Review

A stone-cold heavy metal classic.
After an inauspicious start, Judas Priest took heavy metal to a new level of precision and darkness with Sad Wings of Destiny, an epic album that balanced technical musicianship with take-no-prisoners brutality. The record opened with the textural nuances and complex guitar work of “Victim of Changes” which immediately shattered the stereotype of metal musician as unsophisticated rube. Tracks like “The Ripper” and “Tyrant” proved they could also destroy like unsophisticated rubes. Only Iron Maiden would have equal influence on the next decade of metal.