Sad wings of destiny (1976)
Still not quite aware that their record label was piss-poor and also crap at marketing them, Priest returned with their second album. It also bombed, and left them ekeing out a living while surviving on a starvation diet, unsure as to whether they would ever make it or if they should just jack it all in and give it up as a bad job. No wonder this album is so dark, with titles like “Dreamer deceiver”, “Epitaph” and “Genocide”, with the album cover depicting a fallen angel and of course the word “sad” in the title of the album itself. It's really hardly surprising the album went nowhere; their entire budget from Gull Records was a mere £2000, which increased by a factor of thirty plus when they moved to CBS in 1977.
A grindy, Sabbathesque guitar opens “Victims of change”, with Halford still trying to imitate Plant and the production still terrible; I can hardly hear his vocals here. Well, they get a bit clearer in a moment or two but they start off virtually as a faint echo. There's definitely a dark, doomy feel to at least this track, and it's quite long, almost eight minutes, so really, given the poor performance of their debut, a song that long was going to have to be a real winner. And it's not. This could be Led Zep by any other name. There's even a stop-start midsection, and while Downing's guitar rules, it's not enough to save this song, and I doubt enough to save the album. Still, it's something to listen to at least. Nice bluesy section near the end and it starts to pick up until Halford gets possessed by the ghost of our Robert again.
“The Ripper” has much more teeth, possibly one of the first metal songs about a killer? Maybe not, but this was well before Maiden and Slayer, so who knows? Again I'm not mad about Rob's voice here: this song needs a snarl, a growl, and a sense of menace. I don't get that from him at this point. Things slow down for “Dreamer deceiver”, with an acoustic guitar from Downing, a gentle vocal from Halford, which actually works quite well. Some superb guitar work as the song actually intensifies and becomes more than a ballad, and is in fact so far the only track I've liked on the album. “Deceiver” then (drop the “dreamer”) rocks along in a chugalong way, then there's an unexpected classical piece in “Prelude”, where Glenn Tipton excels himself on the piano, before we head into “Tyrant”, which though fast is absolutely devoid of energy, especially in the chorus, when the guys just sound bored.
That's the problem: there's just a lack of energy or commitment on this album. It's as if they've given up before they've even started. It's hard to pick out any track that would show them the way to the path to glory they would eventually tread. There a re good bits, yes, but not enough to string together to make a good album. Lot of UFO in “Genocide” with some Gary Moore tinges too, and it's interesting that they use in the lyric what would become the title of their next album, which would finally break them commercially and set them on their way. This track actually has some punch, I must admit, but is it too little too late? We're near the end now, only two tracks left to go.
Some more nice piano in “Epitaph” and a very decent vocal from Halford; song sounds almost like some sort of lounge music, touches of later Beatles, maybe Bread, that sort of thing. Certainly not metal or anything close to it. Nice though. “Island of domination” tries to finish the album on a strong note, and kind of does really, but the damage has been done, and you can see why this was the second album not to do it for Priest.
TRACKLISTING
1. Victim of changes
2. The Ripper
3. Dreamer deceiver
4. Deceiver
5. Prelude
6. Tyrant
7. Genocide
8. Epitaph
9. Island of domination
I guess it's to CBS we owe the biggest debt that Judas Priest didn't sink without a trace, because after two substandard albums which had been received with colossal yawns, and money getting tighter, you wouldn't have blamed them for throwing in the towel. Certainly, on the basis of this album I can see no reason why this band should have risen to the heights and attained the fame that they did. But then, salvation was waiting in the (sad) wings...