10 Things Only Old School Heavy Metal Fans Will Understand

It's been more than 40 years since Judas Priest's first album, Rocka Rolla, was released, and since then, the band has proven to have more lives than a cat and more shades than a chameleon. More than any other legendary Heavy Metal act, Judas Priest has managed to change with the times, with the band - and frontman Rob Halford in particular - experimenting with different kinds of music and trends to produce a sound that always manages to feel timely.

The band's early albums - which still stand as some of their best - had a strong bluesy sound, but that changed into (and helped pioneer) more of a Classic Metal feel in the late 70s and early 80s. In the 1980s, the band continued to experiment, releasing Turbo, a more "glam"-oriented album that offered a Kiss-like sound in places. Largely considered a failure, Turbo and the subsequent Ram It Down led critics to eulogize Priest, but 1990's Painkiller, a speed metal triumph, made the band instantly contemporary again.

Halford left Priest in 1992, and while the band recruited former Judas Priest tribute band singer Tim "Ripper" Owens as his replacement, Halford kept trying new things. One side project, Fight, used an even heavier sound, while the Trent Reznor-produced Voyeurs by 2wo was a great piece of Industrial Metal. 

When Halford returned to Judas Priest in 2005, the band continued making high-energy, classic-feeling music. Their most recent album, 2014's Redeemer of Souls, even brought back some of the blues sound they had once used.