Leaps and bounds better than their debut as 'Priest' really get it together on this one. Far less experimental than 'Rocka Rolla' as they start to define the style that would bring them to the forefront of Metal. The famous guitar partnership of 'K. K. Downing' and 'Glen Tipton' is really established here, as they lay down crunching riff upon riff and glorious soloing. The song writing featured is phenomenal and 'Rob Halford' rips through the lyrics in the way we have come to expect. If I had one criticism about this album, it would be that it's before it's time. Many of these songs have since been performed live and slightly retooled, especially tempo wise, this has brought many of these classics bang up to date, and hearing the originals on 'Sad Wings of Destiny' makes them sound dated. Ignoring this fact, this is a monumentally influential album and the best of 'Priest's' first three releases.

The epic 'Victim of Changes' opens this classic off in superb style, undoubtedly one of 'Priest's' most intricate numbers that manages to balance melodic sections with crunching riff driven uncompromising early Metal. The bass lines laid down from the outset give this number a hard edge and this is supported by some of 'Halford's' screeching best. Checkout the pace drop for some dark brooding vocals which create a brilliant mid track atmosphere. The tempo is upped for the menacing rocker 'The Ripper', here the vocals rule the show as 'Halford' slaughters the lyrics to a doom laden backdrop- a true early gem but much better live. Following is the balladsy 'Dreamer Deceiver', elements here hark back to 'Rocka Rolla' and despite some solid acoustical guitaring and more superb vocals it comes across a bit sluggish. Much better is the short storming rocker 'Deceiver', an overlooked gem, which is driven by a rapid chug and supports impressive duel guitaring and a stunning chorus- checkout the acoustic outro, interesting. Next up is the brief instrumental 'Prelude' and this sounds like a cross between 'Queen' and 'King Crimson' with it's heavy piano work, not one of my favourites but it leads nicely into the ensuing classic. 'Tyrant' is another majestic offering, this the original version however does sound a bit quirky, but the thumping rhythm and glorious lyrics still make it a cracking track. Continuing in similar fashion is the nasty belter 'Genocide', the live version performed by 'Halford' on his 'Insurrection' album just obliterates. This version while tamer is a fine rendition full of delightful riffs and crunchy rhythm work. Less inspiring is the piano heavy 'Epitaph', to me this really stands out, as its nothing like the other tracks, this is a dull experimental sounding ballad, with elements of 'Queen' especially the vocal harmonies- I usually skip past this one as it sounds nothing like 'Priest'. The album finishes on a high note with the overlooked cracker 'Island of Domination', implicative of 'Rainbow' from the same year as it has that fun galloping rhythm but this is still unmistakable 'Priest.

While a lot of these tracks have been updated, the ones featured here are still classics and 'Sad Wings of Destiny' is the first of many classic for 'Judas Priest'.