10 Best Opening Tracks In Metal

Judas Priest were riding high at the start of the 80's with the release of their breakthrough album British Steel, whose tracks would go on to become heavy metal anthems. As they ventured further into the realms of metallic soundscapes, the start of the band's 1983 album Screaming for Vengeance showed that they had only just begun to kick ass.

With the instrumental track "The Hellion" featuring the twin guitar brilliance of Glenn Tipton and KK Downing, the song quickly erupts into "Electric Eye," whose riffs hit you like a smack in the mouth. Coming around the same time as the emerging thrash metal scene, this song was extremely ahead of its time with its breakneck speed and chaotic solos that would later be seen in younger bands from Anthrax to Metallica. Above the chaos, frontman Rob Halford commands the song with his terrifying lyrics from the perspective of a Big Brother-esque machine that has come to stomp out any potential threat to the greater good.

In just one track, the Priest commandeered metal music with a song that packed more punch than many other bands could muster in an entire album. All of a sudden, the entire metal scene was preaching the Gospel according to Judas Priest.