JUDAS PRIEST — Sad Wings Of Destiny (review)

JUDAS PRIEST — Sad Wings Of Destiny album cover Album · 1976 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
bonnek
If you could argue that Black Sabbath is hard rock rather then Metal, then Priest's "Sad Wings of Destiny" leaves no room for doubt, this is pure metal, with soaring twin guitars, dark harmonies, thunderous riffs and piercing leads.

It may not be the first album with twin guitars (the Scorpions come to mind) but it's the first this level of attack and vile mood. The vocals are loud, epic and overstated, and much like the death metal growls of a good decade later, they divided mankind into two camps, lovers and haters of heavy metal. Till Metallica's black album there was little room inbetween. I must have been 15 when I first heard this album (a dedicated fan of prog and opera in those years :) I can tell you I didn't know what hit me, love at first sight for sure.

I know a certain Priest fan that doesn't like this because it is too slow. What the heck, the guy needs to lay off the speed pills. This is the most gloomy Priest album, and one of the few metal albums to get so close to the morbid atmosphere of Black Sabbath's early albums. No metal collection can exist without it. Even with a bit of filler like 'Epitaph' this is nothing short of a masterpiece.
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