This article is about the album. For the title, see Fidei defensor

Fidei defensor

Fidei defensor is a Latin title which translates to Defender of the Faith in English and Défenseur de la Foi in French...

. For the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

optional rule book, see Defenders of the Faith: A Guidebook to Clerics and Paladins. For the Christian denomination, see Defenders of the Faith (Puerto Rico)

Defenders of the Faith (Puerto Rico)

Defenders of the Faith is a Christian denomination with a significant presence in Puerto Rico and in the United States. It was formed in 1925 by an interdenominational group of pastors and laymen headed by Dr. Gerald B. Winrod, an independent Baptist preacher. Its main program consists of...

.

Defenders of the Faith is the ninth studio album by British heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Judas Priest

Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...

. It was recorded at Ibiza Sound Studios, Ibiza, Spain

Ibiza

Ibiza or Eivissa is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea 79 km off the coast of the city of Valencia in Spain. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, an autonomous community of Spain. With Formentera, it is one of the two Pine Islands or Pityuses. Its largest cities are Ibiza...

 and mixed from September to November 1983 at DB Recording Studios and Bayshore Recording Studios in Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. The LP and cassette tape were released on 4 January 1984 and later appeared on CD in July. A remastered CD was released in May 2001. Three tracks were released as singles: "Freewheel Burning

Freewheel Burning

"Freewheel Burning" is a song by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, appearing on their 1984 album Defenders of the Faith, and first released as the first single off that album. The EP version of the song contained an extended guitar intro that was omitted on the full length release...

", "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll

Some Heads Are Gonna Roll

"Some Heads Are Gonna Roll" is a song by British heavy metal band Judas Priest, originally released on of their 1984 album Defenders of the Faith, and released as a single later that year....

" and "Love Bites".

"Rising from darkness where Hell hath no mercy and the screams for vengeance echo on forever. Only those who keep the faith shall escape the wrath of the Metallian... Master of all metal."

-- Album back cover

The cover art by Doug Johnson (who also designed the Hellion in Screaming for Vengeance

Screaming for Vengeance

Screaming for Vengeance is the eighth studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was recorded at Ibiza Sound Studios, Ibiza, Spain and mixed at Beejay Recording Studios and Bayshore Recording Studios in Coconut Grove, Florida. It was first released on 17 July 1982...

) depicts the Metallian, a ram-horned, tiger

Tiger

The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts...

-like land assault creature with Gatling guns and tank tracks conceptualized by the band.

"Eat Me Alive" was listed at #3 on the Parents Music Resource Center

Parents Music Resource Center

The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 with the goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.The committee was founded by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice...

's "Filthy Fifteen", a list of 15 songs the organization found most objectionable. PMRC co-founder Tipper Gore

Tipper Gore

Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore , née Aitcheson, is an author, photographer, former second lady of the United States, and the estranged wife of Al Gore...

 stated the song was about oral sex at gunpoint. In response to the allegations, Priest recorded the song "Parental Guidance" on the follow-up album Turbo

Turbo (Judas Priest album)

-Judas Priest:*Rob Halford: Lead Vocals*Glenn Tipton: Lead Guitars*K.K. Downing: Lead Guitars*Ian Hill: Bass Guitar*Dave Holland: Drums-Guests:*Jeff Martin: Backing Vocals on "Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days"-External links:*...

.
Defenders of the Faith is a guitar-related section in Guitar World

Guitar World

Guitar World is a monthly music magazine devoted to guitarists. It contains original interviews, album and gear reviews and guitar and bass tablature of approximately five songs each month. The magazine is published 13 times per year...

Magazine in which Guitar World readers are shown along with personal information. This is referred to as "Defending the Faith".

On the tour for this album, the band had played every song live, with the exception of "Eat Me Alive". On the tour for the Nostradamus

Nostradamus (album)

- Personnel :* Rob Halford – vocals* K. K. Downing – guitars, synthesized guitars, producer* Glenn Tipton – guitars, synthesized guitars, producer* Ian Hill – bass* Scott Travis – drums* Don Airey – keyboards...

album, in 2008, the band played many songs which had never been played live before, one of them being "Eat Me Alive". This made Defenders of the Faith the only Judas Priest album from which every song had been played live (other than the first LP Rocka Rolla), until the 2009 tour where British Steel

British Steel (album)

British Steel is the sixth album by the British heavy metal band Judas Priest, released on 14 April 1980. It saw the band reprise the commercial sound they had established on Killing Machine however; this time, they abandoned many of the dark lyrical themes which had been prominent on their...

was performed in full, in order.

"The Sentinel" was covered by Machine Head

Machine Head (band)

Machine Head is an American heavy metal band from Oakland, California. Formed on October 12, 1991, the group was founded by Robb Flynn and Adam Duce. There have been 4 member changes since their inception. The current lineup of the band comprises Flynn , Duce , ex-Vio-Lence guitarist Phil Demmel ,...

 for the special edition version of their 2011 album Unto the Locust

Unto the Locust

Unto the Locust is the seventh full-length studio album by American heavy metal band Machine Head, released in Australia on September 23, in the UK on September 26 and worldwide on September 27, 2011. The album was produced and mixed by Robb Flynn, and it became the band's highest charting album...

.

Track listing

Judas Priest

• Rob Halford
  Rob Halford
  Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...
  
  : Lead Vocals
• Glenn Tipton
  Glenn Tipton
  Glenn Tipton is one of the Grammy Award-winning guitarists for the heavy metal band Judas Priest...
  
  : Lead Guitars
• K.K. Downing: Lead Guitars
• Ian Hill
  Ian Hill
  Ian Hill is a founding member and bassist for the Birmingham-based Grammy award winning heavy metal band, Judas Priest....
  
  : Bass Guitar
• Dave Holland
  Dave Holland (drummer)
  Dave Holland is an English rock drummer, best remembered from his stint with Judas Priest between 1979 and 1989. He served time in prison for attempted rape of a 17-year-old boy...
  
  : Drums

External links

• Extensive album info