Tom Allom, the kind of producer-engineer who could make a Marshall stack behave, is one of those names you only notice after the speakers stop smoking. I clock him first as a toningenieur on Black Sabbath's early run (1970-1973), then as a producer for Strawbs (1973-1975) before he helped shape the NWOBHM steelwork with Judas Priest (1979-1988: "British Steel", "Screaming for Vengeance", "Defenders of the Faith" through "Ram It Down"). He also put his stamp on Def Leppard's "On Through the Night" (1980) and Krokus' "Headhunter" (1983), and he even returned to Priest later (2009, 2018). When he nails it, the kick drum punches, guitars slice, and the chorus arrives like a door being kicked in.