Heavy metal bands with the same style as Judas Priest

[rfe77]

Hello everyone.

I was wondering if anybody here knows of heavy metal bands with the same style and from the same time as Judas Priest (maybe just British ones).

TIA

 

[poundingmetal74]

Really depends on the style you're going after - especially since so many bands owe their style to priest.

Some bands who sound VERY similar to Painkiller are:
Primal Fear (these guys live are more like priest than priest - HIGHLY recommended)
Cage (again same vein)
Beyond Fear (featuring ex-priest vocal Tim Owens)
Tim Ripper Owens (his new solo project)
Pantera (especially several tracks on Cowboys From Hell like "Medicine Man" and "Shattered")

Screaming-Defenders era:
Accept
Riot (mid-80s era)
Icarus Witch (sort of - Maiden meets Priest)
Sword (look for the album Metalized)
Fozzy (try their first 2 albums - they cover several priest tracks)
Dio
Skid Row (Slave to the Grind-era - they also did a great cover of Delivering the Goods with Halford on B-Side Ourselves)
Artch (Although one could argue they sound more like Maiden)
Barren Cross
Warrior (Their first 2 albums have priest written all over it - try the song Fighting For the Earth - it's on youtube)

....Some more than others sound like Priest but if you love Painkiller-era priest you can't go wrong Primal Fear. Hell, their singer Ralf was supposed to be in Priest but the job ultimately went to Tim. Try the songs Black Sun or Killbound. You might even be able to find their cover of Metal Gods.



[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLFbP-hEy4E&feature=related[/ame]

 

[Wyvern]

Really depends on the style you're going after - especially since so many bands owe their style to priest.

Some bands who sound VERY similar to Painkiller are:
Primal Fear (these guys live are more like priest than priest - HIGHLY recommended)
Cage (again same vein)

Yes Primal Fear is either too much JP or too much Halford and Cage is kind like a second rate Primla Fear (but I like both).

Dream Evil has a song on their special edition of "Gold Medal in Metal" that is pure JP tribute (to the hurting point).

I think lots of bands had been influenced by JP considering the many tributes made to the band.

Angeles Del Infierno is a Spanish band that in the 80's was a lot like JP, they even recorded at the same studio Priest used for SFV and DOTF. But I never could get into them (they sung in Spanish as a side note)

I think they'remore bands that sound like Maiden that I can quote that bands that sound like Judas Priest. They were a band with an evolving sound from 1974 to 1990, so it's kind of difficult to find bans that sound exactly or very near to them.

 

[carnut]

Surgical Steel were quit alike, Rob even cooperated with the band for a while...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNWaIVQJ-zY&feature=related[/ame]

Damn, need to dig up those Metal Massacre albums again !!

 

[SentinelSlain]

Some Primal Fear stuff is great

 

[ElectricWiz]

The 80s band Malice was veeeeery Priest-like. Check out their album, "In The Beginning.'

I don't think they were British though...maybe from L.A.

 

[Death Animal]

Wolf-The Black Flame
Great album. Sounds bit more like Halford first solo album.
Other recors are also very good.
http://www.myspace.com/wolfheavymetal
Just checked new songs from myspace... man this band is pure Heavy Metal.

 

[poundingmetal74]

Wolf are great, though I dare say they sound a bit more like Maiden, especially their earlier work. Black Flame is more in the heavier-Priest vein.

Dream Evil also have a more classic priest sound. Not quite the same thing, but fantastic singer ala Halford and the songs fit the classic metal mold.

 

[SentinelSlain]

Malice - In the Beginning is kicking my ass on youtube

 

[Wyvern]

I think besides strictly Primal Fear no band sounds exactly or close to Judas Priest. Of course any actual metal band had been influenced by them.

If you dig into UK bands around the beginning of NWOBHM all bands came with an influence due to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Led Zeppelin and other rock acts. Thus Witchfinder General is clearly influenced by BS, Tank came from Motorhead school, Diamond Head from LZ influences, but I can't think on a single NWOBHM band that sound just like Priest. Def Leppard originally quoted Judas Priest and Thin Lizzy along their influencs but they never sound like JP or TL.

At the same time these classic bands had a musical turnover by 1980 (roughly the beginning of NWOBHM): Judas Priest came with "British Steel", Black Sabbath with "Heaven And Hell", Thin Lizzy with "Chinatown", Motorhead with "Ace Of Spades". If you listen to these bands from the beginning, by 1980 they all had more or less a change of sound probablyd erived from feedback of the musical environment in the UK.

Iron Maiden opened for Priest in due time, but no one will claim Maiden soundded like Priest ever. On the other hand bands like Steel Prophet, Aska, Made Of Iron, Hammerheart, Pharaoh, have definitive Maiden influence.

Wolf to me is a modern old school band influenced of course by the bands that came before them, but I wouldn't go and say they sound like Maiden or Priest, same for Dream Evil (except a song I mentioned before), Sabaton, Helloween, Blind Guardian, Hammerfall, Iced Earth, Angra and countless other bands that started in the late 80's-early 90's (or afterwards) that could have been influenced by a more metal Priest like '83-'90 era.

Now putting all the above aside. If a person is loking for heavy metal without progressive, symphonic, blastbeats, growls, keyboards or other stuff, sticking just to guitars, bass, drums and a powerful singer with heavy, hard, straigth metal edge (similar thus to JP "Screaming For Vengeance" to "Painkiller" era) then many have been quoted already here. And I can throw in the arena some more names that may or not fit under the previous profile: Viron, Black Steel, Pegazus, Bone Shaker, Black Tide, Metalucifer, Creozoth, Force Of Evil, Hellion, Leatherwolf, Marauder, Mesmerize.

 

[ElectricWiz]

Malice - In the Beginning is kicking my ass on youtube

Hellrider

Check out No Haven for The Raven from that album. A cool old school Priest-style ballad (of sorts). I had that record when it came out....and liked it a lot at the time. Haven't listened in years, but was reminded of them recently somewhere.

 

[delize]

Good thread. I'll have to check out a few of the bands myself!

 

[zeppelin]

Try Ravage - The end of tomorrow
Another Priest sound alike band is Ram, go to metalarchives and to their myspace link for a quick listen, but trust me on the Ravage.

 

[labrekk]

Check out the 3 old TYRAN' PACE albums for pure 80s-Priest worship. They feature a young Ralf Scheepers (now in Primal Fear) on vox and are all very good.

Eye to Eye (1984)
Long Live Metal (1985)
Watching You (1986)

Also, the other one I can think has already been mentioned, and it's MALICE. The album In The Beginning (1985) is very 80s Priest-influenced, with the excellent singer James Neal doing his best Halford-like performance. Follow-up, 1986's License To Kill, was also pretty good, but sounded a bit less like Priest IMO.

 

[Bryant]

Another cool band you might dig is Astral Doors. They don't sound much like you would think they do considering the name. The singer sounds almost exactly like Ronnie Dio when he wants to, but the band has a twin guitar attack that sounds quite a bit like Priest. in fact, Priest and Accept have ALWAYS had some of the best sounding guitars in metal, and the Astral Doors guys have that sound as well.


Bryant

 

[zeppelin]

Not the same era

 

[zeppelin]

RAM

 

[rfe77]

Thank you all for your thorough replies

There are certain albums and songs of Judas Priest that I like - "painkiller", Ram it down", "Screaming for vengeance". songs like Johnny B.Goode, I am a rocker, Come and get it, Locked in, Turbo lover and Thunder Road - that's the "style" of Judas Priest that I look for. I don't know if it's heavy metal, speed metal or something else. I would thank you if you can tell me which bands from those mentioned above match this style.

 

[Bryant]

Well, I think my friend Poundingmetal74 pointed out Accept as being at least somewhat in the league as Judas Priest. I think Accept might be right down your alley. Accept started in the mid-70's and released their first S/T offering in 1979. They were pretty much hard rock (though metal for the time period) in style, then progressed heavier as time went on. I think you would be better suited trying to find a band with the same vibe as opposed to one that is a mere knock-off. Give Accept a try.



They prefer not to embed on this video, so all I could give was a link.



Bryant

Thank you all for your thorough replies

There are certain albums and songs of Judas Priest that I like - "painkiller", Ram it down", "Screaming for vengeance". songs like Johnny B.Goode, I am a rocker, Come and get it, Locked in, Turbo lover and Thunder Road - that's the "style" of Judas Priest that I look for. I don't know if it's heavy metal, speed metal or something else. I would thank you if you can tell me which bands from those mentioned above match this style.

 

[Wyvern]

Thank you all for your thorough replies

There are certain albums and songs of Judas Priest that I like - "painkiller", Ram it down", "Screaming for vengeance". songs like Johnny B.Goode, I am a rocker, Come and get it, Locked in, Turbo lover and Thunder Road - that's the "style" of Judas Priest that I look for. I don't know if it's heavy metal, speed metal or something else. I would thank you if you can tell me which bands from those mentioned above match this style.

Well you got quite a mixed bag in there. Most of thee songs you quoted are either a cover or what most hard fans considered the watered-down JP. The material from "Turbo" was made intentionally to appeal the glam sector of USA metal that was gaining steam around 1986. That's not typical JP material (even if I like the album a lot), smae can goes for "Point Of Entry" (1981) another atypical album considering that NWOBHM was taking over in UK.

The most metal side of JP can be divided in three albums IMO, "Screaming For Vengeance", "Defenders Of The Faith" (their best) and "Painkiller". The rest of the 80's albums were transitional from their 70's metal (like "British Steel") or calculated risks in sound change (like "Turbo" and "Ram It Down").