Rainbow's "Rising" vs Judas Priest's "Sad Wings Of Destiny"
So I've decided to try a new conversation starter after enjoying Utopia Records' weekly DIS vs DAT thing on Facebook recently. Let's start off with two classic heavy/proto metal releases from 1976. Which one do you think has the edge & why?
Personally, this is a pretty tight call. I've had a very long affiliation with both records & think they're both pretty great without regarding either amongst the elite releases in my life. Priest are the more metal of the two bands. In fact, I don't even regard "Rising" or any other Rainbow record as legitimate metal but that's not what we're debating here. The albums are about on par when it comes to highlight tracks but "Sad Wings Of Destiny" has 50% more tracks so "Rising" has the edge there. In saying that though, "Rising" has a couple of tracks in the middle that don't do anything for me while "Sad Wings Of Destiny" only has the one in "Epitaph". Hhhhhmmmmm…. I'm gonna go with "Rising" on this occasion due to the greater percentage of high quality tracks.
Rising 1 - Sad Wings Of Destiny 0
I have to give it to Rising. Sad Wings is great, but Rising is just pure quality for me, every track on there is a winner.
Rising 2 - Sad Wings of Destiny 0
Shit Daniel couldn't you have kicked off with something a little easier?!
I've had a forty year plus relationship with both albums and I definitely would include them as elite releases (I have both rated as five stars). SWoD was the second metal album I ever bought (after Paranoid) and I love every track, including Epitaph, and know it from beginning to end like the back of my hand. Have awesome memories of seeing Priest perform most of the album live on the Stained Class tour in our local hall in Stoke-on-Trent before their studs and leather days began and they were amazing back then. Rising is the only Rainbow album I have much time for and Blackmore was a dick live, wouldn't even play an encore on the only occasion I ever saw them around '78, sulky bastard, so fuck Blackmore, I vote Sad Wings.
Rising 2 Sad Wings1
Both great albums but still an easy call for me.
Sad Wings... all day here and this largely because I find it a more dynamic release that sweeps through various tempos and yet still retains the spirit of the band brilliantly. As I said in my review I think it is perhaps the greatest sophomore album ever released because Rocka Rolla was average at best and to flip that into this was sterling work. Rainbow feel like a tight unit on Rising most definitely but when compared with Priest there's too much of an air of predictability about it for my ears that diminishes it in comparison.
Rising 2 Sad Wings 2
P.s. Fuck Blackmore 