Arguably their best album, Sad Wings of Destiny, Judas Priest's second album, is a study in contradictions. It is both sophisticated and primitive. My gut reaction has generally been toward the former, but after some repeated listenings of its successor, Sin After Sin, it is remarkable that the band was able to produce a relatively complicated album with relatively unsophisticated technology. Their previous album, Rocka Rolla, used such a shoestring technique that it was effectively performed "live in the studio". Sad Wings doesn't quite take things that far, but the drums thud and the overdubbed vocals are a little shaky. Both matters were remedied on the following album, with a new producer (Roger Glover) and label (CBS) and drummer (Simon Phillips). But it's really hard to say bad things about Sad Wings because it is such a freaking cool album, considering it was 1976. Priest was in full NWOBHM mode (a scene they would largely abandon three albums later). Rob Halford is especially in unusual form, singing a lot of low notes, but folded into plenty of screaming sections (look no further than "Victim of Changes"). Do I detect a little bit of Queen and David Bowie in the vocal delivery? Glenn Tipton contributes to the gloominess as well with more piano than you would ever expect to hear on a Judas Priest album.
By the 1980's this was sort of the "great forgotten album" but the band always had a special affection for it. It plays a major role in their 2005 reunion album Angel of Retribution, a sort of parallel/modern-day Sad Wings of Destiny. If you like the more straight-ahead power metal stuff like British Steel, this album may seem a little overly mellow or complicated, but it is an essential part of a band with a very extensive and influential history, good enough to let even the harshest critic forgive some of their later career moves (primarily the 1990's).
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