BLACK SABBATH

Black Sabbath

Prog Related

4.24 | 1025 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Flucktrot
Prog Reviewer

Glad to see this classic properly appreciated here on ProgArchives!

I find this album equally raw and rocking as Led Zeppelin I. When I initially offered this opinion to my classic rocker friends, the general reaction was that I was crazy. Maybe if they were metalheads, the reaction would be different, but fortunately they have come over to my side of the debate in recent years. Regardless, they are both quality albums, not to mention incredibly influential.

Sabbath introduce their drawling, heavy sound quite nicely here. They patiently set up killer groove after killer groove, and then really cut loose (especially Iommi and Geezer) once that groove has been established. I also much prefer Ozzy's raw vocals to his later, much-too-polished Crazy Train and beyond stylings. He's no great talent, and at least here he's not trying to be something he's not.

Black Sabbath, by Black Sabbath, on the album Black Sabbath. What a song to start a (generally) great career. It's dark, it's heavy, and it shows immediately that Sabbath are not simply following in others' footsteps musically.

Wall of Sleep/NIB, Wicked World. These are the highlights of the album for me--just lots of great grooves and plenty of catchy melody. It's not the tightest playing, but that strangely helps it to rock just a bit more.

The Wizard, A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning. If there is any downside to this album, it's probably here. The former tune is fairly simple (though I love Ozzy on the harmonica for a change, even if he's obviously no virtuoso), and the latter features way too much filler between the decent parts.

Musically, this is probably closer to a three-star album, but given its historical significance, as well as the fact that it's a debut, I think it's reasonable to bump up to a four. Either way, if you are a progger, classic rocker, or metalhead, you'll have to have this album in your collection.

Flucktrot | 4/5 | 2008-2-27

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