Recorded quickly on the heels of their debut, Black Sabbath’s second album Paranoid was unleashed to the public in the fall of 1970. The album is a masterclass of Tony Iommi’s heavy metal guitar riffs that start right away, along with the air raid sirens of “War Pigs”. The music cuts away in the first verse so Ozzy Osborne can sing about the evils of warmongering bankers and politicians, “generals gathered in their masses/Just like witches at black masses”.
Not to be outdone, “Iron Man” contains one of the rock music’s great guitar sounds on a track about a time traveller who goes into the future to see the apocalypse. When he comes back, no one listens to his warnings. The title track was the band’s biggest hit, peaking at #4 on the UK singles chart. A great vocal from Ozzy as he pleads, “Can you help me?” and closes with the kiss off, “I tell you to enjoy life/I wish I could, but it’s too late” The song about depression and mental illness is one of the great rock songs of any era.
Those three tracks are some of the band’s most well known songs, but great moments abound elsewhere. The liquid vocals of “Planet Caravan”, Bill Ward’s pounding drums on “Hand of Doom”, and the bass groove of Geezer Butler on closer “Fairies Wear Boots” are all exceptional tracks. On the UK #1 album Paranoid, the four band members all have their moments to shine and standout on one of the classic albums of what would become known as heavy metal.
10/10
The Light Appears 