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This is the second book by Martin Popoff covering Judas Priest's discography, this one starting with Turbo all the way to Firepower (still Priest's latest album as of this writing). The format is the same, with tons of interview excerpts with (mostly) band members discussing the albums and songs and events of the time, and on top of that the author's own comments. This was a tumultuous period for Priest, with Rob Halford leaving and coming back, and K.K. and Glenn leaving later. Also covered are the solo albums by Rob (in Fight, Two and Halford) and Tipton and the various live albums. The main interest in that part is how these came to be, more than what is said about the albums. More so than in the first book, in the interviews I can feel the guys being a little full of themselves (cringy at times), often portraying themselves as innovators when tons of bands have done something similar before (that's hardly surprising considering the amount of metal bands out there; Priest just happen to not notice the underground as much as the more "mainstream" bands).

I found it interesting that they don't seem to have noticed that they pretty much say they were following trends, then in the next interview they're practically saying they invented the wheel with some of those albums. I was having an argument with some Priest die hard some 15-20 years ago where I was saying that a lot of their albums are just them picking up what's trendy at the moment. I'll give them the '70s and some of the first half of the '80s, but after that they're really just going with the flow. Anyway, I kind of found confirmation of that while reading the book, though the band doesn't seem to be aware of it. No disrespect intended, it doesn't mean their albums weren't good and that they didn't have a huge influence on hundreds (thousands?) of bands, just that at some point they started hopping on what was big at the time and doing an album in the style (while keeping the overall Priest vibe). Moving on...

Just like the first book, I think this is a very interesting read for any Priest fan, whether die-hard or just casual. It's likely that there could be more juicy stuff, but these guys have always been very diplomatic when talking to the press, and this is no different. Either way, I found it to be a page-turner. And I dare you to resist putting those albums on while reading the book.

Additional Information

Originally published in 2019