Tag: Ozzy Osbourne

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 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