Caller.com: Before everyone was carrying around thousands of songs in their pockets on their iPods, music fans who wanted to hear their favorite tunes on the go or in their car were forced to make do with cassette tapes. These bygone audio artifacts, along with vinyl records, were the formats of choice in 1982. That was the year Judas Priest unleashed an album that would unwittingly steer heavy metal right into the mainstream.
On the 30th anniversary of its original release, the band has reached back into its archives for an impressive set of rarities as well as a definitive live concert performance that all make “Screaming for Vengeance: Special 30th Anniversary Edition” (Legacy/Columbia), a blast from the past well worth revisiting.
This updated version not only features an appropriately amped-up remastering job, but it also includes a handful of rare live tracks from a 1982 San Antonio show. There’s also a DVD that chronicles the group’s 1983 U.S. Festival performance in front of an audience of 375,000 people. Both die-hard fans and casual admirers will enjoy this impressive, expanded version of the album that retains all of its original metallic fury but sounds way better than that worn out cassette ever did.