10 Greatest Rock Music Album Covers Of The 1980s
6. British Steel - Judas Priest
British heavy metal giants Judas Priest had started to make a name for themselves in the late 1970s, but really took off thanks to this release from the year 1980.
British Steel was the band's sixth album and their first to reach the UK top ten. It also made waves in America, going Platinum across the pond.
How many Americans bought it thinking it was a product of the actual steel company of the same name? We'll never know.
Perhaps they were drawn to the record's imposing album cover, which was designed by Polish artist Rosław Szaybo. It features a hand bursting out of the darkness with a giant razor blade between its fingers.
The razor, which carries both the name of the band and the album title, pops off against its dark surroundings, drawing even more attention to its sharp edges.
The way the hand holds it is so careless, like it could slip and cut it at any time. This gets over how the band wanted to be seen; dangerous rock 'n' roll mercenaries.
A 30th anniversary cover was released showing the razor blade covered in blood, but that probably wouldn't have gone down so well at the time.