Its got it all: Innovative,psychedelic, heavy, hilarious...
(Rated this album with 10 out of 10) Reviewed by
Daniel Pinto
from Brooklyn, NY USA
This album is so contradictory. Heavy, Psychedelic, Unintentionally funny at times, great musicianship and horrible mistakes, I could go on.This album is all over he map and is best rated track by track. This PRELUDE thing is just plain goofy. Spinal Tap laughs at this, and yet its still holds your attention. It sounds like the song that is playing when your graduating from High School. TYRANT is the beginning of that Priest formula song, you can tell by the extended classiclly styled extra lead guitar thingy at last part of the song. Listen to the drums by the 2nd lead I just spoke of, does Alan Moore have any idea how to play the bass drum, its all over the place, a glaring mistake on the album. GENOCIDE is very strong, and is the only track who's studio version is better than the live version. But oh, that Spinal Tap narritive. "Yet the wounds I bare are the wounds of love". This is exteme corn folks. Spinal Tap refered to this as "The DRUIDS" in STONEHENGE. Still a great track, because of the mosh pit ending. EPITAPH sounds like a Burt Bachrach tune that is sung by Dione Warwick. I'm not joking. Strangly, this song DOES fit in with the Sad WIngs concept as a whole, whether then intended or not. It has a very nice bridge section, and is crafted very well. Island of Domination is another early version of lots of later Priest songs, i bet you know what they are! All these songs sort of fit togther in a nice little story line. I believe this is the Sad Wings concept. Victim of Changes sounds like a stab at Black Sabbath type of riffing, something that dissapeared when Priest got their image together in Stained Class, then it became its own. Dreamer Deceiver and Deceiver are Early Priest at their psychedelic best, and together with Genocide are the standout tracks on the album. So whats the deal with Sad Wings, you ask? Well, its a band searching for an identity. Maybe they didnt know it at the time, but they were succeeding. This is not a party album, and its probably because the band were not successful at the time, had a bum record deal, wore threads that looked like they were salvation army rejects, and had to lug around equipment in freezing cold weather. One interesting note about Priests early songwriting is that emotes a rather dark, brooding, self pity type of feeling, and all this minor key stuff doesnt help. Still I can say that while a million bands sound like late 70's till mid 80's Priest, nobody sounds like early Priest, and that includes the better songs on Rocka Rolla. Interestingly, this is the only Priest album that contains a slight Rocka Rolla-ish approach and sound, while including a glimpse of the Monster songwriters that priest would become. This is also evident in listening to SIN AFTER SIN's Sad Wings style epics while furiously riffing STAINED CLASS style. Stained Class is the apex of their early sound, and the end of innocence, because Hell Bent for Leather is the beginning of the proverbial sell out. Alan Moore is a terrible drummer, he chokes all over the album, the drums are SO ameturish on TYRANT, it has to be heard to be beleived. This is what really holds the album back, by the way. Judas Priest disowned this album because it was a GULL release, which means they dont get paid. 2 words: Psychedelic Metal. One last comment, Listen to DYING TO MEET YOU off ROCKA ROLLA and you'll understand Sad Wings of Destiny and its concept.
