Defenders Of The Faith (studio album) by Judas Priest

Defenders Of The Faith by Judas Priest
Year: 1984
Overall rank: 1,613th   Overall chart historyOverall chart history
Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 195 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution   Average rating historyAverage rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1984 (25th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (254th)
Award Best albums of all time (1,613th)
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
[LP] Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith w/OBI, '84 Tour Flyer 303P-519 vinyl
Condition: Used

$200.00


Go to store

eBay
eBay
[LP] Judas Priest - Defenders Of The Faith w/Tour OBI LTD. 30•3P-519 Japan vinyl
Condition: Used

$120.00


Go to store

eBay
eBay
Judas Priest Defenders of the Faith (Vinyl) 12" Album FC 39219
Condition: Used


  My favourite store:  

Judas Priest bestography

Defenders Of The Faith is ranked 6th best out of 27 albums by Judas Priest on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Judas Priest is British Steel which is ranked number 985 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,867.

Judas Priest album bestography « Higher ranked (1,402nd) This album (1,613th) Lower ranked (2,906th) »
Stained ClassDefenders Of The FaithSin After Sin

Upcoming concerts

Jun
18
Sun
18:00
Dio Resurrection (Tribute to Ronnie James Dio) , JD Nash, Osairis, Made of Metal (tribute to Judas Priest, Fight and Rob Halford) , Fantom Fire, Headbangers Ball, The Noble Trip
Whisky A Go Go, West Hollywood, United States. United States
Tickets from $20.00 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
Sep
27
Wed
19:30
Judas Priest - 50 Heavy Metal Years
Cable Dahmer Arena, Independence, United States. United States
Tickets from $39.50 (Ticketmaster) Get tickets
 
Discover more upcoming concerts

Listen to Defenders Of The Faith on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Defenders Of The Faith track list

  Track ratingsTrack ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 82 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
2.
Track pick
Rating: 86 (53 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
4.
Track pick
Rating: 86 (49 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
5.
Rating: 81 (37 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
6.
Rating: 79 (32 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify
9.
Rating: 79 (31 votes)Comments: 0
  • Amazon Music
  • iTunes
  • Spotify

Track pick Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Defenders Of The Faith rankings

Defenders Of The Faith collection

Defenders Of The Faith ratings

Average Rating: 
76/100 (from 195 votes)
  Ratings distributionRatings distribution Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 195 ratings for this album.

Sort ratings
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 Report rating
04/18/2023 01:26 Mercury  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,67081/100
 
55/100
 Report rating
04/14/2023 13:17 IvanShishman  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,33870/100
 
50/100
 Report rating
01/26/2023 07:23 AlexSVK  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,03262/100
 
85/100
 Report rating
12/21/2022 20:30 MasterOfPuppets  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 69383/100
 
90/100
 Report rating
12/17/2022 15:29 Repo  Ratings distributionRatings distribution 1,90685/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 5% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 76.3/100, a mean average of 75.3/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 76.5/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.5.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Defenders Of The Faith comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 13 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Maximum Rated First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
90/100
From 12/17/2022 15:29
'84:g Winter Is Coming!
Aka Screaming For A Version 2.0

My vague memory is that I wanted to have this kind of semi-automatic delivery. I remember saying to Glenn (Tipton), “This is what I want to do” and he said, “Then let’s do it.” That is what I love about Priest. You might have the most ridiculous sounding ideas but we never kill it. We’ve always said in Priest, “Try everything.” It doesn’t matter how absurd it might sound in discussion, you don’t know until you try it. You can talk until you’re blue in the face about an idea, but until you go through the motions and you hear it coming back through the speakers you don’t know if it is going to work or not. – Rob Halford on his cross fire vocal acrobratics on Freewheel Burning (the opening track of Defenders Of The Faith)

"Tom Allom, (Judas Priest’s producer for SEVEN studio albums) was as important to us as George Martin was to The Beatles…” - Halford

The Setting: Judas Priest were coming off their most successful album - Screaming For Vengeance. An album that appealed to newbies and lifers in equal measure. In fact, I called Screaming For Vengeance the #1 Metal album of 1982. So there was pressure. Jawbreaking pressure. How would Priest fare in the glare?!

The Listen: Welcome to the future. (Or so we thought!) Judas Priest ditches the warm sounds of the 70s and accidentally discovers a fascinating and magical meld of modern 80s Arena Rock flair to NWOBHM balls. (Def Leppard would take this even further on Hysteria (too far if you ask me, but still an admittedly glorious product.)) Sometimes a formula just needs a tweak to keep it fresh, and that’s exactly what Priest does on Defenders.

When I first plucked this off the rack at my local record shop back in 1984, I thought it would fall under the “If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It” category. It screamed sequel! From the cover art ( A Sentinel instead of a Hellion) that appeared to just slap a Black & Red metallic coat on Screaming’s classic Yellow & Red. But as was the case with my first first marriage, I was wrong. Judas Priest, with the heavy hand of their massively underrated producer Tom Allom, twiddled the knobs to the point of exsanguination.

Out was Screaming's warm 70s badass biker gang feel that Skynyrd fans could appreciate on such songs as "Take These Chains" and "Pain & Pleasure" (It should be noted that the massively underrated Point Of Entry is also replete with tons of these denim & leather biker bangers too! From the obvious ones - "Heading Out To The Highway" & "Desert Plains" to the fan favorite - "Turning Circles").

In was the crispy cold first bite of an apple. A metallic militarized-industrialized-complex scream that declared, "Winter Is Coming!" and, didn't ya hear, "Love bites!"

(It’s a really cool sound, and I’m sure it emboldened Allom & Co. to twiddle the knobs even further on Turbo with sadly lesser results. But honestly, Turbo's not quite the disaster it's made out to be. The songs "Turbo" and "Into The Cold" in particular are Priest classics. No, the production itself did NOT sink Turbo. That distinction lies solely at the feet of the lyrics that seem inspired by Twisted Sister with Halford sounding like an out of touch Dad who's just read a self help book on how to connect to his troubled teen. Published by the Episcopalians! ("Hands off, Private Property"? Really?! ). But let’s face it. They had already hinted at the idiocy to come with the Beavis & Butthead worthy "Heavy Duty" ( "he said 'Duty' huh huh heh heh..."))

The Verdict: This is 80s' Arena Rock For Metalheads! (Not Mall Ratts! Twisted Evil) And one of the great successes of 80s commercial metal. Right up there with the classics from '83 such as Pyromania and Holy Diver. It will just miss my top ten, but it’s super solid and well built. Like Maiden, Priest were master craftsman at this point in their career. And these songs reward repeat listens. Over & over & 0ver again. Especially when the night comes down!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 10/24/2022 21:30
My opinion on this one is similar to that one on British Steel and Screaming For Vengeance - record full of bangers, that also has flaws (especially towards the end).
Best tracks: Jawbreaker, The Sentinel, Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/23/2022 11:19
every time I listen to a JP album that I haven't heard before, I'm impressed. Another brilliant album.
the sentinel is a masterpiece
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 09/12/2020 01:05
This is Priest's album on speed. The average pace on all these songs leave most earlier work in the dust. Fast, furious, brilliant the whole way through. One of there heavier albums. This is metal. I rate this up there as one of there best.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
95/100
From 12/17/2019 18:07
100/100

Best Judas Priest album right here!!!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 09/26/2019 11:32
One of their best album
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/28/2018 15:16
I never understood why this album is rated so low when it has the highest average track rating of all the JP records.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 03/12/2018 09:26
El Heavy Metal estaría cojo sin la aportación de Judas Priest, de eso no cabe duda. Pioneros en los 70, supieron extremar su propuesta y adaptarse a la nueva tendencia de la NWOBHM, acertada decisión. 'Defenders of the faith' es una perfecta continuación de 'Screaming for vengeance', con esas construcciones guitarreras cargadas de músculo y pasión. Encontramos a un Rob Halford en estado de gracia, y a la pareja formada por Glenn Tipton y KK Downing haciendo lo que mejor sabían hacer por la época, repartiendo riffs cargados de emoción y con un sentimiento desgarrador. De The Hellion pasamos a The Metallian, y la guerra estaba asegurado, con unos agudos que ponen la piel de gallina como la explosión final de "Jawbreaker" o la caña descontrolada de la inicial "Freewheel burning". Un clásico del Heavy clásico en toda regla.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 03/26/2016 02:08
I feel like this album is kind of overlooked. It's not one of their best albums but it's still a good album. Deserves more credit than it gets.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 07/11/2015 02:46
An amazing collection of some of the best metal songs of the 80s. How can you even compare to the screamo crap that is considered metal today?
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Defenders Of The Faith

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below!
Log in or register to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.
Best Albums of 1984
1. Purple Rain by Prince And The Revolution
2. Ride The Lightning by Metallica
3. The Smiths by The Smiths
4. Born In The U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen
5. Let It Be by The Replacements
6. Hatful Of Hollow by The Smiths
7. Double Nickels On The Dime by Minutemen
8. Stop Making Sense by Talking Heads
9. Zen Arcade by Hüsker Dü
10. Powerslave by Iron Maiden
11. Treasure by Cocteau Twins
12. Legend (The Best Of Bob Marley And The Wailers) by Bob Marley & The Wailers
13. The Unforgettable Fire by U2
14. Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen
15. Reckoning by R.E.M.
16. 1984 by Van Halen
17. Diamond Life by Sade
18. Meat Puppets II by Meat Puppets
19. Rattlesnakes by Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
20. Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa by Keith Jarrett / Gidon Kremer; Dennis Russell Davies / Staatsorchester Stuttgart; The 12 Cellists Of The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra; Saulius Sondeckis / Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra / Alfred Schnittke
Back to Top