Judas Priest: Robert Halford (vocals); Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing (guitar); Ian Hill (bass).

Additional personnel: Simon Phillips (drums, percussion).

Princiipally recorded at Ramport Studios, London, England in 1977. Includes liner notes by Judas Priest.

Digitally remastered by Jon Astley.

Heavy metal neophytes tend to assume that Black Sabbath was the only true heavy metal band of the '70s, but Judas Priest was rocking and riffing with the best of them throughout much of that decade too. In fact, it was such albums as 1977's SIN AFTER SIN that were to heavily influence future thrash metal bands.

Arguably, this is Judas Priest's most consistent album. SIN AFTER SIN's metal version of Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust" has become a Priest classic; likewise the album opener, "Sinner," "Dissident Aggressor," later covered by Slayer, and the surprisingly romantic and low-key "Last Rose of Summer." One of the band's heaviest and most focused works, SIN AFTER SIN leaves most so-called hard rockers of the '70s sounding like the Osmonds.