Every 70s Metal Album Rated and Reviewed Part 4 - 1974-1976

Three years today, since 1974 and 1975 only had one album each!

1974

In for the Kill - Budgie

1974
Budgie's fourth album.
Only metal album for this year.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.76
Primary Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Secondary Genre: Progressive Rock

Introducing more prog elements, Budgie's 1974 followup to Never Turn Your Back on a Friend is incredibly solid and astonishingly consistent. The folk-y Wondering What Everyone Knows is very different and relaxing with a fantastic atmosphere and Zoom Club is a 10-minute riff and guitar solo onslaught with masterful playing from the trio. Probably their best song so far. In for the Kill is really quite great. Unfortunately this is Budgie's last Heavy Metal release of the 70s as they headed more for a Hard Rock sound, so I bid farewell to the Welsh trio for now!

1975

Sabotage - Black Sabbath

28 July 1975
Black Sabbath's sixth album.
Only metal album for this year.
My Rating: 8/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.81
Primary Genres: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock

The last of the truly great 70s Sabbath albums, Sabotage feels a bit softer than previous albums, leaning more towards hard rock than heavy metal. There are still plentiful heavy metal elements however, like the the excellent and slightly insane Megalomania. Some other highlights are Hole in the Sky and Symptom of the Universe. The rest of this album doesn't really stick out to me much but just like Vol 4 this is a great, solid album.

1976

Sad Wings of Destiny - Judas Priest

23 March 1976
Judas Priest's second album.
Judas Priest's first metal album.
My Rating: 9/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.91
Primary Genre: Heavy Metal
Secondary Genre: Hard Rock

After a solid blues rock debut Judas Priest burst onto the heavy metal scene with a metal masterpiece. Incredibly influential and full of excellent riffs and singing from the incredible Rob Halford. Tyrant and The Ripper are two of my favourites here. An incredible start to Judas Priest's metal days!

Rising - Rainbow

17 May 1976
Rainbow's second album (previously called Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow).
Rainbow's first metal album.
Rainbow's highest rated album.
My Rating: 9/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.95
Primary Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Secondary Genre: Progressive Rock

Rainbow's second album is also fantastic, with Dio's incredible soaring vocals a clear highlight. Tarot Woman starts with a hypnotic synth sequence and gives way to great riffs and an insanely brilliant and catchy chorus. Stargazer is a fantastic lengthy song with another great chorus. Unlike a lot of these early metal albums the choruses here are my favourite parts. Thanks to Dio's wonderful voice they feel very epic and are extremely catchy. Starstruck is a bit of a mediocre pop hard rock tune but A Light in the Black is a fantastic rip-roaring ride. Such a great album.

Technical Ecstasy - Black Sabbath

25 September 1976
Black Sabbath's seventh album.
My Rating: 7/10
RYM Rating (As of this post): 3.01
Primary Genres: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal

Technical Ecstasy was at a time where Ozzy admits that he began losing interest in the band. This clearly shows in the album. While still good music, Technical Ecstasy lacks many elements that make Black Sabbath special. Uninspired riffs and a much lighter and rockier tone prevent this album from hitting the heights of earlier efforts, and it sinks into just being 'good', not really what you want from Black Sabbath, the grandfathers of metal.
This album gets a bad rap, but, while I don't like it that much, it's definitely not as awful as people make it out to be.

That's it for 1974-1976! Thanks for reading!

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