After releasing their first two albums on the small Gull label, Judas Priest grew dissatisfied with what they saw as a lack of financial support from their record company.

[9] After a few weeks of struggling with unsatisfactory recordings, the band recalled Glover and the sessions began anew, with only six allotted days remaining.

[10] The album includes a cover of the Joan Baez song "Diamonds & Rust", a decision which was encouraged by Glover in the interest of adding a track with commercial potential.

Indeed, "Diamonds & Rust" was the first song by Judas Priest to receive radio play, and Baez herself reportedly enjoyed the cover.

As session drummer Simon Phillips had commitments to another band, he declined to join Judas Priest as a permanent member.

An acquaintance of producer Glover, Binks was able to play double bass, and was one of the few drummers who could replicate Phillips' drum parts live.

At home, they also faced a somewhat hostile reception or were outright ignored by a music press which was at that time heavily focused on the new genre of punk rock which swept Britain in the late 1970s.

In 1997, Mat Sinner formed Judas Priest soundalikes Primal Fear whose lead vocalist Ralf Scheepers had been on a list of singers under consideration as the replacement for Rob Halford.