Sin After Sin

Sin After Sin is the third studio album by English heavy metal group Judas Priest, released in 1977. It was remastered in 2001 with two bonus tracks added.

Contents
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 * 1 Overview
 * 2 Influence on the genre
 * 3 Packaging
 * 4 Covers
 * 5 Track listing
 * 6 Personnel
 * 7 Sales and certifications
 * 8 References

Overview[edit]
Despite a growing fanbase in the UK and strong critical reception of their album Sad Wings of Destiny, Judas Priest were unable to obtain any proper financial support from the small Gull Records label. The band members were forced to work part-time jobs or live off government welfare and considered at one point calling it quits if things failed to work out. Friends and acquaintances convinced them that they would never make a decent living or achieve international popularity without signing to a major label, a suggestion that was quickly taken up. Judas Priest signed a deal with CBS Records in late 1976, a move that was seen as "a great breath of fresh air" even though their divorce from Gull Records happened under somewhat acrimonious terms (the band lost the publishing rights to their first two albums, plus all demo material recorded with Gull).[2]

CBS immediately realized the need for a professional music producer on Judas Priest's next album, so they hired Deep Purple bassist Roger Glover, who already had some experience with producing records. However, things did not work out well at first as Glover recalled that the band merely dismissed all of his suggestions out of hand. Concluding that they really wanted to produce the album themselves, he quit the project. Then, "A few weeks later, I get a phone call and it's about [Judas Priest]. They'd just fired their drummer and were unable to get anything done and needed help." Glover then returned to the studio and with his help, the band managed to get the album recorded in one week.

During the recording sessions for Sin After Sin, drummer Alan Moore left. Although the band has never discussed the exact circumstances of his departure, Roger Glover's above remarks indicate that he was fired for likely the same reason as Judas Priest's first drummer John Hinch, i.e. being an inadequate player for their material. Instead, 19-year old Simon Phillips was brought in to drum on the album. But as he had commitments to another band, he declined to join Judas Priest as a permanent member and so for the album tour, they hired Fancy drummer Les Binks, an acquaintance of Roger Glover, as Binks was able to play double-bass and one of the few drummers who could replicate Phillips's sound live.

The album includes a cover of Joan Baez's "Diamonds & Rust", a decision which was encouraged by producer Roger Glover in the interest of adding a more commercial track. It was the first song by Judas Priest to get any radio play, and Baez herself reportedly enjoyed the cover. This was the band´s second attempt to cover the track, and the earlier version from the Gull Records era was only released later on compilations and as a bonus track on Rocka Rolla.

Judas Priest embarked on their first-ever tour of the US for this album, where they supported REO Speedwagon and Foreigner.[3] Judas Priest also opened for Led Zeppelin on two dates in Oakland, the Day on the Green festival, and opened the 1977 Superjam, headlined by REO Speedwagon and Ted Nugent, at Busch Memorial Stadium in St Louis before an audience of 45,000[4]

The progressive rock influences from the previous two albums have been toned down on this album, however there are still notable moments of it, notably in the multi-sectioned "Sinner" and "Let Us Pray/Call for the Priest", the complex lyrics, and in the Gothic ballads "Last Rose of Summer" and "Here Come the Tears". These influences would further dissipate in their next album Stained Class before being completely abandoned afterward.

As the band continued to develop their sound and playing techniques, Sin After Sin displayed elements of proto-thrash metal on "Let Us Pray, Call For The Priest" and "Dissident Aggressor", both vying for the heaviest songs released up to that point.

Of the eight tracks on Sin After Sin, only "Sinner" became a concert staple (K.K. Downing described it as one of his favourite songs) along with "Diamonds & Rust" and both were regularly played live until the Turbo Tour in 1986 when all pre-Killing Machine songs were dropped from the set list ("Victim of Changes" made a return in place of "Hot for Love" or "Desert Plains" on some legs of that tour). "Sinner" was revived during the Ram It Down Tour two years later before disappearing again until the 2008 Nostradamus Tour. "Starbreaker" was not played from 1981 until the 2011-12 Epitaph Tour. "Here Comes The Tears", "Raw Deal", and "Last Rose Of Summer" have never been performed live according to available sources,[which?] and "Dissident Aggressor" was not played until 2008, after which it became a regular part of the set-list there and on the Epitaph Tour. It is possible that it was performed on the 1977 headlining shows, along with one or two of the other "never performed" songs, as documentation of this tour is very limited.

Sin After Sin proved a minor hit, reaching number 23 on the UK Albums Chart,[5] although it did not make much impression in North America. The faster, more technical playing on the album versus established bands like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath made Judas Priest well-positioned to compete with the mushrooming punk rock movement in their home country.

Influence on the genre[edit]
Sin After Sin introduced the combination of the double bass drum and rapid 16th bass rhythms combined with rapid 16th guitar rhythms that came to define the genre.[6] While the double-bass rhythms from Judas Priest are generally measured and technical, Dissident Aggressor on this album pushed this to be an example of the style with an increase in "tempo and aggression" which was later adopted by other bands likeMotörhead with a much harder-edged approach.[6]

Packaging[edit]
This was the band's last album to feature their original "gothic cursive font" logo, though it was used on later Gull Records reissues of their earlier material.

This was the first (in order of release) of the band's main albums to be remastered in 2001, which included all of the albums between this and their 1990 Painkiller album.

Covers[edit]
In 1988, Slayer covered "Dissident Aggressor" on their South of Heaven album. Halestorm also covered it on their 2013 EP ReAniMate 2.0.

Arch Enemy covered "Starbreaker", which was eventually released on a bonus disc with their Wages of Sin album. "This track was never intended for Century Media's Judas Priest tribute album," wrote guitaristMichael Amott in the Wages of Sin liner notes. "Originally we got a request from the label in Japan to record a cover – ANY cover for some sort of compilation they were planning. We decided to try out another studio in 1998 and our choice fell on a local facility where Daniel had worked with his previous band, Eucharist. The recording turned out really cool: the best out of the three covers we've done, in my opinion. The Japanese compilation never materialized and [this] was never released – until now that is."

Devin Townsend covered "Sinner" for A Tribute to Judas Priest Volume 1.

Personnel[edit]

 * Judas Priest
 * Rob Halford – vocals
 * K. K. Downing – guitar
 * Glenn Tipton – guitar
 * Ian Hill – bass guitar
 * Additional musician
 * Simon Phillips – drums, percussion
 * Production
 * Produced by Roger Glover and Judas Priest
 * Engineered by Mark Dodson
 * Art direction by Rosław Szaybo
 * Design and photography by Bob Carlos Clarke