I must admit that I find it ridiculous that Painkiller seems to be the bar that all Priest releases are compared to, as if Painkiller is Priest's crowning achievement, which I don't believe it is. Not taking anything away from it, but it's not even in their top 5 in record sales. I think that Painkiller is what a lot of fans hang their hat on because of the last several releases prior to Painkiller. I mean, let's face it, Turbo, Priest Live and Ram it Down were hardly (IMO) setting the Metal world on fire. Then comes Painkiller, a wonderful album that put Priest right back in the realm of relevancy once again, then Halford leaves. In most fans opinion, Painkiller was the last true Priest release until AoR, so Painkiller was all there was for 15-16 years, that's a long time for any band. In a way, I think that's why SFV was as great as it was. After British Steel we had POE and a lot of us thought that was disappointing and caused the band to lose a little momentum (even though it performed well in sales, but I think that was an after effect of BS), then Defenders in '84 in which it would be 6 more years 'til the great Painkiller. I will say this about Painkiller though, it's very rare that an album receives such high praise from the public being the 12th studio release, most bands aren't around for 12 albums. Painkiller should have came after Defenders and they could have skipped over Turbo and RID...but history is what it is. Painkiller, from 1984 to 2005 is the only great Priest effort (IMO), and that is why it gets the attention it does.
