Hell Bent for Leather

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Hell Bent for Leather

Studio album by Judas Priest
Released	November 1978 (UK) March 1979 (USA)
Recorded	1978 at Utopia, Basing Street and CBS Studios in London
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	45:51
Label	Columbia Records
Producer(s)	Judas Priest & James Guthrie
All Music Guide link
Judas Priest chronology
Stained Class (1977)	Hell Bent for Leather (1978)	Unleashed in the East (1979)

Hell Bent for Leather (UK title: Killing Machine) is the fifth studio album by Judas Priest. They released it in November of 1978 in the UK but it wasn't released in the US until March, 1979. The album was Judas Priest's first stab at a "different" sound, and was created at about the same time that the band members adopted their now-famous "leather-and-studs" style.

When "Killing Machine" was going to be released in the US, the American branch of Columbia/CBS did not like the "murderous implications" of the album title and it was re-titled Hell Bent for Leather for Stateside release. The track "The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown)", an early Fleetwood Mac cover, was added to the running order, as it was not on the UK release. The album was remastered in 2001, with two bonus tracks added. The bonus track "Fight For Your Life" was the "original" version of Judas Priest's "Rock Hard, Ride Free" from their Defenders of The Faith album.