Painkiller (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Painkiller


Artist = Judas Priest
from Album = Painkiller
B-side =
Released = 1990
Format =
Recorded = 1990
Genre = Heavy metal
Length = 6:06
Label = Columbia Records
Writer = Rob Halford
K. K. Downing
Glenn Tipton
Producer = Chris Tsangarides
Certification =
Last single = "Johnny B. Goode"
(1988)
This single = "Painkiller"
(1990)
Next single = "A Touch of Evil"
(1991)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Painkiller
Type = Studio album
prev_track =
prev_no =
this_track = "Painkiller"
track_no = 1
next_track = "Hell Patrol"
next_no = 2"Painkiller" is the the first song on British metal band Judas Priest's 1990 album, "Painkiller", and was released as the first single off the album later that year.

The song is about The Painkiller. The Painkiller himself is one of a series of fictional messiahs created by Judas Priest. He is described as a metal messiah sent to the world to destroy evil and rescue mankind from destruction. He is believed to be inspired by the fallen angel from the "Sad Wings of Destiny" album cover that Judas Priest recorded early in their musical years. The most noticeable feature of the Painkiller, besides his metal body is that he rides the metal monster: a motorcycle with a dragon for the chassis and two circular saws for wheels.

The song was covered by death metal band Death on their 1998 album Sound of Perseverance. This version also appeared on the Judas Priest tribute album A Tribute to the Priest. The brazilian power metal band Angra has covered the song too on the album Freedom Call, released in 1996. Also, more recently, the British thrash/power metal band Biomechanical did a cover of the song, featuring Chris Tsangarides, who produced the "Painkiller" album.

The first guitar solo in the song is played by Tipton, and the second final guitar solo is played by Downing.

Rob Halford sings the song almost exclusively in a screeching falsetto, with the exception of the last chorus.

The song is featured in the video game Rock Band 2 and is considered to be one of hardest tracks in the game, being ranked in the last tier of songs on the setlist for all instruments.

Covers

* Black Warrant covered on Recover II (2006) and Recover (1999).
* Death covered on The Sound of Perseverance (1998).

Personnel

*Rob Halford - vocals
*K. K. Downing - guitar
*Glenn Tipton - guitar
*Ian Hill - bass
*Scott Travis - drums