If Black Sabbath are the grandfathers of heavy metal, then Judas Priest is the father that outdid them in almost every way. If you ask me to show someone what heavy metal is, I won’t hand them a copy of Paranoid or Master of Reality. I’ll instead hand them a copy of Screaming For Vengeance, British Steel, or Painkiller. That’s what Judas Priest means to the heavy metal community. Without them we wouldn’t have a classic look for heavy metal with studs and leather.
Thin Lizzy and Wishbone Ash might have been the first to use the twin-guitar attack, but Judas Priest was the one that solidified it in the heavy metal sphere. K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton were and still are probably the best twin guitarists for any band. It was set to be the 50th anniversary celebration for Judas Priest this year. To make up for those shows being postponed, it’s high time for Judas Priest-A-Thon. The brother to the album by album reviews, Iron Maiden-A-Thon and the cousin to our series of Rush album reviews. You’re going to be getting a Judas Priest album review, every business day, until we’re all through.
As we went over yesterday, Judas Priest’s first album, Rocka Rolla, was not a major success musically or commercially. That album was a production mess. Rodger Bain took too much control over their music. It had some great ideas, but at the end of the day, it’s a relic of it’s time. I found it hard to listen to some of it for that review. Skip ahead to 1976. Judas Priest are still locked in their record contract with Gull. It’s time for Judas Priest-A-Thon to kick into a higher gear and a more classic album, this is Sad Wings of Destiny.
Background On Sad Wings Of Destiny
The band was in dire straights financially. The record company gave them a budget of £2000 for each of the first two albums. They had played a song off Sad Wings, titled “Dreamer Deceiver” on the BBC show The Old Gray Whistle Test. That appearance was equally as NOT Judas Priest as the one shown in yesterday’s review. The BBC had volume restrictions for the bands playing on the show, so they couldn’t get the full experience across to the audience. They still didn’t have their full look yet. No studs. No leather. Rob Halford wore a pink satin shirt that he borrowed from his sister.
Sad Wings of Destiny is Judas Priest. It is heavy metal. If you can hear heavy metal’s birth during the opening riff on “Black Sabbath”, you can hear it growing up on Sad Wings of Destiny. The onus wasn’t on heavy riffs over stoner space rock anymore. It’s about thundering guitar and wailing vocals like Rob Halford’s. The tracks on this album show just how out of touch Rodger Bain was on his producing for Rocka Rolla. You have a wall to wall classic that only “stumbles” once. And that stumble is still a fine Queen knockoff.
This album is a landmark in not only the history of heavy metal but in music in general. It took the groundwork that Black Sabbath laid down and ran with it. If you give it anything other than a perfect score, you’re not listening hard enough. Sad Wings of Destiny gets the highest mark of 10/10. It doesn’t matter that “Epitaph” doesn’t sound like Judas Priest, the rest of the album makes up for it.
The band would look to break their contract with Gull Records after this. This album didn’t sell well either and they were in more financial trouble. That saga would end with the band losing the rights to these first two albums. A large price to pay to get out of a terrible contract.
Tomorrow we’ll get into their next album Sin After Sin. Could they make a followup to Sad Wings of Destiny that lives up to the thunder and power? You’ll have to find out later.
For more on Judas Priest, heavy metal, or any other general pop culture, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.
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