I have just scanned Amazon's music Top 100 Metal albums, and as I write these lines , I am in in a state of shock, not to say indignant disgust. No mention of Birmingham's finest, Judas Priest , who seemed to have been willfully erased from HM archives.

And a loss this is. It is true, their first effort - as reissued here -(Rocka Rolla) left a bit to be desired ; sludgy recording, hackneyed ideas, tired delivery - but even in songs such as Cheater , Haldford's distinctive ( and 8 octave ) vocals penetrate.

8 octaves is what opera singers must have - and is an exceedingly rare weapon in the armoury of any rock outfit. ( Think of another band - I defy you. )

Priest never wasted that weapon, and on that gem of early UK metal- once more lyrically entitled " Sad Wings of Destiny " - now, the more belligerent "Genocide", Halford and co. began to pound the metal world. The seven minutes of Victim of Changes is a master work of meshed guitars , restrained vocals and dreamy interludes, eventually culminating in Rob's agaonised scream . For a good ten years , that scream was harkened ; Priest were acknowleded at the epicentre of that most emotive of musical genres, HM.

Is there any more controlled vocal performance in the whole varied canon of metal than on Priest's "Dreamer"? Again Halford ascends his vocal range with ease, and and , at it's very summit, sings shrilly ,

:" If you think- you will find a way "- words of resolve and steel.

A shame, a real shame that todays metal heads, or Korn heads or whatever they call themselves, will not harken to the Priest. Maybe some already do, but are unaccountably timid... show yourselves, and bathe yourslf in molten metal. The Priest will have no peer.