JUDAS PRIEST — Point Of Entry (review)

JUDAS PRIEST — Point Of Entry album cover

Album · 1981 · Heavy Metal

3/5 · 2017-10-03
voila_la_scorie

So Metallica releases “Load” and everyone’s like, “What?” and then they release “Reload” and everyone’s like, “Oh!”

In 1981, Judas Priest released “Point of Entry” and looking back on it now, it’s like, “What?” Had they followed up with “Point of Re-entry”, well, it would have sounded like going through customs, but maybe people might have just gone along with it. Thankfully, they followed up with “Screaming for Vengeance” and everyone was like, “Yeah, now that’s what I’m talking ‘bout!”

“British Steel”, “Point of Entry”, “Screaming for Vengeance”. One of these is not like the other. After establishing themselves as metal gods in 1980, something they had been working on ever since 1976’s “Sad Wings of Destiny”, Judas Priest released a mostly fun, party rock, hard rock album with catchy choruses, hand clapping beats, and guitar riffs to rival Helix. Was there a plan? Who was responsible?

The book “The Story of Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith” by Neil Daniels sheds a little light on the matter:

“After the success of ‘British Steel’, it was argued that Priest compromised their sound in order to make a more radio-friendly album with such songs as ‘Heading Out To The Highway’. No doubt CBS thought a softening of the band’s edges could be a potential money-spinner… it could be said that the AOR-cum-melodic-hard-rock approach served the band well in the long run.”

Daniels points out that the first singles to be released in support of the album did not help much. “Don’t Go” only made it to 51 on UK charts and “Hot Rockin’” struggled to reach 60. “Heading Out To The Highway” and “Desert Plains” would have been better representations of the album, argues Daniels.

At the time of its release, K.K. Downing was quoted as saying it was the band’s best album yet. However, strangely enough, the original album jacket did not include the band’s logo and there was no band photo. Was someone trying to distance themselves from this new direction?

When considered among the giants of the Priest cannon, “Point of Entry” looks like a decision that sounded good at the time but brought unfavourable results. Rock history is full of similar stories: The Yardbirds with “Little Games”, Warrant and “Cherry Pie”, Dream Theater and “Falling Into Infinity”. Make your own list. However, listening to this album as a hard rock album in the early eighties, it is actually not so bad. Instead of placing this among other Priest albums, play it alongside other fun, party rock albums of the day and it fits right in. “All the Way” almost could be a contender for an Aerosmith album. “Don’t Go” conjures up images of long-haired dudes in red leather pants. And “Hot Rockin’” seems to have picked up a thing or two from the likes of seventies KISS. “Heading Out To The Highway” is good enough to be listed among Priest’s better tracks anyway. The two songs that truly stand apart from the rest are “Desert Plains” and “Solar Angels” which have that more serious and somewhat majestic side that aim to tell a story or create an atmosphere.

Missing of course are any of Priest’s cast of fantastic characters like “Exciter”, “Grinder”, “The Hellion” or “Painkiller”. “Point of Entry” is about highways, relationships, and lust. Rock ‘n’ roll, dude!

more than 2 years ago
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voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Desert Plains is my favourite track from this album. I love most of Priest’s albums but there are three or four in my collection that are there just to fill the gaps.

Unitron wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I love this album, though I'm a Priest fanboy who thinks almost all of their albums are masterpieces. "Desert Plains" is one of my favorite songs of all time.

voila_la_scorie wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I used to only listen to two songs, siLLy puPPy, but listening again today I could see how it fits in with other early eighties hard rock albums. Good in that category but it doesn't stack up to anything else from Sad Wings to Defenders.