JUDAS PRIEST

Firepower Sony

The release of Judas Priest’s eighteenth studio album was preceded by a shock announcement, guitarist Glenn Tipton revealing that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and while remaining a member of the band he’d been in since 1974, he would no longer to able to tour. It is this context, as much as the music, which made Firepower an extraordinary piece of work. Across 14 tracks, all co-written by Tipton with singer Rob Halford and second guitarist Richie Faulkner, it was a relentless heavy metal onslaught. Halford exuded a manic intensity, while genius-level riffing peaked in the slow, grinding Never The Heroes. And at the heart of it all, loud and proud, was a true guitar hero. PE

Killer track: Never The Heroes