Although the album Black Sabbath is now in hindsight considered the first heavy metal album, Black Sabbath themselves never identified as heavy metal band. Neither did Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple. All of those bands did identify as hard rock bands. The first band to really call themself a heavy metal band was Judas Priest.
Judas Priest was formed in 1969 in Birmingham and the band is still playing today. With over 50 years of metal performance, more than 50 million sold records so far and 18 studio albums released between 1974 and 2018 I think they are a safe start for me in my journey into metal. Judas Priest are amongst the most exemplary and influential metal bands, go by the nickname of "Metal Gods" and have been a great influence for many metal bands afterwards.
The style of Judas Priest is considered early metal or just heavy metal and throughout their musical career they have have stayed true to their style with some explorations of other influences
(guitar synthesizers, symphonic elements, groove metal, nu metal) in between. The main characteristics of Judas Priest are the high vocals of their singer Rob Halford, the sound of the twin
guitars from guitarrist K.K. Downing and Glen Tipton, heavy riffing and complex song arrangements.
Judas Priest was among other things a blueprint for Power Metal where high pitched voices and the twin guitars are characteristics as well. Their early albums Sad wings of Destiny and
Stained Class had a more progressive style and influenced many progressive metal and stoner rock bands. Apart from their musical influences they were also revolutionary in
heavy-metal-fashion and established the leader-and-studs image.
The very first album of Judas Priest Rocka Rolla was produced 1974 with Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain and it was different to the rest of the Judas Priest albums. It was still very influenced by blues rock and psychadelic rock.
The second album Sad Wings of Destiny was released 1975 as the first heavy metal album. The album cover showed the devil's three-pronged cross which later became the bands symbol.
The early albums of Judas Priest had very little commercial success as punk rock was on the rise. The first commercial success came 1980 with the release of the album British Steel which defined heavy metal as we know it today. The songs were now shorter and had more mainstream radio hooks. Breaking the Law played frequently on radio and even I knew that one before today. Definitely a metal classic.
In 1990 the band replaced drummer Dave Holland with Scott Travis who created an edgier sound due to his heavy use of double pedals. If you listen to the first 17 seconds of Painkiller from the same-named album (just turn up the volume and do it with me now), it is really cool to listen to the drums in itself. When the guitars set in it creates an extraordinary powerful feeling, even someone not liking heavy metal is feeling that I guess.
I know by now there are a lot of metal drummers out there that play a lot faster and crazier but nevertheless, I find the live performance of Painkiller especially cool and entertaining today and it got me into a good mood. The actual song starts at 1:37.
In 1992 Rob Halford decided to leave the band. From 1996 - 2003 Tim "Ripper" Owen sang for Judas Priest. The albums Jugulator and Demolition were labeled as grunge metal and nu metal. When Rob Halford returned to Judas Priest in 2003 (Tim Owen went to Iced Earth) the band had a great commercial success with the album Angel of Retribution. The album Redeemer of Souls released 2014 was the band's first top ten album in the US.
2021 Judas Priest was still working on their upcoming 19th studio album. For 2023 a European tour with Ozzy Ozbourne is scheduled. They are even playing in Hamburg May 2023. What an appearance of legends, right?