About The Song
Defenders of the Faith is the ninth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 13 January 1984 in the US[13] and on 20 January 1984 in the UK. The album was certified platinum by the RIAA,[13] and spawned the singles “Freewheel Burning”, “Some Heads Are Gonna Roll”, and “Love Bites”.
Defenders of the Faith was recorded at Ibiza Sound Studios, Ibiza, Spain, and mixed at DB Recording Studios and Bayshore Recording Studios in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. The LP and cassette tape were released on 13 January 1984, and the album appeared on CD in July. A remastered CD was released in May 2001. Simultaneously with the album’s release, the band kicked off their tour in Europe, with the bulk of concerts taking place in North America during the spring and summer.
Stylistically, Defenders of the Faith did not greatly depart from its predecessor and featured a similar formula of short, up-tempo metal anthems with stadium shout-along choruses, although progressive elements returned on some tracks such as “The Sentinel”. The track “Rock Hard Ride Free” is actually a re-working of a track entitled “Fight for Your Life”, recorded during the 1982 Screaming For Vengeance sessions but not included on that album.
The album was an immediate success, only going one spot below Screaming for Vengeance on the US Billboard 100 Albums Chart. Some critics nonetheless objected to the lack of a standout single comparable to “Breaking the Law” or “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’, and the album’s general similarity to Screaming for Vengeance.
The 30th-anniversary release of the album (released in March 2015) came with a double CD of a live show recorded on 5 May 1984 at the Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California on their Defenders of the Faith Tour and was originally recorded for a radio broadcast.
Video
Lyrics
Along deserted avenues
Steam begins to rise
The figures primed and ready
Prepared for quick surprise
He’s watching for a sign
His life is on the line
Sworn to avenge
Condemn to hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel
Dogs whine in the alleys
Smoke is on the wind
From deep inside its empty shell
A cathedral bell begins
Ringing out its toll
A storm begins to grow
Sworn to avenge
Condemn to hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel
Amidst the upturned burned-out cars
The challengers await
And in their fists clutch iron bars
With which to seal his fate
Across his chest in scabbards rest
The rows of throwing knives
Whose razor points in challenged tests
Have finished many lives
Now facing one another
The stand-off eats at time
Then all at once a silence falls
As the bell ceases its chime
Upon this sign the challengers
With shrieks and cries rush forth
The knives fly out like bullets
Upon their deadly course
Screams of pain and agony
Rent the silent air
Amidst the dying bodies
Blood runs everywhere
The figure stands expressionless
Impassive and alone
Unmoved by this victory
And the seeds of death he’s sown
Sworn to avenge
Condemn to hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel
Sworn to avenge
Condemn to hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel
Sworn to avenge
Condemn to hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel
Sworn to avenge
Condemn to hell
Tempt not the blade
All fear the Sentinel