BLACK SABBATH

The self-titled debut album from Black Sabbath is a real feast of groove and haunting atmosphere that I'm sure a lot of people are already familiar with, so let me keep it fairly short. This is an instant must-have release for all metal fans together with other milestones like Led Zeppelin's debut and Deep Purple's Machine Head. Of course most of the fans will praise it beyond words and they would have all the right to do so, but to be perfectly clear this material has its share of flaws. The music is soaked in Blues-Rock style of its time, even though the album's atmosphere might make most listeners ignore this fact. The second big flaw is that outside of the opening Black Sabbath and N.I.B. most of the material here isn't all that memorable and you won't be able to instantly recognize the other songs without hearing their supporting guitar riffs first.

Clearly these mentioned flaws aren't enough for me to dismiss this album as merely a product of its time. Even if Sabbath were still developing their sound here, it's the raw energy and youthful passion that makes this release a perfect example of how excellent albums should be done. There's no need for me to talk about the individual tracks since this is one of those releases the relies heavily on the groove factor and, unlike Paranoid, this record can be heard all the way through without the music loosing its momentum, but more on that in my next review!

The debut album from Black Sabbath is an instant classic that should be owned by every Heavy Metal fan out there no matter the sub-genre you might be into. The band would continue to evolve over the course of the next few releases but you'll rarely again hear this much passion and raw energy as you will find here!

***** star songs: Black Sabbath (6:21) N.I.B. (6:07)

**** star songs: The Wizard (4:24) Behind The Wall Of Sleep (3:37) Evil Woman (3:25) Sleeping Village (3:46) The Warning (10:32) Wicked World (4:43)

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