This is the second in a series of books by Wymer Publishing that are the size of a CD case and can sit on your CD shelf next to the CDs by the same band (the classic Rainbow album Long Live Rock n Roll was the subject of the first book). This time around Rock Scribe Neil Daniel’s takes on one of the most classic metal albums of all time, British Steel by Judas Priest.

The book is well written, entertaining, and even features an intro by Guns ‘N’ Roses current guitarist, Bumblefoot. There are stories on the artwork and the background of the songs and the recording of the album; yet, this book is so short that it becomes hard to cover the classic album in its entirety.

There is also a lot of interview material from Judas Priest founding member Al Atkins, who was long gone from the band before their first album hit the shelves, let alone by the time British Steel came around. It would have been much more interesting to feature current interviews with the guys in Judas Priest looking back at this classic time period. That said, the pictures are cool and there are plenty of quotes from the likes of Tipton and Downing.

The bottom line here is that the package is nice and the tale is worth telling.