Painkiller

Released in 1990, Painkiller served as a radical course correction for Judas Priest following the polarizing, synth-heavy Turbo and the uneven Ram It Down. By recruiting drummer Scott Travis, the band integrated a double-bass drumming style that pushed their sound into the realm of speed metal. Recorded at Miraval Studios in France, the album features a cold, clinical, and immensely powerful production style that became a blueprint for European power metal. It is famously the final album of Rob Halford's initial tenure, and he delivers a career-defining performance, utilizing a high-pitched, aggressive rasp that pushed the limits of the human voice. Critics from AllMusic and Sputnik Music often cite it as one of the greatest metal albums ever made, praising its technicality and its successful synthesis of classic metal tropes with modern aggression. It received a Grammy nomination and remains a foundational text for the power metal and traditional metal subgenres.