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Judas Priest > Point of Entry > Reviews
Judas Priest - Point of Entry

Priest's first mid album. - 59%

TrooperEd, November 20th, 2023
Written based on this version: 2001, CD, Columbia Records (Remastered)

So Judas Priest get their first taste of commercial success with British Steel, and hey, every band likes to eat, so why not go even further down that route? Yeah, Priest is committed to aping AC/DC (along with Def Leppard) at this point, but even AC/DC knew they couldn't get away with things like You Say Yes and Troubleshooter (Rob predicting IT departments?). But there's no internet message boards to complain about how we're selling out, we'll totally get away with it, right?

Well they would, if half the songs weren't so crappy. This is more or less No More Hollywood Endings about a century beforehand and well, selling out only works if the product sells. Metallica, this is not. Even Rob Halford admits some of these songs were lame. But you know what? The other half are just as good, if not better than the stuff on British Steel! At least in terms of commercial Priest. Anyone expecting Exciter, Dissident Aggressor, or even a Rapid Fire will be left wanting. Strangely enough there aren't any ballads here either. The sound is surprisingly heavy for what they are trying to do, with a very noticeable amount of low end in the guitars. The rhythm section sounds about the same, as does Rob Halford's voice.

The best songs on here are Solar Angels, Desert Plains (although the live version as a bonus track is viciously more on point) and surprise On The Run. Heading Out To The Highway is a killer track as well, but the definitive version is on Priest...Live! Then you have Don't Go, which I affectionately put in the "so dopey you have to love it" category, in no small part to its incredible AOR chorus.

For years I thought this was Priest's worst album, but after giving it another once over it's only half bad. Just don't make it the first Priest album you buy.

Priest Go Chill & New Wave - 79%

Luvers, April 2nd, 2023
Written based on this version: 2001, CD, Columbia Records (Remastered)

Point Of Entry, I think the best way to sum it up, is it wasn’t really what people expected from Judas Priest. It was an attempt, again, to try and broaden the acceptability of metal…

Those are the exact words of chief Judas Priest songwriter Glenn Tipton in 1993 regarding the band's seventh studio album, Point Of Entry. One that is consistently ranked as the lowest among fans. The proverbial punching bag of the bands historic catalogue. But why is an album well received upon release and supported by the largest tour the band had up to that point receive such flack among Priest and general metal fans these days? If it was in a single word? Inconsistency.

It is no doubt expected when one puts on a metal album that metal blasts through their speakers. Practically all metal bands know this and make sure to check off every box that would firmly plant the product into its expected place in the musical library. As I have stated in every Judas Priest review however, this rule does not apply to them, expectations should be curbed when anticipating new Priest. If consistency(see: monotony) is what someone is after then throw a dart at the millions (and millions!) of generic metal bands flooding the market.

There is no more shallow an outlook upon Judas Priest then, “This song/album does not sound like Judas Priest.” - What does that even mean? How does a band that specializes in eclecticism ever have a consistent ‘sound’? A band that ruthlessly curb checks the very notion of routine. To use another quote from Glenn Tipton regarding the band: "The Identity of Judas Priest has always been to have no identity."

See most bands take a few albums before identifying and honing their strengths; then spend the rest of their career seldom, if ever, venturing out of that territory. Once the members become middle aged, the band becomes a nostalgia act and only their most celebrated time period is accounted for in retrospective shows. Judas Priest could not be any more of an antithesis to that description unless they had tried ever harder to do just that. They never wanted their twelfth album to sound like their third album, instead wanting each to be their own artistic statement. This is not something only attributable to the overall presentation due to differences of era but this eclecticism applies to the albums themselves, this is why one gets so many strange and ludicrous moments on otherwise brilliant albums(Epitaph from Sad Wings, Last Rose from Sin After Sin, Burning Up from Killing Machine, United from British Steel, Love Zone from Ram It Down etc…). To be fair, everyone can still dislike these oddities, which are not quality just because they are different, but it does go a very long way in enriching the bands extensive catalogue.

Point Of Entry is another album in a long line by Priest that leaves both longtime fans and new listeners in complete bewilderment. However if one puts in just the slightest bit of effort, they will see this record is not completely different from the rest of their 80s output. There is a Judas Priest album for any mood you are in and Point Of Entry sounds best when unperturbed. That sounds at odds with the whole idea of metal but it is a perfect backing soundtrack for any open air activity, hence why both album covers - though below average - adequately portray the mood of the album; unencumbered by nothing as the open road beckons you further. Where it all goes awry for most people is that the production lacks a great deal of tension or tenacity. Even with this very real criticism this is still a rather fine album with some interesting ideas spread throughout, but this is not a declaration that the album is a masterpiece however. Oh no, it is not without dull moments, this is Judas Priest after all. The inconsistency is deliberate.

Heading Out to the Highway kicks off the album because it is the most commercially viable song of the platter, but it is still one of the weaker moments. There are no solo breaks to speak of and the riffs are extremely simplistic, though it is unique to hear a 1981 heavy metal hit song embrace overwhelmingly positive and inspiring lyrics, it sounded like Priest ventured into Triumph territory. All the Way and You Say Yes are a bit of goofy filler, though the latter does have a wildly interesting swinging Jazz rhythm and interlude. All three songs have the most simplistic riffs the band has done since Rocka Rolla and two of the songs do not feature solos at all. These three are not really bad but just dull, no, the albums only real horrendous moment is the second track, Don’t Go. How this song reached the album and became a single with a music video shows management failed to understand the target audience. The amount of effort put behind a boring song is another of Priest’s baffling decisions in a career full of them. Don't Go's instrumentals suck, vocals are terrible and the music video is abhorrent. The best evidence to how awful Don't Go is would be how it stacks up with the song immediately before(Heading Out To the Highway) and after(Hot Rocking), which were also released as singles, accompanied by a music video, and played live. The latter was brought back live after being retired twice while the former has been a live staple for all but one subsequent tour, yet Don’t Go has never been performed live, even once. The song is among the five worst of Priest's career and I think they realized this after releasing the album. It knocks off a good 15 points just by itself, is borderline offensive.

It might seem by me signaling out four songs for being filler or outright awful and all having the one correlation of simplicity that I'm criticizing said aspect but while the album is incredibly simple by the standards of Judas Priest, being simple is not an immediate cause for disapproval. Take the aforementioned Hot Rocking, besides being a great speedy rocker, the songwriting prowess is very similar to the bands celebrated “S” trilogy; only with all the excessive weight which bloated that material to beyond popularity trimmed away. The riffs here are sharper, leaner and pack more muscle than in the past, but I suppose that should all be ignored because it was not a nine minute epic with twelve interchangeable guitar solos, right? … Judas Priest had done those before and everyone has those albums for such an experience, here they were simply giving fans a different flavor. Besides the powerful Hot Rocking, other highlights include the insanely catchy, Ian Hill driven Funk of Turning Circles, or bluesy but bruising closer On the Run.

While I may have written that simplicity is not immediately bad, it is when the songwriting places most of the responsibility for carrying the compositions on the singer. It takes a special kind of vocalist/performer to make bland material worth hearing, which is why the music should have the focus. This is a moot point however when you not only have Rob Halford behind the mic but also giving one of the strongest performances of his career. The range as a songwriter and singer are more on display here than throughout a bulk of the bands 80s output. His very poignant and personable vocals of Desert Plains elevate one of the bands most underrated classics to the albums defining moment. The song also showcases one of Dave Holland’s best percussion efforts, especially when mixed with the studio ambience and slower pace than the live performances. It features the staple twin axe attack dueling against each other, particularly with K.K.’s guitar sounding like a grinding engine. This song could have fit on Killing Machine just as easily as on Defenders Of the Faith.

Between ambient sound effects, vivid lyrics with colorful imagery and largely synth-driven there are two other highlights, which showcase the 1981 contemporary (hint: very popular) New Wave influence the most. An influence that created two underrated gems; the bruising but slick heaviness of Solar Angels and the irresistible groove of Troubleshooter. They both also have simplistic riffs but exist to create that patented groove that allows the virtuoso guitar wizards to redefine their twin axe attack. This was not Judas Priest losing their way, it is simply Judas Priest at their most relaxed and subdued.

This last point is slightly irrelevant since it is in no way part of the original Point Of Entry, but I am reviewing the 2001 remaster and wish to point out a glaring misstep by the band on this famous reissue. It comes with a studio bonus track, Thunder Road, which sounds woefully out of place and this is due to being from sessions a full six years later for Ram It Down. Now the song could have been released with the Ram It Down remaster since it never got a studio bonus track and they could have included the bands absolute breakneck version of On the Run, with spit-fire rapid vocals and an extra lead break. Why that was left off this remaster - as well as never released to the public - will remain a mystery. To really put a fine point on this debacle with the song Thunder Road is that it was not just written during the Ram It Down sessions, it was meant to be included on that album, but was chosen for removal at the 11th hour to make room for the bands cover of Johnny B. Goode. Now since Thunder Road was released in 2001 Priest fans have found it to be, at worst, just another song or, at best, a classic; meanwhile Johnny B. Goode has always been seen by fans as an embarrassment while seen by production as a failure since it will be forever tied to the commercial bomb that was the movie of the same name.

This album is far better than a lot of the public give it credit for but is definitely not some underrated masterpiece. Some of the criticisms are easily viewed by even the most ardent Priest fan. The album is generally slow or mid paced and everyone is set on a cruise control, but these are not reasons to hate it.

Highlights: Desert Plains, Troubleshooter, Solar Angels, Hot Rocking
Lowlights: All the Way, Heading Out To the Highway
Embarrassment: Don't Go

A rock city in the middle of the desert! - 80%

Forever Underground, July 14th, 2022

Is Point of Entry a bad album? For a long time it seemed that the response from the majority was yes, with many Judas Priest fans still not tolerating this album because of its heavy hard rock leanings and excessive commercialism to enter the US market. And although to this day there are still numerous fans who are not convinced by this album, its status has been changing little by little and more people have been appreciating and changing their perception of the album, I was one of those who for a long time ignored this album and on the rare occasion that I listened to it I did so with indifference, finding it to be an inferior piece in Judas Priest's vast catalogue.

Still it is not an album that is completely ignored by the band itself, Heading Out to the Highway is a classic in the band's live performances, and I think this is because this is an album that was in what could be defined as "Judas Priest's commercial and musical prime" as it is the album after the classic British Steel and the album before the classic Screaming for Vengeance, so in a strange way the greatest virtue and at the same time the greatest disadvantage of this work was the time in which it was made.

What do I mean by this? Well, one of the ways in which many works are perceived is depending on the moment in which they were made, or in other cases, what an artist did before and after, the best comparison I can think of is with Megadeth's album "So Far So Good So What", which is by no means a bad album but can be seen as a very weak one if you compare it with what came before "Peaces Sells" and with what came after "Rust in Peace". Point of Entry suffers from the same syndrome, as much as I like this album it is impossible to compare it with the titanic releases Judas Priest made during that era. But this is something vert easy to observe, what surprises me is that so many people can believe that in such a prolific era for the British band, as the 80-83 one, they could produce a bad album.

If there is something the band has proved during their long career is that they are capable of making solid music in different fields, from their beginnings with progressive tints, through different eras playing with speed, glam or groove metal, and even in their most recent era with the incorporation of traces of power metal. Why would it be any different when they tried to get into hard rock? In fact this tendency already existed in their music since "Killing Machine", if anything in this work they went deeper into this trend, perhaps too inspired by what they did in British Steel because there are several patterns that are repeated, as the rhythm before entering the chorus of "All The Way" which is very similar to the one in "You dont have to be old. ..", the intro of "Troubleshooter" is the same as "Living After Midnight" or the reggae-influenced beginning of "Turning Circles" is the same as "The Rage

And even with all these similarities the album has its own identity and is full of hits, songs like "Solar Angels" "Deser Plain" or the already mentioned "Heading Out To The Highway", which also gives us one of the best riffs in history to start an album, are masterpieces of hard rock arranged to the extreme in every detail and with a number of hooks in different segments of the songs that make them a must for any fan of the British band. The songs are so catchy that even stupid and simplistic songs like "You Say Yes" work thanks to a solid performance by all the members, of course they are a type of song that is not up to JP's great pieces, but I can't help but admire the Birmingham boys ability to turn almost any song into an accessible and incredibly memorable one, "You Say Yes" is probably the best example of this but it's not the only one of its kind, "Hot Rockin' " or "On The Run" show the best side of the heaviest and most iconic hard rock possible.

If only all that glitters was gold, and not even that desertic atmosphere, which invites you to take the car and immerse yourself in a journey without a destination with this album in the background, will prevent it from having its compendium of songs that, even for a less demanding standart like the one on this album, are quite weak. Songs like "Turning Circles", "All The Way" or the single "Don't Go" do the same as the rest of the songs but without that unparalleled display of genius that the band had at the time, they are the uninspired songs on the album and the ones that will frustrate anyone who is not really enjoying the record at first. Yes, "Point of Entry" is far from perfect, and some of the critics are justified, but every time I listen to it I can't help but think that it is also far from being the weak and passable album that many would have you believe. Judas Priest's seventh album is a solid must-have for any fan of the band and hard rock in general. JP does not disappoint, and even less so in that golden era.

Missing the Point - 35%

TheHumanChair, May 10th, 2022

After the huge success of "British Steel," Judas Priest took all of their weight and threw it fully off the cliff into the pop-rock cesspool. Where "British Steel" followed a recipe of ingredients to make a dish blended with metal and more commercial elements, when they were making "Point of Entry" they accidentally spilled the entire bag of commercial into the stew this time. There's close to nothing worthwhile or salvageable about "Point of Entry." It is an embarrassment of a record that satisfies absolutely no one fully. There is no doubt in my mind that "Point of Entry" is in contention for the worst Priest album of all time. There's only one that I think is close to the same level as "Point of Entry's" levels of bad. And spoiler alert for you...it isn't "Turbo."

This is another review that I'm really not thrilled to be doing because I'm going to sound like a broken record. There aren't all that many tracks on "Point of Entry" that are so terrible that I can dissect and point out all of the flaws to and solidly say "this is where this went wrong." Every single song is just so simplistic to the point where it insults your intelligence listening to it. It's horrible in the sense that it's painfully boring. Again, I almost WISH there were moments where the record was awful that I could tear to pieces. But it's just so insanely dull. Almost every song just blends together in your mind. You can listen to this album all the way through and then look back at the track list and not be able to point out one thing unique about each individual song.

I'm going to start with the few things about the record that I find tolerable. "Desert Plains" is the only track across the entire record that is almost a genuine song. There's emotion to the song, and that makes it stand out. Halford sounds extremely sad and nostalgic. The verses have a solid build to the chorus, and Halford excellently uses his high notes to accent the chorus and make it feel real and explosive. "Desert Plains" isn't a standout Judas Priest song, but it's the ONLY fully solid thing on "Point of Entry." "Don't Go" is the only other song that's even close to a full song, in my opinion. It's pretty boring like most of the record, and me saying this doesn't at all make it a decent song, but it actually builds, which is a great breath of fresh air. It has a slow, measured verse melody and then fires away with a rather catchy chorus. It's maybe the only other time where a song on the record has even the smallest bit of depth.

The last glimmer of positivity on the entire record is that the chorus of "You Say Yes" is unfairly catchy. It's catchy in almost a primal way that hits a raw nerve. Now, the song is still horrible and goes nowhere, but that chorus is just...begrudgingly solid. Halford really sells it with both his high notes and layering vocals. This record has worse than "You Say Yes," but it's still not great. Every time I listen to the closer "On the Run," it gets my hopes up, too. The opening riff sounds like genuine Judas Priest. The bass that comes after it makes you feel like a real song is coming but...it's all a façade. The chorus has some of Halford's really serious high notes, and there are spurts of guitar flourishes here and there that hint at real Priest but there's nothing that comes together about it. It has the same swinging cliched beat as almost the entire album, and besides those few small glints of beauty, it just chugs along with mediocrity.

On the flip side, the only song that is flat out painful to listen to is "All the Way." It is hands down the worst track on the record, and it's in contention for worst Judas Priest track of all time. I can BARELY finish it. I'm gritting my teeth and closing my eyes the whole way through because it is so painful to listen to. Halford rambles across the beginning of the song like he's a bad MC at a wedding you don't want to be at. He sounds lost and out of place. The chorus sounds like it's trying to go for a southern rock style and is so painfully bad. It's so uncomfortable hearing the band so out of their element. They SOUND uncomfortable playing this song. There aren't many songs that leave me begging for it to end more than "All the Way." It's close to torture inducing. The following track "Troubleshooter" is also painful, but not quite as bad. In the world of music, someone's lover/partner has been called almost every euphemism or analogy in the book. Calling that person "My little troubleshooter" is in the top ten for worst of these ever written. Couple that with the fact that the song is boring and repetitive, and you have a perfectly skippable experience. It's really bad.

I don't really have that much to pinpoint about many of the other songs on the album. They're all the same. They almost all have the exact same beat and the exact same formulaic progression to them. The riffs are always stock generic parts that are just made to be background noise for whatever ridiculously off the mark chorus they came up with for that particular song. Some are more painful than others, and some have the smallest hint of being a genuine song than others, but they all are just a blur of generic nonsense. The thing about being commercial is that, for the song to stick, there needs to be SOMETHING about it that holds an audience. A chorus, a chant, a particular line that the masses can cling to and scream out like the writers were writing the song specifically about them in their delusional brains, but SOMETHING. You can't just write songs with no substance and somewhat of a catchy chorus and think you'll get away with it. "British Steel" hit the mark in that regard. Yet "Point of Entry," which is trying harder than "British Steel" did, whiffed entirely.

"Point of Entry" isn't bad because it isn't traditional Judas Priest. It isn't bad because it's not 'metal.' It's bad because it's cliche, formulaic, and boring. There's not a good idea to be had. The fact that the band is completely out of their element is just the final nail in a well established coffin. I've met fans that are like "Oh, it's kind of overlooked," and I want to ask them. What are you looking for that you found here? I can't even recommend this album to someone that just wants catchy rock songs, because there's not even much about it that's catchy. In every single facet, this album is one that simply doesn't need to exist. Fortunately, Judas Priest learned their lesson from "Point of Entry's" failure. At least for a time. Following this, the band would have vengeance and instill us with faith again. They kicked and screamed to defend their honor, and with that, they came out with some of the best material of their entire career.

There's no point - 55%

Xyrth, March 28th, 2021
Written based on this version: 2001, CD, Columbia Records (Remastered)

I often wonder which is the worse Judas Priest album with Rob at the mic, and the final duel seems to be a showdown between Turbo and this one, their seventh studio LP, Point of Entry, an entry (no pun intended) in their catalogue that leaves much to be desired. Though both represent low points in their overall discography as well as lackluster attempts at banking at the trends, they have one big contrast in approach. Whereas Turbo shows a desire to experiment and broaden their sound by incorporating the synthesized sound of mid-80s and hair metal sensitivities, Point of Entry is firmly entrenched in classic hard rock tradition and eschews any innovation. The Metal Gods' entry into the new decade was met with commercial acclaim, as the iconic British Steel catapulted them fully into worldwide success, but musically it wasn't nearly as inventive and groundbreaking as their previous decade material. So their decision to hone into the style they believed would entice them more quid was only logical… from a financial point of view.

Point of Entry feels as if Judas Priest were traveling back into the 70s, but not on the same road by which they arrived into the 80s, rather, alternate routes already traversed by other bands previously. And while, since their inception, the Metal Gods weren't strangers to hard rock, they always complemented their influences with their signature harder and faster traits. Here there's a blend of low energy and creativity-deprived riffs and ideas stuck in excruciatingly monotonic mid-tempo and already concocted by the likes of AC/DC, UFO, Thin Lizzy, ZZ Top, Ted Nugent and others with far better results. Only the guitars' tone and The Metal God's voice remind us that this is actually a Judas Priest album, although the production values are not as pristine as on British Steel. Had this been marketed like a 'tribute' of sorts to those bands and their seminal 70s works, perhaps I would give it a higher value, but as a 'brand new' Judas Priest album, it ends up pretty short of the quality mark they had previously established… as well as what they'd accomplish farther into the future.

However, like most of the Priest's works, Point of Entry is not entirely without some solid moments, though for me personally, there's basically only one from this release worthy of my time; opener “Heading Out to the Highway”. I mean, I enjoy AC/DC despite the fact that they've released the same album over an over since forever, so why not? The thing about this track is that it displays some catchiness and swagger the rest of the compositions here entirely lack. Yeah, it isn't really energetic or outstanding, but at least you can wave your fists and (mildly) bang your head to it. Rob's voice and the double axe-team guitars are the highlights (surprise!), and even though the song is mid-paced the riffs carry enough drive to make it quite enjoyable, along with a short and simple solo and a brief harmonic passage of those beloved dual-guitars. Tom Holland manages to provide a few cool fills to an otherwise plain performance here, and the good ol' Ian Hill is as dependable as usual. A B- tune for a A+ band, that's the sole oasis in this desert for me.

The rest of the tracks range from totally boring and skippable to somewhat listenable from time to time, those latest being “Desert Plains” and “Solar Angels”. The first one heralds some of the things to come in Turbo, both in style and themes, and the second appears to be a similar but much less powerful “Metal Gods”, seemingly describing UFOs instead of tyrannical robots. Again, it's the Holy Trinity of Rob-Glenn-K.K. the engine that provides just the sufficient potency for this pair of compositions to avoid remaining stranded in the wasteland of oblivion, though neither would enter my 'Priest Top 50 Best Of' playlist. The remaining 25 minutes are composed of rehashed music which I simply won't waste time and finger movements to describe. If you happen to listen to the bonus material from the 2001 remaster, you'll be transported right to Turbo with “Thunder Road”, which actually fits the original style of this record quite well, and is in fact superior to most of its original tracks. The live rendition of “Desert Plains” is also amusing, much more aggressive that the studio version. In any case, I wouldn't recommend to purchase Point of Entry in any version, it's just too dull. There's really no point.

Simply Underrated - 95%

Sekrys, October 13th, 2018
Written based on this version: 2012, CD, Sony Records Int'l (Reissue, Remastered, Japan)

Here I am again, reviewing another maligned and disliked Judas Priest album, and giving it a great score like the other ones. At this point I think my musical tastes may be out of whack, but whatever. Point of Entry, of course, came out about a year after the successful British Steel album. While British Steel is pretty much a hard rock/heavy metal album (though I would consider more hard rock), Point of Entry finds itself being a much more brisk and more poppy rock album. Though this does sound bad on paper for many, I think Judas Priest almost perfectly created a great commercially viable record that is fun and enjoyable to listen to.

To me, Judas Priest's strength has always been more so their song crafting prowess rather than their technicality. This is especially obvious with their 80's albums. The songs on Point of Entry are very representative of this fact. None of them are technically demanding at all (except the vocals, naturally). Each are a little short in length, and none exceed 5 minutes. However, they all are packed with awesome melodies and brisk guitar work. I think the greatest example of this is the first song on the album, Heading Out to the Highway. It has a relatively simple but catchy main riff, and the vocals take center stage throughout the song. All parts of the song, though, work together. And this brings me to the main reason why I like the album so much: It's very consistent, but each song is unique and fun. Even silly ones like You Say Yes are just stupidly enjoyable and I can't help but love the song. Don't Go, while being dismissed by others as being too much like an AC/DC song, is also a very groovy and great tune, and so is Troubleshooter. These are the best songs on Point of Entry.

The other great thing about Point of Entry is its production. Simply put, it is the best out of any of their albums. I heard they did this album while in Spain in some barn house makeshift studio. Apparently that's the secret to success in this field. The production isn't horribly different from British Steel, but the guitars have a bit more "crunch" to them (I think), and the album is also a bit more echoey and atmospheric, which benefits it a huge amount, in my opinion. Ian Hill is also very audible, probably the most he ever has been on a Priest record (along with Rocka Rolla, British Steel, Nostradamus, and Demolition).

As mentioned previously, individual performances are the tamest they have ever been on a Priest album. Riff wise, I suppose British Steel is not really much more complicated, but on that album a lot more power chords are used, as opposed to Point of Entry. Ian Hill's bass lines are still simple, but nice to hear. Dave Holland has always received criticism towards his drumming, often being compared to Phil Rudd, but it works really well here, as the album is simpler as a whole. Rob Halford, however, has not slowed down at all. In fact, this album some of their best vocal moments, just look at the choruses of Desert Plains and On the Run. He did a phenomenal job on this record. My really only criticism of Point of Entry are its lack of a lot of guitar solos. They could have used a lot more.

I want to devote a small paragraph to the bonus track on the reissue, Thunder Road. Supposedly, it was replaced on Ram It Down by Johnny B. Goode, so there would be a single or something. Let me say, that was a horrible mistake. Thunder Road has to be one of Judas Priest's greatest songs. From the nice sing-a-long lyrics (just listen to that first verse), and to the epic chorus and solo, it makes no sense why they would have chosen to get rid of this song over others like Heavy Metal or Love Zone. But, that's how it is, so make sure to listen to this song!

Point of Entry is a very unlikable album to many JP fans; a result of the fact that it is their least metal album besides maybe the debut and Turbo. If approached with an open mind, however, Point of Entry is actually a really stunning example of Judas Priest's versatility. I recommend this album to people who love great melodies, and to those who listen to normal rock music. And to those that don't like either, please give it a chance; you may very well change your mind.

Turning Circles - 75%

Chernobog, July 21st, 2014

I'm not sure why Judas Priest chose to go for a more radio friendly, road trip feeling hard rock approach for "Point of Entry", but it feels like a 180 degree turn from where they were, especially when you consider the direction that heavy metal was going with fellow countrymen Iron Maiden leading the way. True, their previous albums "Killing Machine" and "British Steel" boasted a cleaner production and radio potential, but they both clung to the metal speed of their late 70s material. With "Point of Entry", Judas Priest took those musical principles to their next step, resulting in an album that, in spirit, is not far off from their debut, "Rocka Rolla".

Not that this album is a total throwback, of course. For one thing, this album has a more consistent musical vision than "Rocka Rolla" could ever have. Obviously, the production is cleaner, and Judas Priest are at this point fairly comfortable with the idea of utilizing myriad sound effects in their production. But in spirit, this album is not far off from the spirit of their debut, in it's aim to make feel good hard rock perfect for airplay. "Don't Go" has an AC/DC feel in the music and Halford's vocal delivery and "You Say Yes", "All the Way", "Turning Circles", "Hot Rocking" and most of the other songs on this album would not be out of place if they were played on the Sunset Strip, while "Heading Out to the Highway" and "On the Run" feel like the song you play to footage of bikers traveling across the American desert. The only songs that appear to dissent from this platform are "Solar Angels" with a somewhat foreboding riff and fantasy lyrics, and "Desert Plains", where Halford's vocal presence is strong as ever, and he remains the highlight of the album. "Heading Out to the Highway also has a nice twin guitar solo worthy of K.K Downing and Glen Tipton's talents as musicians.

"Point of Entry" isn't exactly what one would call a fan favorite, and along with "Turbo", this album is usually ignored or derided by die hard fans. As with "British Steel", I feel like one's opinion would be based primarily on whether or not they can appreciate the type of sound Judas Priest is going for, let alone whether they can tolerate metal gods Judas Priest performing this sound. I can't give it my highest recommendation, based purely on personal preference, but I can't condemn it either. At the most, this has a few good ideas here and there, but it feels like a step back or two for Priest. Especially when you consider that this is the band that damn near revolutionized the heavy metal genre.

First (but not worst) attempt at being popular - 73%

Brainded Binky, June 23rd, 2014

In the 1970's, Judas Priest was adored by their fans, but was maligned by music critics. Their heavy, angry, and fast heavy metal musical style was simply too much for a lot of people at the time, so for some reason, the band decided to take their music further. And by further, I mean they tried to make their music more pleasant-sounding to mainstream audiences. In doing so, they made a few sacrifices, and those sacrifices kind of watered down their music, and turned Judas Priest, a heavy metal band, into just a plain-old hard rock band. Still, it would not be their last time in trying to sell out, yet it certainly wouldn't be their worst.

For starters, there is the fact that the tempos on all of the songs on here aren't as fast as songs on previous albums. You never get a song that's as fast as "Exciter". In fact, the song "Don't Go" is actually pretty slow, a complete nasty surprise for any diehard fan. Time signatures aren't the only thing to be cut down to size with the making of this album. The band decided to cut back on using aggressive power chords to keep their songs driving. Instead, a few of the albums songs use basic chords to make a sort of late 70's hard rock sound. As a result, we end up with incredibly goofy, if not idiotic, songs like "You say Yes". It's a song that doesn't sound like anything you'd expect Judas Priest to come up with, even though they had hit the charts with "Living after Midnight" just a year earlier. "All the Way" is kind of the same way, too, and the cheesy factor of it is topped off with the way that Rob Halford sings the verses. It sounds like he's trying to sing a Creedence Clearwater Revival song or something. This really isn't like Judas Priest at all. Their fans expected the raw power and fast and aggressive tempos that they were familiar with, like in "Rapid Fire", not this.

Believe it or not, despite these shortcomings, there is actually something that can actually be enjoyed on this album. You can still find remains of the Judas Priest that we know and love on this album, unlike "Turbo", which would come five years later. "Hot Rockin'" is the closest thing we get to good old-fashioned heavy metal that Judas Priest is known for. Like I said, it's basically the track with the fastest time signature on the album. While it's not as fast as we hoped it would be, it still manages to have that same driving pace and sheer force reminiscent of "Breaking the Law". "On the Run" also has that Priest-style heavy metal vibe, for it's one of the few songs on here that features the crunching riffs that mirror anything on "Hell Bent for Leather". It's proof that while this album is a more commercial approach made by Judas Priest, they still have soft spots in their hearts for the music they made famous.

On the other hand, though, this is also Judas Priest's most commercial effort in the early 80's, therefore, there has to be something expected in more commercial music. Sing-along choruses appear in great numbers on "Point of Entry", and some can get irritating to some degree. You'll hear them in songs such as "You say Yes", "Don't Go", and even the hard rockin' "On the Run". At least the last one isn't as moronic as the chorus to "Turning Circles". That one's got an "a-ha, a-ha" that is repeated over and over, and usually when something goofy like an "a-ha, a-ha" or a "na-na" gets repeated, it causes the song to be a disgusting earworm. Priest has used sing-along choruses before, but never to the extent we have here on "Point of Entry". The sing-along choruses that do appear on the album aren't all bad, for "Heading Out to the Highway" still seems to be pretty decent, even with a catchy chorus. It's got kind of a nice hook to go along with it, too, and okay, I admit, the chorus is actually kind of decent, as opposed to "Turning Circles". I think the chorus of "On the Run" is even better, though, for it leans more towards Priest-style heavy metal than any other song on here.

Sure, this album has more of a commercial direction, but believe me, there is still some good on here. The album isn't terrible, in my opinion, it's just different. Yes, we get songs like "Don't Go" that don't quite fit, but at least we can enjoy a little bit of Judas Priest's magic while listening to the album. It's different, but it's definitely not the very worst Judas Priest album ever created, not by a long shot. At least "Point of Entry" tries to sound like Fleetwood Mac instead of Boy George, like "Turbo" would.

Everybody breaks down sooner or later - 72%

autothrall, May 7th, 2012

Of all the Judas Priest records up to and including Painkiller, Point of Entry probably received the worst rep. Turbo was more of a divisive side step, clearly it had some great songs and ideas, but not all fans were on board. With Point of Entry, it was more a case that it didn't have a blazing array of hit singles like the two albums before it. The band also moved a fraction further along the axis of accessibility here, and thus there's a bit more of a laid back hard rock vibe throughout the songs, even more so than was heard on British Steel. Clearly the band wanted to write an album of broad hooks and limited aggression, fit for cruising large open spaces like the implied desert/computer paper roadway of the (US) cover, and I think to that extent it's a success. But inevitably, it resembles its predecessor in having a selection of wonderful tunes offset by some obvious filler that proved anything but inspiring, and the ratio of the latter to the former is higher here.

"Heading Out to the Highway" is the only track that most people I know play any lip service to, a straight and somewhat dirty rocker with a glorious chorus that celebrates personal initiatives in life. Motivational metal, but the riffs aren't all that heavy despite the spacious, slicing tone Downing and Tipton draw from their axes. My favorite cuts are actually those in the middle of the record, "Desert Plains" and "Solar Angels". The airy picking and resonant vocals definitely feel like a desert blues, but especially in the former I love the effects created over the chorus and Halford's loner, drifting delivery. "Solar Angels" has some riffing patterns similar to "Heading Out to the Highway", and once again they throw a brief flurry of wild electronic effects which foreshadow Turbo but add a necessary atmosphere to balance out the rather predictable riffing. Of the rest of the songs, however, the only ones I pay much attention to are "Troubleshooter" for its fun, choppy hard rock riffing and "You Say Yes" for that climactic, if silly chorus melody. Others like "Don't Go'" and "Turning Circles" are bland and would be difficult to distinguish from bands like KISS or AC/DC if not for Halford's timbre.

Sonically, this is an album that favors the convertible owner. Roll down the top and just let these songs pound off into the dusty night as you race down the dusk. Internal landscape stereotyping lends me to believe that this would be a far more effective album for a road trip in Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada or California than the band's native United Kingdom. But then, that makes sense, because they wrote and recorded this on the summery Mediterranean isle of Ibiza, and it definitely carries that seasonal aesthetic to it even if it seems better suited to larger stretches of desert than an island. Unlike the previous records, this was more of a sporadic creation of mood, and in a way it's more conceptually unified and consistent than most of their records (save the 1990 magnum opus Painkiller). The guitars and vocals are set just right in the mix, the drums solid and comfortable, the bass taking a backseat to the rest. I wasn't impressed with the leads on this disc but then neither was I all that enamored with them on British Steel. In one ear, out the opposite.

Point of Entry is indeed one of the least impressive of Priest's early offerings (about equal with Rocka Rolla in quality), but I feel like the negative reactions are often misrepresented or overinflated. It's still an enjoyable disc if you're in the proper mood or environment to experience it, even if the riffs and vocal hooks don't match up to the five albums leading up to it. Hell, I'd still take this in a heartbeat over any of the middling-to-crappy studio efforts the band released post-Painkiller, but there's no denying that around 50% of the content is stodgily average for a band who's prior ambitions launched them into the metallic stratosphere. If you're not on a desert drive, with time to kill, then there's not much reason to visit more than a handful of the songs. The lyrics are in general quite pedestrian. I should point out too that all of the best tunes here are remastered for the Metalogy boxed set compilation (2004) where they sound superior.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Priest's commercial direction starts to pall. - 58%

Warthur, November 16th, 2011

After the success of Living After Midnight and Breaking the Law singles from British Steel, Priest went for an album in a similarly radio-friendly style, taking those two songs as their inspiration. And, to give full credit to them, some of the songs on here are pretty good - Heading Out to the Highway and Hot Rockin', in particular, are decent up-tempo pop-metal pieces which wouldn't have seemed out of place on the previous album or as B-sides to the preceding singles.

However, that's not to say the album doesn't have issues. Fact is, the third single - Don't Go - is a plodding clunker, a stab at precisely the sort of classic rock delivery the band had otherwise left behind after Rocka Rolla. A similarly retrogressive approach can be heard on Turning Circles, Desert Plains - and, for that matter, most of the rest of the album. This is a disappointment considering that even on the commercially-leaning Killing Machine and British Steel the band had still managed to forge ahead and continue to expand the boundaries of metal, whereas this time around they seem happy to simply retread old ground and mimic more typical classic rock styles.

This difference is probably why this album gets a bad rap from Judas Priest fans, because going from British Steel to this is admittedly a bit of a shock, but I wouldn't say it's the absolute failure that it's often painted as. The fact is that even though it's a classic rock-influenced pop-metal album, it's a classic rock-influenced pop-metal album performed by Judas Priest, and even though they were giving their creativity a rest this time around, the musicianship on display is still second to none - and Heading Out to the Highway is a catchy song. But even though I would say that Point of Entry is a notch better than Rocka Rolla, I'd still rather listen to any of the albums between them rather than this one or the debut.

Fire and Forget - 65%

ENKC, June 27th, 2008

Released between their greatest commercial successes in the form of British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance, Point of Entry seems to have ended up as the forgotten cousin in the Priest discography. While a success in its day, it hasn’t stood the test of time well, and frankly it’s not hard to see why.

That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with it per se. Far from it in fact. The songs on here are mostly decent hard rock tracks very much in the vein of Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather and British Steel. The problem is that it comes across as more of the same.

It’s like listening to an entire album of the lesser known songs off British Steel but without anything that leaps out and grabs you as immediately and effectively as the distinctive riffs from Breaking the Law or Electric Eye. It’s hard to be more specific about tracks, because they’re mostly good but all so forgettable.

Ironically, the album doesn’t really kick off until it reaches the bonus tracks, which are available on the 2001 remaster. Thunder Road is to my mind the forgotten classic of 80s Priest. It’s also another example of the bizarre bonus track choices made with these remasters, as it was actually recorded during the Ram it Down sessions!

So while it doesn’t belong on this record, Thunder Road nonetheless shares the outstanding production and song writing on the inconsistent but occasionally brilliant Ram it Down. It starts off sedately enough, then dives into a long sequence of traded solos and vocal brilliance that has to be heard to be believed. In short, it’s a highlight.

The other bonus track is a live recording of Desert Plains that takes the fairly bland and pedestrian original and injects it with immensely more power and energy. One wonders how Priest keeps dragging up such obscure live tracks yet hasn’t made a decent live album since the 70’s. It’s worth hearing, but don’t buy the album for it.

In short, Point of Entry is a ‘listen and forget’ sort of album. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing special either. Pick it up if you see it cheap or you’re a Priest completist (in which case, good on you). Otherwise, don’t panic.

Not bad... - 73%

Uebermensch, January 26th, 2008

... but not especially good.

This one takes a lot of pounding even from hardcore fans of the band, and it's pretty easy to see why: this record is the culmination of the pop-metal style pioneered by the band on Killing Machine. It's also the last record Priest would create in that vein; following the critical failure of this album upon its release the band would return with a 'vengeance' on the follow-up. Nevertheless, Point of Entry is not bad for what it is, and I regard it as far superior to the other 'infamous' album by this line-up, Turbo.

The most famous track from this album is also the opener, and "Heading Out to the Highway" is just as good as any other opening track that Priest has recorded. It captures succinctly the feeling of traveling through the desert to escape from the modern world, a feeling that any metalhead worth the title can agree with. The next track, "Don't Go", is much more atypical of Priest, with a strange clockwork grove to it which has earned it the hatred of many fans. I thoroughly enjoy it nevertheless, even the oddly proletarian vocal delivery of Halford. "Hot Rockin'" closes out the trifecta of singles from this album, and it sounds essentially like a slightly more metallic successor to "Living After Midnight" from the last album, with the same vapid party theme and the same instrumental virtuosity.

"Turning Circles" opens with a strange guitar line that sounds almost to me like something an alternative rock band would play, but quickly evolves into a tolerable, if not especially memorable, slow burn. "Desert Plains" is one of several oddball songs on this piece, sounding interestingly enough like late-60's psychedelic rock ala Iron Butterfly recorded somewhere in Death Valley (note: this album has a definite 'arid' atmosphere, and does a pretty good job capturing it). One of my favorite tracks on the record. "Solar Angels" opens with a tremendous chugging sound before erupting into an even sunnier psychedelic rapture than the preceding track. Halford's vocal delivery has rarely been more emotional or powerful than here, and combines with the music to create what I can only call a sun-baked, spiraling cathedral of sound. This, together with the previous song, is my favorite cut on the album.

Unfortunately the record takes a tremendous dip in value with the last four pieces, with not a single song being note-worthy. "Troubleshooter" seems to be regarded in certain circles as a 'lost classic', but I don't buy it. "On The Run" is occasionally listed as a fan-favorite also, but it sounds to these ears as a fairly generic piece of power-rock with an interesting vocal line which alone redeems it from mediocrity. None of these cuts are particularly bad, just not rave-worthy. This would itself be admirable -- if this were not Judas Priest.

On the whole, I'd not recommend this to anyone not already a fan of the group. It has quite a few gems, but also a lot of baggage. I will say in its favor that it is not nearly as 'poppy' as many make it out to be, and sounds more experimental than anything else. A worthy buy for the long-term Priesthead, but it's not going to be winning any converts any time soon.

Point of Contention - 66%

DawnoftheShred, November 5th, 2007

One of the most often derided Judas Priest albums, Point of Entry marks the precise moment when the band stopped sounding like themselves and became mostly indistinguishable from the brunt of 80’s hard rock acts like Krokus, Helix, and Foreigner. Though the shift to the hard rock sound began as early as Killing Machine, this album was the full realization of that movement. The result: a poorly written and uncharacteristically unoriginal Priest album that while catchy enough that it isn’t rendered unlistenable, still sticks out like a sore thumb in what would otherwise be a strong era in the band’s history.

For an album that was designed to be commercially appealing, it has an ironic lack of hit singles when compared to the band’s other 80’s albums. The only real hit is album opener “Heading Out to the Highway.” Rightly so, as despite the song’s simplicity, it’s catchy enough to stand up to past classics like “Living After Midnight.” Unfortunately, this simplicity, while charming here, will soon become overly apparent in the succeeding tracks. All the songs have very simple structures. All the songs have simple riffs and solos. Worst of all, the songs all have terribly simple drumming. Dave Holland, acquired for the British Steel album, proves himself to be one of the worst things to ever happen to this band. While his plain, fill-fearing style was tolerable on that album, his lack of talent becomes painfully apparent on subsequent albums, Point of Entry included. The effect is a bit diminished for this album, but only because nobody else is performing up to standard either. Glen Tipton and KK Downing write the bare minimum in riffage with not a memorable solo between them; playing generic hard rock leads that Angus Young could oust even on a bad day. Ian Hill plods along unremarkably, as usual. Even Halford fails to utilize his high register or his ability to write convincing, memorable melodies.

But even with the mediocre presentation, a few gems still shine through the rough. “Heading Out to the Highway” is obviously one of them, while the upbeat, catchy “Hot Rockin” is less so. As previous reviewers have stated, “Solar Angels” is one of the album’s highlights, being the heaviest and featuring one of Halford’s better vocal performances. “Desert Plains” is also indicative of the band’s past glory, carrying a bluesier atmosphere than most of the tracks on here. The rest, other than the blatantly straightforward yet subtly groovy “Don’t Go,” is textbook definition meh. Hair metal Judas Priest style, without the metal or the style.

Like most of the mediocre albums I review, I can still jam out to this without shame. But it’s not an album that I would ardently recommend, especially to fans of the heavier, better Priest albums. Hey, at least it’s better than the Owens years…

Not very metal, but still fun. - 77%

hells_unicorn, February 20th, 2007

Judas Priest has had their share of ups and downs in the opinions of many, be it the Ripper Owens years according to core Halford enthusiasts, the Turbo album according to fans of their heavier music, or this album due to its implicitly light subject matter and heavy amount of rock elements. “Point of Entry” is different from its recent predecessors “British Steel” and “Killing Machine” primarily in that it contains a lot of radio friendly and repetitive rock songs with rather fluffy and happy lyrics. When one forms an opinion on any album, one must obviously take into account personal taste, and in the case of this album one must have an equal affinity for NWOBHM and LA style cock rock.

“Don’t go”, “You say yes”, “All the Way” are among the more repetitious of the cock rock mix on here. The riffs are fairly simple, there is very little variation, and the primary focal point of the arrangement is the vocals. Halford’s vocal interpretation on these are mostly a mid ranged to somewhat high approach, but nothing quite like the high end screams heard on “Beyond the Realms of Death” or the aggressive low end approach of “Delivering the Goods”. “Turning Circles” and “On the run” are the happiest sounding of the bunch, the former being all but completely removed the stereotypical metal image of aggression, while the later is heavily blues inspired but with a solid high end performance by Halford.

“Hot Rocking” and “Troubleshooter” are also cut from a more cock rock format, but contain the necessary balance of riff variation and lead majesty to make them a cut above the rest. The former in particular is an enjoyable listen if you like up tempo early 80s rock with plenty of soloing. The latter carries some resemblance to the other 5 songs, but has a stronger chorus and a bit more variation amongst the various parts. One truly sad aspect of this band that is further magnified amongst all 7 of these songs is the utter lack of bass work.

Among the more metal tracks on here we have all the essential elements for a set of Judas Priest classics. “Heading Out to the Highway” has the edge over all the songs on here in the riff department; this was definitely a fine way to start the album. “Solar Angels” is the heaviest track on here, from the phaser driven guitar intro to the slow and straightforward song that follows. “Desert Plains” is my personal favorite from the bunch, mostly because Iron Savior has written several choruses similar to this one, “Wings of Deliverance” being the most similar though quite a bit heavier.

Core fans of Judas Priest mostly tend to hate this album because of the lack of heaviness and aggression. But for those of you who liked bands such as Motley Crue, Dokken, and the Scorpions there are plenty of songs on here that are highly comparable to what they did during the 80s. If you like your metal hard and heavy, the best place to find the 3 truly metal tracks on here will be on the Metal Works 73’-93’, so unless you are a rabid Judas Priest collector that would be the place to go. People may rip on this release, but I like it and still occasionally pop it in for extended road trips.

Shockingly bad - 10%

Fatal_Metal, November 15th, 2006

This album is undoubtedly Priest's worst, worser than Turbo, Demolition and Jugulator combined. The strangest part about the album is that it starts off incredibly - 'Heading Out To The Highyway' is an awesome catchy opener although it too shows a more streamlined side of Priest. After hearing this track, I had (falsely) believed that all the critics were wrong. If this was what the album was like, it would definetly have joined its legendary predecessors on stage. Unfortunately, every other song on the album with the exception of On The Run are easily among Priest's worst. You pretty much get this right off the bat after the opener, Priest deserve a huge thumbs up for being considerate enough to tell the listener right away that they're going to suck, and do a really thorough job of it. 'Don't Go' is among the albums worst songs (an honour indeed!) with an incredibly repetitive half-riff and irritating vocals - this is a failed attempt at the antics of the psychedelic 70's. In fact, that's what a lot of the album sounds like - pseudo psychedelic 70's rock. Songs such as 'Desert Plains', 'Solar Angels' and many moments on the album are a complete blues-fest with a lot of meandering riffing in a failed, vomit-inducing attempt to rehash the glory of acid rock.

The entire album is boring, meandering, repetitive and has no place in a discography of a band like Priest. 'Troubleshooter' is probably the worst song on the album and a top contender for worst Priest song ever along with other abominations like 'Abductors' (Jugulator) and 'Last Rose Of Summer' (Sin After Sin). Quite a tough contest indeed, as Priest may very well be (with the exception of their efforts till British Steel and Painkiller) the most inconsistent band ever and have a fetish for ruining albums with some totally vapid songs that have absolutely no place in it. We pretty much have nothing to cheer about except the opener and the closer. On The Run finishes the album off rather strangely. After all the sewage we've been through listening to this wreck, we've come upon a gem which ranks among Priests best! With an amazing vocal delivery, soaring chorus and great riffing this one just burns the entire album to ashes and flys away - leaving you stunned and unable to recover.

Well, the album can be summed up with three words - boring, repetitive and awful. If you have the remaster, it contains two nice bonus tracks - Thunder Road and a live version of Desert Plains. Thunder Road is a nice hard rock number that should have made it onto the album. Desert Plains which is quite boring on the album absolutely slays live. Priest have always been one of the best live bands out there, live even their worst stuff shines through. This is due entirely to the bands contagious energy when they perform with the guitars, vocals, drums and in other words everything on absolute overkill. In fact, the definitive versions of the songs on their studio releases are the live versions - such as Tyrant, which ruled on Sad Wings but was turned into a juggernaut in Unleashed In The East. So one would do good to hunt down as many Priest bootlegs he can, they're better than the studio releases!

In conclusion, stay clear of this release. Download Heading Out To The Highway, On The Run and the two bonus tracks and that's all you'd ever need from this wreck.