Sinner

The song seems to be about Aliester crowley

He called himself "the beast"

One of his main objectives was to get us destroy the idea of sin. To "sin all you want" cuz in the end, sin is just a restrictive idea. He rallied against the christian idea of sin as much as any other of his pet notions top destroy (he felt himself on a mission to rid the world of christianty)

"Sacrifice to Vice" is such a cool line, one that uncle al would have truly dug.

He intentionally tried to be the sinner to top them all.

HOWEVER, the most clear clue is in the lyric "30 years now sleeping"....

Crowley died in 1947, and sin after sin was released in 1977. 30 years..

I dont usually find priest to have many crowleyan references, but this one is a sure thing.

If you read and know crowley, the song is almost an anthem of what the man was about.

classic prest very catchy very good

Whats that thing Rob Halford whispers in the chorus? It sounds something like, "desification", but I'm really not sure.

The chorus to the Witchery song 'The Reaper' sounds like it was lifted from this. I could be generalizing it though.

What this song means? Who is the Sinner?

Great song, heavy and I especially like the break where the song slows and the vocal phaser is used.

I think the song is about "war" in general, and my hint is the "30 years now sleeping" as the treaty signed in haste by Athens, with Sparta. Sparta was becoming a huge and powerful nation-state with trade and logistics and a smart population ruled by military, and Athens was a cradle of artistic and philisophical enlightenment; you can guess which side was afraid of the other. The sinner is Mars, the God of War, who required a "sacrifice" from farmers and citizens each year or else war would return.

That's my two cents! \m/ \m/

The part "30 years now sleeping" at the last line identifies what or whom was sleeping, "the beast", which has been awakened is now moving around.

I don't hear "war raises his head" I hear a sound like "uh-raises his hea-ead" Halford often he does that sort of thing with words. "well-raises" may work. Maybe it is war. War would still be ok, since crowleys "book of the law" had plently of war in it.

Crowley was read by plenty of people in the 60's and 70's, and people took him seriously.

They even tried to make his vision of mankind come to pass. (I say they suceeded, but thats cuz e I know Crowley to have wanted man to be free, and thats what came to pass. at least more freedom than before. All the evil nonsense was just shock and mis-representations.

Musicians were a big part of spreading the gospel of crowley.

I don't try to find crowley in everything. I am an even headed person, not all about crazy connections between things.

This instance is just one where it fits, exactly fits.

I wouldn't have said this if I wasn't nearly sure of it.

I guess there is quite a bit of evidence that the song is about Crowley. Because of the '70s style chugging rhythm I assumed the "Sinner" was a motorbike rider. I more or less a assumed he was character that Judas Priest created like "Exciter", "Steeler", "Painkiller" and others. Based on religious tradition of course.

Rob, like a lot of metal singers, sings as though he's warning everyone of some impending doom though at the same time you can hear the fun in his voice. I have to ask, are preachers in church any less entertainers when they stand on a stage yelling about hell and sin?