GMD Poll: Judas Priest’s Discography Ranked

[CiG]

Fuck yes, the best won.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

The more I listen to Sad Wings the more obvious its inferiority relative to the following two albums becomes. Best three made it to the top three and Screaming for Vengeance rightfully put Defenders in its place, so no complaints.

 

[CiG]

Well Sin After Sin is my favourite Judas Priest album actually but I'm satisfied with the turnout.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

I voted Sad Wings #1 - I'll grant that there's something more "quintessentially Priest" about albums like Stained Class and British Steel, but the beauty of Sad Wings transcends the stylistic conventions Priest established after it, and shouldn't be judged by those conventions.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

SWoD is clearly the best Priest album and I'd argue the greatest traditional heavy metal album period. Every track is great, without exception.

Painkiller is a worthy second in my eyes, but obviously it's a totally different style and more superficial by nature. Of their older stuff, Sin After Sin would be in the discussion if it weren't for "Last Rose of Summer" but even then, the first two songs on side B are strong but not exceptional.

As for Stained Class, the opening four tracks aee masterful, but after that, there's a drop in quality. Invaders, Savage, and Heroes End are all solid, but are nothing exceptional.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Sad Wings is still a little derivative of its influences and the faster/more immediate "rocker"-type songs aren't energetic enough to surpass the best of said influences, let alone the best of Sin After Sin or Stained Class. They were still working out the glitches at that point.

 

[EspaDa]

Dreamer Deceiver is the best Priest track period.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Out of curiosity, does anyone actually start SWOD with "Victim of Changes" rather than "Prelude"?

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Here's a comp. of our ratings to those by other websites and RYM. In contrast to Black Sabbath, which was ranked relatively consistently, these lists are all over the place. Absolutely no agreement at #1, with each list having a different #1 (I guess that's a credit to Priest). The bottom three seems to be the only constant.

 

[Baroque]

I can get down with Ultimate Classic Rock's list

Not sure how anyone rates Defenders #1

 

[Baroque]

Out of curiosity, does anyone actually start SWOD with "Victim of Changes" rather than "Prelude"?

uh yeah, why wouldn't you?

 

[crimsonfloyd]

uh yeah, why wouldn't you?

Because narratively it makes way more sense to go from B to A. Prelude is an obvious album opener, Tyrant functions perfectly as a "kick off" track, "Victim of Changes" is ideal as a centerpiece, and Dreamer Deceiver/ Deceiver is a perfect way to end an album. Flip the order and the flow becomes quite cumbersome. I've always assumed it was just a pressing error.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

I'm not picky about it, on Spotify it starts with Victim so I usually go with that.

Sin After Sin is too underrated on the other lists, but it's a very competitive top 8.

 

[Master_Yoda77]

Because narratively it makes way more sense to go from B to A. Prelude is an obvious album opener, Tyrant functions perfectly as a "kick off" track, "Victim of Changes" is ideal as a centerpiece, and Dreamer Deceiver/ Deceiver is a perfect way to end an album. Flip the order and the flow becomes quite cumbersome. I've always assumed it was just a pressing error.

On the original pressing, the track list puts B before A so that's how I've always listened to it.

 

[no country for old wainds]

redeemer making top 10 is interesting to me, i should check that one out. i forgot to participate in this but i'm happy with the results.

and yeah i start with 'prelude' as that's the correct order and makes a lot more sense anyway.