I’m gonna take a guess that you might not know who Al Atkins is. But
I am damn sure you know the name and have probably heard the music of the band
he created. Atkins was the lead vocalist, founding member and, according to
the man himself, the one who came up with the name for Judas Priest.
Way back in the Midlands of England, in the late 60s and early 70s, bands such
as Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Budgie, and a whole host of others slogged their
way to varying degrees of local stardom, while a few went on to claim world-wide
recognition. Al Atkins was there at the beginning of one of heavy metal’s
biggest influences. He tells the story in the very lush, yet easy-to-read Dawn
Of The Metal Gods: My Life In Judas Priest And Heavy Metal.
Atkins wrote and sung for many bands, but most notably, he was the frontman
for Judas Priest, versions one through four (bet you didn’t know there
were that many incarnations of Priest, did ya?). It’s his unique insights
into the early hard rock scene in the U.K. and his particular knowledge of the
ins and outs of early Priest that makes this book so much fun to read.
Some of Atkins’ compositions even appeared on the first few Priest albums,
and he keeps check and comments (usually positively) on Priest’s continued
successes while relating his own mid 70s trials and tribulations. The singer
truly played with or at least crossed paths with anybody who mattered on the
scene, from Robert Plant and Jimi Hendrix to the many members who came in and
out of Judas Priest. Even his band Lion played a gig with the Sex Pistols!
For me, it’s his time before Priest, the late 60 and early 70s, and the
period that followed his divorce and move to Europe (the late 80s) when he began
producing his solo albums, that provided the most riveting passages in the book
for me.
There’s no doubt that Atkins is a tenacious dude. He has sung, played
and written rock music for a long time, and though he reached the big-time stardom
of Judas Priest, he is a true star in his own right who survived to tell a very
entertaining story in Dawn Of The Metal Gods: My Life In Judas Priest
And Heavy Metal.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
