By the '90s, Judas Priest had already had a few home videos hit the shelves -- the in-concert Priest Live! and the video-clip collection Fuel for Life -- but they had yet to have their story told in documentary-style fashion. This all changed in 1993, when the 90-minute video Metal Works '73-'93 was released in conjunction with the best-of double CD of the same name. Interviews with the band's four main bandmembers -- Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, and Ian Hill -- as well as rock celebrity admirers are intercut with live performances, promo videos, and pictures. But like other similarly styled home videos by fellow metal rockers released around the same time -- Alice Cooper's Prime Cuts, Kiss' X-Treme Close-Up -- no song is featured in its entirety, which gets kind of frustrating after a while. Also, the majority of the live clips are from a single Memphis concert in 1983 (during their Screaming for Vengeance tour), and while it captures Priest at the height of its arena-headlining power, it would have been interesting to see more varied live clips from throughout their career. The interviews touch upon such career highlights as playing the mammoth U.S. Festival and lowlights (being hit with an outrageous lawsuit), but such topics as their appearance at Live Aid or their early U.S. tours (when they opened for the likes of REO Speedwagon, Foghat, and Kiss) are either skipped over or barely mentioned. Still, it's a treat to see an early U.K. TV appearance from 1975 (Rob Halford with long hair!) and an in-depth analysis of their classic 1977 album Sin After Sin. Despite its shortcomings, Metal Works '73-'93 is still recommended for longtime fans of the mighty Judas Priest.By the '90s, Judas Priest had already had a few home videos hit the shelves -- the in-concert Priest Live! and the video-clip collection Fuel for Life -- but they had yet to have their story told in documentary-style fashion. This all changed in 1993, when the 90-minute video Metal Works '73-'93 was released in conjunction with the best-of double CD of the same name. Interviews with the band's four main bandmembers -- Rob Halford, K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton, and Ian Hill -- as well as rock celebrity admirers are intercut with live performances, promo videos, and pictures. But like other similarly styled home videos by fellow metal rockers released around the same time -- Alice Cooper's Prime Cuts, Kiss' X-Treme Close-Up -- no song is featured in its entirety, which gets kind of frustrating after a while. Also, the majority of the live clips are from a single Memphis concert in 1983 (during their Screaming for Vengeance tour), and while it captures Priest at the height of its arena-headlining power, it would have been interesting to see more varied live clips from throughout their career. The interviews touch upon such career highlights as playing the mammoth U.S. Festival and lowlights (being hit with an outrageous lawsuit), but such topics as their appearance at Live Aid or their early U.S. tours (when they opened for the likes of REO Speedwagon, Foghat, and Kiss) are either skipped over or barely mentioned. Still, it's a treat to see an early U.K. TV appearance from 1975 (Rob Halford with long hair!) and an in-depth analysis of their classic 1977 album Sin After Sin. Despite its shortcomings, Metal Works '73-'93 is still recommended for longtime fans of the mighty Judas Priest.false2023-07-15 12:36:23Metal Works ’73–’93819931993-04-291993-04-29147Hard RockHeavy MetalMetalRock11198121562220af3dfbc-b67e-4139-88db-fd308636cf4a6b335658-22c8-485d-93de-0bc29a1d0349149b16de-7787-3be1-b3b1-90d7903b0742/media/data/media5/Music/Judas Priest/Metal Works '73-'93/folder.jpgJudas PriestAlbumArtistJudas PriestArtistJudas PriestJudas PriestJudas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal movement, and are cited as a formative influence on various heavy metal subgenres, notably speed metal, thrash metal, and power metal. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with poor record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when their sixth studio album British Steel brought them notable mainstream attention.
The band's membership has seen much turnover. During the 1970s, the core of bassist Ian Hill, lead singer Rob Halford and guitarists Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing saw a revolving cast of drummers, before Dave Holland joined them for ten years from 1979 to 1989. Since Holland's departure, Scott Travis has been the band's drummer. Halford left Judas Priest in 1992, and after a four year hiatus, they regrouped in 1996 with Tim "Ripper" Owens, formerly of Winter's Bane, replacing Halford. After two albums with Owens, Halford returned to the band in 2003. Downing left the band in 2011, replaced by Richie Faulkner. The current line-up consists of Hill, Tipton, Travis, Halford and Faulkner; although Tipton remains as an official member of Judas Priest, he has limited his touring activities since 2018 due to Parkinson's disease, with Andy Sneap filling in for him. Hill and Tipton are the only two of the band to appear on every album.
Halford's operatic vocal style and the twin guitar sound of Downing and Tipton have been a major influence on heavy metal bands. Judas Priest's image of leather, spikes, and other taboo articles of clothing was widely influential during the glam metal era of the 1980s. The Guardian referred to British Steel as the record that defines heavy metal. Despite a decline in exposure during the mid-1990s, the band has once again seen a resurgence, including worldwide tours, being inaugural inductees into the VH1 Rock Honors in 2006, receiving a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2010, and having their songs featured in video games such as Guitar Hero and the Rock Band series. In 2022, Judas Priest were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame via the Award for Musical Excellence.