JUDAS PRIEST Talks 'Defenders Of The Faith' 30th-Anniversary Reissue, Classic Track 'Love Bites' (Video)

Coming off an era which saw several JUDAS PRIEST albums that have gone down as some of the greatest in the entire history of heavy metal (namely, 1980’s “British Steel” and 1982’s “Screaming For Vengeance”), the band from Birmingham knew that their next release had to “deliver the goods,” to cement their standing as the leaders of metal. And deliver they did, with their platinum-certified 1984 release, “Defenders Of The Faith”, which spawned such headbanging classics as “Freewheel Burning”, “Jawbreaker”, “The Sentinel”, “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll” and “Love Bites”.

And on March 10, 2015, a newly expanded three-CD version of the album will be unleashed via Columbia/Legacy, which includes the original ten-track album remastered by producer Tom Allom, and a complete live recording from the “Defenders” tour, recorded at the Long Beach Arena in California, on May 5, 1984.

The 21-track concert (split up over two discs) perfectly balances the then-new material from the group’s ninth studio offering overall, including such classics as “Metal Gods”, “Breaking The Law”, “Sinner”, “Electric Eye”, “The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)”, “Victim Of Changes” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, among many others.

As the band states in the liner notes to the reissue, “It’s 30 years since we released ‘Defenders Of The Faith’ — we’re very proud to say it has become a classic that’s beloved by PRIEST fans throughout the world.”

CD1 “Defenders Of The Faith” remastered

01. Freewheel Burning
02. Jawbreaker
03. Rock Hard Ride Free
04. The Sentinel
05. Love Bites
06. Eat Me Alive
07. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
08. Night Comes Down
09. Heavy Duty
10. Defenders Of The Faith

CD2 Live at Long Beach Arena, California – May 5, 1984

01. Love Bites
02. Jawbreaker
03. Grinder
04. Metal Gods
05. Breaking The Law
06. Sinner
07. Desert Plains
08. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
09. The Sentinel
10. Rock Hard Ride Free

CD3 Live at Long Beach Arena, California – May 5, 1984

01. Night Comes Down
02. The Hellion
03. Electric Eye
04. Heavy Duty
05. Defenders Of The Faith
06. Freewheel Burning
07. Victim Of Changes
08. The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)
09. Living After Midnight
10. Hell Bent For Leather
11. You’ve Got Another Thing Coming

A clip of JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford, bassist Ian Hill and guitarist Glenn Tipton discussing “Defenders Of The Faith” and the album track “Love Bites” can be seen below.