The first sounds heard on Black Sabbath’s 1970 debut album is rain and church bells. The opening title track is an ominous song, full of doom and dread about a figure dressed in black standing in front of the person, it’s a terror as Ozzy Osbourne screams, “OH NO…”. A new sound was born with that song, one that would influence thousands of other bands.
Short, clipped Ozzy vocals punctuate the chorus on the harmonica driven “The Wizard”. A heavy, bluesy groove envelopes the standalone track “Wicked World” where Ozzy sings, “people go to work just to earn their bread/While people just across the sea are couniting their dead”. On the North American release, several tracks are stuck together to form a suite of music. Geezer Butler’s bass solo on “Basically” leads into “N.I.B.”, a song about lucifer falling in love. The last suite of music closes out the album including a cover of “Warning”.
The Black Sabbath debut is a classic metal album. The riffs that Tommy Ionni spreads across the almost 40 minute album that was reportedly recorded in one 12 hour session. To add to the legend, a mysterious woman graces the cover, distorted and standing in front of a medieval castle. Turns out, the world was ready for the hard blues sound mixed in with what we now call doom metal, the album went top ten in the UK. Welcome to 70s rock!
9/10
The Light Appears 