Metal Storm logo
Judas Priest - Unleashed In The East review



Reviewer:
9.0

233 users:
8.97
Band: Judas Priest
Album: Unleashed In The East
Release date: 1979


01. Exciter
02. Running Wild
03. Sinner
04. The Ripper
05. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown) [Fleetwood Mac cover]
06. Diamonds And Rust [Joan Baez cover]
07. Victim Of Changes
08. Genocide
09. Tyrant
10. Rock Forever [bonus]
11. Delivering The Goods [bonus]
12. Hell Bent For Leather [bonus]
13. Starbreaker [bonus]

To summarize, this is a kick-ass live album. It is a landmark release in metal history, particularly important to the development of early Power, Speed and of course Thrash metal. The performance is note for note, Les Binks plays the groovy rhythms behind the drumkit, Ian Hill is steady like a metronome (and he's at his most audible moment here) and of course who can forget the double guitar attack of Glenn/K.K. but surely the best performance belongs to Rob Halford who now enters his golden age as a vocalist (which in my opinion would end when he left Priest, but that's another story).

All the songs are played a little faster than on the records, with extra bits added here and there, like in "Genocide" which has a kick ass heavy intro or "Starbreaker" which features a great drum solo near the end (featuring lots of drum rhythms which we would hear from the up and coming speed/power metal bands of the 80s) after a mind blowing scream by Halford, showing his enormous range going from normal speaking pitch to an incredibly high note. The only flaw I can find in the vocal performance is the fact that Halford doesn't communicate almost at all with the crowd, apart from the odd "thank you!" leading to suspicions that this album, especially the vocals which sound just too good, are faked in the studio and just thrown over the live sound, or even worse, tracks played in the studio (this would also explain why the sound is so crystal clear) with crowd noises added. Of course, Glenn Tipton denies these accusations, saying that some of Halford's vocals were rounded up in the studio, along with a few guitar parts, of course we all know priest can easily play all these songs live, so why even bother to claim that the album is fake?

The production is, like I said, perfect; every instrument is completely audible, even to "bass-deaf" persons like me, Hill's instrument gives a thick, powerful rhythm, particularly on the tracks "The Green Manalishi" and "Tyrant." The guitar tone is perfect, just enough distortion to make out the notes, and the leads sound perfectly clear with some cool effects thrown in in various moments of the album.

Ok so it sounds great, the cover looks great, everyone's ranting about it so much I don't really have nothing to add. Go fetch it now. Download, buy, whatever. Just grab it.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 10
Originality: 9
Production: 10

Written by Valentin B | 06.01.2008




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Staff review by
Pierre Tombale
Rating:
8.5
This live-record delivers the goods, indeed it contains some of the best-ever-released versions of Judas Priest's 70's songs. The quality, especially of the remastered version, is very competetive to other live recordings such as 'Iron Maiden's Live After Death'. You can also call it a 'Live-Quasi-Best of the 70's.'

Read more ››
published 17.10.2003 | Comments (11)


Comments

Comments: 13   Visited by: 45 users
06.01.2008 - 14:43
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Nice trivial fact... on the cover photo there is no drummer.

Apparently the photos taken in Japan weren't good enough so they made new pictures in a British by a friend photographer Fin Costello. Tthat was doen some time halfway through 1979 when Les had already left the band. So they had to be creative covering up the empty drums.

As for tampering with the sound in the studio...

Rob Halford's vocals aren't of the live tour. He sung everything again in the studio when the band returned to England. The reason for this as Rob admits was that his voice was in quite a bad state when they arrived in Japan, and to make things worse he even caught a flu on that tour.

But that fact notwithstanding it is still a brilliant album, just a shame they didn't release the enitre concert as a double album.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
06.01.2008 - 14:48
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Btw the interview I took this from was published in the january/february 2008 issue of Aardschok Magazine where they feature a 4-page special on Unleashed In The East.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
07.01.2008 - 04:03
SmellyStuff
Account deleted
I've heard bootlegs from the Japan tour of '79 and his vocals aren't as bad as they're made out to be. And I agree Marcel, it's a pity they didn't make a double album because they omitted Beyond the Realms of Death! WHY!?
Loading...
30.01.2008 - 19:05
Rating: 8
Spyroid
Rosetta Stoned
Really great live album, this was actually the first album I bought that was by any other band than Iron Maiden good and interesting review!
And though I am a musician, even I often feel like I'm "bass-deaf"
Loading...
30.01.2008 - 19:11
Rating: 9
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Written by Guest on 07.01.2008 at 04:03

I've heard bootlegs from the Japan tour of '79 and his vocals aren't as bad as they're made out to be. And I agree Marcel, it's a pity they didn't make a double album because they omitted Beyond the Realms of Death! WHY!?

they forgot lots of tracks: Dreamer Deceiver, Killing Machine, Island of Domination, Stained Class, Better by You Better than Me, not to mention DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR!......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!
Loading...
28.09.2013 - 13:10
Rating: 9
Egigantea

Written by Valentin B on 30.01.2008 at 19:11

Written by Guest on 07.01.2008 at 04:03

I've heard bootlegs from the Japan tour of '79 and his vocals aren't as bad as they're made out to be. And I agree Marcel, it's a pity they didn't make a double album because they omitted Beyond the Realms of Death! WHY!?

DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR!......AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!

Have they ever played that live in the 70's or 80's?
that song is probably louder and meaner then most of their stuff from painkiller
Loading...
02.10.2013 - 01:11
Rating: 9
Valentin B
Iconoclast
Written by Egigantea on 28.09.2013 at 13:10

Have they ever played that live in the 70's or 80's?
that song is probably louder and meaner then most of their stuff from painkiller

I can't bother to check now, but you can try looking on www.setlist.fm
Loading...
02.10.2013 - 10:31
Rating: 9
Egigantea

Written by Valentin B on 02.10.2013 at 01:11

Written by Egigantea on 28.09.2013 at 13:10

Have they ever played that live in the 70's or 80's?
that song is probably louder and meaner then most of their stuff from painkiller

I can't bother to check now, but you can try looking on www.setlist.fm


Sad stuff man, according to that site, the earliest they played that song live was in 2008...
Loading...
02.10.2013 - 16:44
Rating: 9
Daniell
_爱情_
This popped up as random album for me just now. I must admit, and I know most of you will be outraged by this, that I dislike live albums. Most of the time I find them boring, bad-sounding, and simply redundant. I think there aren't more than 10 live albums that I like. Luckily, this one is among those 10
Loading...
02.10.2013 - 16:56
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Daniell on 02.10.2013 at 16:44

This popped up as random album for me just now. I must admit, and I know most of you will be outraged by this, that I dislike live albums. Most of the time I find them boring, bad-sounding, and simply redundant. I think there aren't more than 10 live albums that I like. Luckily, this one is among those 10

Unless they're heavily improvised I generally don't see the point of live albums. Pretty sure Sunn O))) make the only live albums I genuinely enjoy.
Loading...
02.10.2013 - 17:08
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by Egigantea on 02.10.2013 at 10:31

Written by Valentin B on 02.10.2013 at 01:11

Written by Egigantea on 28.09.2013 at 13:10

Have they ever played that live in the 70's or 80's?
that song is probably louder and meaner then most of their stuff from painkiller

I can't bother to check now, but you can try looking on www.setlist.fm


Sad stuff man, according to that site, the earliest they played that song live was in 2008...



problem with that suite is that is far from complete and especially when it comes to setlist from long ago
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

Loading...
04.10.2013 - 04:35
Rating: 9
Egigantea

Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 02.10.2013 at 17:08

Written by Egigantea on 02.10.2013 at 10:31

Written by Valentin B on 02.10.2013 at 01:11

Written by Egigantea on 28.09.2013 at 13:10

Have they ever played that live in the 70's or 80's?
that song is probably louder and meaner then most of their stuff from painkiller

I can't bother to check now, but you can try looking on www.setlist.fm


Sad stuff man, according to that site, the earliest they played that song live was in 2008...



problem with that suite is that is far from complete and especially when it comes to setlist from long ago


True, I saw a lot of incomplete set lists from the 70's. But still, I've never ran across any live performances of that particular song.
Loading...
21.07.2015 - 21:02
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
I don't like when singer don't communicate whit fans .... well maybe in this case Japs don't speak English so well?
----
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!

Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
apos;'
[image]
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...

Hits total: 7734 | This month: 12