Painkiller by Judas Priest

Painkiller, the twelfth Judas Priest album, hit the shops in September 1990, and it's the sound of the Birmingham metal lifers coming out swinging harder and faster than they had in years. New drummer Scott Travis, on his first Priest record, opens it with a drum barrage like a jackhammer in a steel mill, and Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing trade scorching leads over Ian Hill's bass.

Rob Halford is in full air-raid-siren mode, shrieking into the stratosphere on the title track, and producer Chris Tsangarides keeps everything sharp, cold and loud. It flirts openly with speed and thrash metal, styles Priest had helped inspire in the first place. It was also Halford's farewell for a long while: he was gone by 1992 and didn't sing on another Priest album until Angel of Retribution in 2005.

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