Sad Wings of Destiny

Obviously I can't talk about how this stacks up to the rest of their catalog, even though I have 6 of their albums on vinyl, but it's a great album and the best from them I've heard so far.

It's full of innovation, as far as I'm familiar. Rob Halford has an unmatched screech akin to a petrified woman, which works perfectly on The Ripper, and it even sounds good on the slower ballads on which he, more often than not, lowers his pitch and controls his voice well. The double guitar is also a decision that made their sound much richer, and put the whole "interplay between two guitars" on the map.

The whole album is very dramatic, heavy and made with a lot of passion. Usually we say Black Sabbath is the originator of heavy metal, which is true, but I'd say Judas Priest, and by extension Sad Wings of Destiny, is the origin point of mainstream metal. The leather, screeching, kind.

The only gripe I have has nothing to do against the music, but against the yahoo who decided to put the prelude on the end of side A, and Tyrant on the beginning of side B on my vinyl copy. Thankfully a friend had a spare copy without a cover that fixes that!