Sad Wings of Destiny

Untitled

Sad Wings of Destiny is the second album by the British heavy metal group Judas Priest, released in 1976. It was the album that would establish the band as a major force in the heavy metal scene (at a time when hard rock and heavy metal music was in a general decline in popularity), and ulimately moved them closer to commercial success. Alongside later albums such as British Steel and Screaming for Vengeance, Sad Wings... is a favourite album amongst Judas Priest fans.

It is considered by fans and critics alike to be the most important and influential heavy metal album since Black Sabbath's eponymous debut in 1970. Whilst the album contained some of the band's early stage material (for instance, "Victim Of Changes" dated back to 1972, and was originally titled "Whiskey Woman"), it was a definite progression in style from their debut album Rocka Rolla. It was also a step forward from the style of early British heavy metal, especially on tracks such as "The Ripper", "Tyrant" and "Genocide", arguably making it the first New Wave of British Heavy Metal album.

The cover art for the album was done by artist Patrick Woodroffe, and was titled 'Fallen Angels'.

Track listing

On the original LP release, the track listing consisted the following:

Side A

1. "Prelude" (Tipton) - 2:02
2. "Tyrant" (Halford, Tipton) - 4:28
3. "Genocide" (Downing, Halford, Tipton) - 5:51
4. "Epitaph" (Tipton) - 3:08
5. "Island of Domination" (Downing, Halford, Tipton) - 4:32

Side B

1. "Victim of Changes" (Atkins, Downing, Halford, Tipton) - 7:47
2. "The Ripper" (Halford, Tipton) - 2:51
3. "Dreamer Deceiver" (Atkins, Downing, Halford, Tipton) - 5:51
4. "Deceiver" (Downing, Halford, Tipton) - 2:46

CD Version

1. "Victim of Changes"
2. "The Ripper"
3. "Dreamer Deceiver"
4. "Deceiver"
5. "Prelude"
6. "Tyrant"
7. "Genocide"
8. "Epitaph"
9. "Island of Domination"

In effect, the CD reissues reverse Side A & Side B of the original LP release. This may have been done, as the extended fade-in intro of "Victim of Changes" and the outro of "Island of Domination" seem to book-end the album better (considering the continuous play of the CD format) when compared to the relatively abrupt intro of "Prelude" and the less dramatic outro to "Deceiver".

Personnel

• Rob Halford: Vocals
• K.K. Downing: Guitars
• Glenn Tipton: Guitars
• Ian Hill: Bass Guitar
• Alan Moore - drums

External links

• Sad Wings of Destiny at the Judas Priest Info Pages site