10 Best Rock Albums That Everyone Forgets About
4. Sad Wings of Destiny - Judas Priest
When Judas Priest first started to mine riffs of their own, metal as a whole didn't really have a name, let alone a genre of music. In fact, most of the material present on their first album Rocka Rolla is pretty much entirely forgettable, being comprised of nothing more than just drafts of the standard blues rock of the time. No, if you want to get a taste of what the Priest debut is, you go to Sad Wings of Destiny.
From the start, you can tell that these Birmingham boys grew up fast, with the guitars having a far greater crunch across every one of these tracks. Without original singer Al Atkins at the helm anymore, the songwriting team of KK Downing and Glenn Tipton became a force to be reckoned with, especially when knuckling down on riffs like on the Ripper.
However, the real killing blow is the arrival of Rob Halford as the Metal God on this album. Though Halford had appeared on Rocka Rolla, these songs are so much more suited to his vocal style, being comprised of arrangements that are designed to be screamed from the word go. Hell, even if metal didn't have a style at this point, the song Victim of Changes is enough to base the entire genre on. Metalheads: stand at attention...this is where the real Priesthood begins.