I love the sound of the album.
The punch of the first three tracks is great:
“Sinner,” “Diamonds and Rust,” and “Starbreaker.”
The closer, “Dissident Aggressor,” is also excellent. With all that in mind, I personally rate Stained Class a little higher than Sin After Sin. I can’t even fully explain why. Maybe
Sin After Sin has higher peaks, but
Stained Class flows much more smoothly throughout the entire album. Also, “Beyond the Realms of Death” is impeccable—it's their “Hallowed Be Thy Name.” I agree with
@Yax: it’s one of their very best songs, definitely in my top five.
But I love
Sin After Sin as well. I also commend Priest for making cover songs their own, if you know what I mean. They were definitely great at this—“Diamonds and Rust,” “Better By You, Better Than Me,” “The Green Manalishi”… perfect.
I also think
Stained Class has more ethereal production than
Sin After Sin. I like
Sin’s rawness, but
Stained Class is so smooth… almost criminal, haha.
All in all, two gems from a long-forgotten past.