Judas Priest - The Best of Judas Priest

The Best of Judas Priest boils more than five decades of British heavy metal down to ten essential tracks, a single-LP crash course in the band that helped define how the genre looks and sounds.

Issued in 2026, the collection leans on the run of records that turned Priest into icons. You've Got Another Thing Coming represents the arena-conquering Screaming for Vengeance era, and Breaking the Law comes from British Steel, the album that sharpened their sound into short, stinging anthems. Along the way the set also draws on Killing Machine, Turbo and Defenders of the Faith, covering the classic years from the late 1970s through the mid-1980s.

Rob Halford's operatic wail and the twin-guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K. K. Downing drive the classic material. Painkiller still opens with one of metal's great drum intros from Scott Travis before Halford hits notes that seem to defy physics, and Crown of Horns, from 2024's Invincible Shield, shows the band still writing big, melodic metal deep into their career.

For newcomers, this is the most direct way into a catalogue that can feel daunting. For lifers, it is a lean, no-filler sequence built to be played loud, from the first riff on side one to the last.