Judas Priest – Killing Machine

Nice sounding piece of vinyl here. Good balance. Sounds great cranked up. Good power in the mids and lows with the highs cutting through.

Interesting remaster. It's like a CD was recorded in 1978 straight from a master tape.

I read that the red vinyl limited edition was pressed around 15,000 copies, was released on February 23, 1979, according to the Music Week article I found!

https://www.worldradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-UK/Music/Archive-Music-Week-IDX/IDX/1979/Music-Week-1979-02-24-IDX-4.pdf#search=%22killing%20machine%22

The second of the top 3 Judas Priest albums IMHO. Basically the studio versions of the classic live Unleashed in the East is what we have here. One of THE Godfathers of heavy metal that's for sure. Sounds different than the OG but I wouldn't say better or worse just a different kind of good.

Just listed Variant 5 (bought from Amazon past month) - no sticker or code, anyone else ?

Bought my copy of this six years ago. I have no problem with it, but I am using quite high-end stylus and other equipment. An OG sounds better, but if you can't find a NM copy in a thrift store, I'd go for this one. It is also nice to have the original studio recording of Green Manalishi, which is not on the OG European Killing Machine record.

If you have problems with it, my advise is to try and clean it with distilled water and isopropanol + water agent (Ilford Ilfotol). The latter ingredient takes care of the static. Your copy, if bought today brand new, could be static. After cleaning, put it in a anti-static polythene inner, e.g. Mofi variant or similar. I've made many records playable by just doing this practise. Records that I thought were damaged.

Great-sounding disc, but "Green Manalishi" is messed up and has a stereo balance issue (the left channel ist too low in volume). Too sad.

Agreed, the reviews of this aren’t helpful.

I’ll say it: I’ve compared this against an original UK. And the staging, imaging, and detail of this pressing easily beats it. Plus you get Green Manalishi.

A good one from MoFi.

-Sounds just like the defenders of the faith reissue.
-muffled and distorted.

I just got this today and after one listen I am very disappointed. The lead off track Delivering The Goods sounds good but not great. The rest of the album fluctuates in volume and sounds very muddy. This is a classic Priest record that I love. I’m honestly not sure if I got a bad pressing or if the mfg simply did a poor job. Either way my copy does not do the album justice.