradamus 2008/2009 World Tour. "Starbreaker" was not played from 1980 until the 2011-12 Epitaph World Tour. “Raw Deal” was performed only twice during 1977,[13] "Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest" only six times in 1977 and January 1978,[14] and "Dissident Aggressor" was not played after this until 2008, from when it became a regular part of the setlist there and on the Epitaph Tour. “Here Come The Tears” and “Last Rose Of Summer” have never been performed live according to available sources, although documentation of the earlier Priest tour setlists is very poor.

Sin After Sin proved a minor hit, reaching number 23 on the UK Albums Chart.[15] It is also the earliest of eleven consecutive Judas Priest albums to be certified gold or more by the RIAA.[16] The faster, more technical playing on the album versus established bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath made Judas Priest well positioned to compete with the mushrooming punk rock movement in their home country.

Reception and legacy

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[17]

Sin After Sin introduced the combination of the double bass drum and rapid sixteenth-note bass rhythms combined with rapid sixteenth-note guitar rhythms that came to define heavy metal, especially thrash.[18] While the double-bass rhythms from Judas Priest are generally measured and technical, “Dissident Aggressor” on this album pushed this to be an example of the style with an increase in “tempo and aggression” which was later adopted by other bands like Motörhead with a much harder-edged approach.[18]

Andrew Cope considers Sin After Sin a key album in the development of heavy metal technique, in particular for its use of double kick drumming.[19]

Covers

In 1988, Slayer covered "Dissident Aggressor" on their South of Heaven album. Halestorm also covered it on their 2013 EP ReAniMate 2.0.

Arch Enemy covered "Starbreaker", which was eventually released on a bonus disc with their Wages of Sin album. "This track was never intended for Century Media's Judas Priest tribute album", wrote guitarist Michael Amott in the Wages of Sin liner notes. "Originally we got a request from the label in Japan to record a cover – any cover for some sort of compilation they were planning. We decided to try out another studio in 1998 and our choice fell on a local facility where Daniel had worked with his previous band, Eucharist. The recording turned out really cool: the best out of the three covers we've done, in my opinion. The Japanese compilation never materialized and [this] was never released – until now that is."

Devin Townsend covered "Sinner" for A Tribute to Judas Priest Volume 1.

Packaging

Sin After Sin was Priest’s last album to feature their original “gothic cursive font” logo, though it was used on later Gull Records reissues of their earlier material.

This was the first (in order of release) of Judas Priest’s main albums to be remastered in 2001, which included all of the albums between this and their 1990 Painkiller album.

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sinner"Rob Halford, Glenn Tipton6:45
2."Diamonds & Rust"Joan Baez3:28
3."Starbreaker"Halford, K.K. Downing, Tipton4:49
4."Last Rose of Summer"Halford, Tipton5:37
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest"Halford, Downing, Tipton6:12
6."Raw Deal"Halford, Tipton6:00
7."Here Come the Tears"Halford, Tipton4:36
8."Dissident Aggressor"Halford, Downing, Tipton3:07
2001 bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Race with the Devil" (The Gun cover, recorded during the Stained Class sessions)Adrian Gurvitz3:06
10."Jawbreaker" (Live at Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, California; 5 May 1984)Halford, Downing, Tipton4:02

Personnel

Judas Priest

Production

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[20] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 16.
  2. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 2.
  3. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 41.
  4. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 39.
  5. ^ a b c Popoff 2007, pp. 41–42.
  6. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 37.
  7. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 49.
  8. ^ Popoff 2007, pp. 42–43.
  9. ^ Popoff 2007, pp. 43–44.
  10. ^ Popoff 2007, p. 44.
  11. ^ "Heavy – The Story Of Metal – Episode II : British Steel FULL DOCUMENTARY | Karma's little spanker". Elementulhuliganic.wordpress.com. 20 December 2013. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  12. ^ http://www.midwesttribute.com/Superjam_paper%201100X.jpg. Retrieved 25 February 2013. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link‍]
  13. ^ ‘Raw Deal’ Live performance statisitcs
  14. ^ ‘Let Us Prey/Call For The Priest’ live performance statistics
  15. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 291. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  16. ^ "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - May 19, 2014". RIAA. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  17. ^ "Sin After Sin review". AllMusic.
  18. ^ a b Cope, Andrew Laurence. Black Sabbath and the Rise of Heavy Metal Music. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 9781409493983.
  19. ^ Cope 2013, p. 114.
  20. ^ "American album certifications – Judas Priest – Point of Entry". Recording Industry Association of America.

Works cited

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