38 - Judas Priest The Ripper 1976

The groundbreaking "Sad Wings of Destiny" was the first great Judas Priest album, simultaneously taking the entire heavy metal genre to new depths of darkness and new heights of technical precision and musicality. Sad Wings of Destiny sounded like little else on the metal scene in 1976: it was heavy and chillingly bleak, in an almost unrelenting way that hadn't been seen since Black Sabbath's heyday, but its arrangements were much more intricately crafted, its sonic textures more varied, its grooves tight and menacing, yet tinged with a gothic elegance under the raging torrent of guitar riffs. "The Ripper" comes on like a lightning-quick sneak attack, ending before you know what's hit you.