Z-Man
Junior Member
I'll be reviewing their albums up until Never Say Die!
The album that opened the floodgates to heavy metal. Sure, there was heavy guitar-driven music before, albeit unseen hand in hand with malignant tuning, deathly tempos, and morbid themes. Their style was inimical enough to prompt virulent reviews from several rock critics at the time, some of whom described the music of the debut as a perversion of Cream, which holds water to some extent. Sabbath’s blues influence is manifest in their riffs, and their jamming goes nowhere, although these traits disappear from subsequent albums. The band was inchoate and hadn’t found their way yet. We even hear Ozzy’s voice in all its crudeness, whereas his pitch was modulated on later releases.
The title track opens the horror show with a primeval, sinfully distorted note sequence built on the tritone, also known as the “devil’s interval” because it was tabooed in the Middle Ages for its dissonance. You can see why. It is on the plodding side, sorry to say. The group stick to typical blues-rock for “The Wizard”, though Iommi’s gruff timbre makes it so you can’t confuse them with any other band. Next up is perhaps my favorite cut, “Behind The Wall of Sleep”, a prototypical Sabbath number that foreshadowed the kind of material on Paranoid. “NIB” is somewhat of a disappointment. It’s centered on a pedestrian hard-rock riff that drags on for too long. What follows isn’t much better, a lackluster cover of Crow’s “Evil Woman” without the colorful nuances that made the original great. So maybe third time’s a charm? Wrong. “Sleeping Village” begins as a somber acoustic piece and devolves into a tasteless cluster of chords and aimless jamming. Now we’re at the final track, a prolonged jam reminiscent of live Cream. It takes several twists and turns, intermixing blues rock and heavy metal, some parts being less eventful than others. Altogether, a tiresome listen. Long improvisations just weren't their thing.
After hearing this, your impression might be like that of the critics. Understandable, as it’s certainly not a spectacular debut, pioneering, but paling in comparison to their next release. Starting with Paranoid, the group left behind the blues-based Creamesque tendencies, honed their songwriting and sound, and took their reputation to new heights. I guess if you don't buy into the whole horror shtick, you won't like them no matter what. The lack of variation likely put off critics as well. Nonetheless, you still have to give Black Sabbath credit for fathering an entire subgenre. This is what got them noticed.
Black Sabbath: A-
The Wizard: B
Behind the Wall of Sleep: B+
NIB: B-
Evil Woman: B-
Sleeping Village: C
Warning: B
Overall grade: B
The album that opened the floodgates to heavy metal. Sure, there was heavy guitar-driven music before, albeit unseen hand in hand with malignant tuning, deathly tempos, and morbid themes. Their style was inimical enough to prompt virulent reviews from several rock critics at the time, some of whom described the music of the debut as a perversion of Cream, which holds water to some extent. Sabbath’s blues influence is manifest in their riffs, and their jamming goes nowhere, although these traits disappear from subsequent albums. The band was inchoate and hadn’t found their way yet. We even hear Ozzy’s voice in all its crudeness, whereas his pitch was modulated on later releases.
The title track opens the horror show with a primeval, sinfully distorted note sequence built on the tritone, also known as the “devil’s interval” because it was tabooed in the Middle Ages for its dissonance. You can see why. It is on the plodding side, sorry to say. The group stick to typical blues-rock for “The Wizard”, though Iommi’s gruff timbre makes it so you can’t confuse them with any other band. Next up is perhaps my favorite cut, “Behind The Wall of Sleep”, a prototypical Sabbath number that foreshadowed the kind of material on Paranoid. “NIB” is somewhat of a disappointment. It’s centered on a pedestrian hard-rock riff that drags on for too long. What follows isn’t much better, a lackluster cover of Crow’s “Evil Woman” without the colorful nuances that made the original great. So maybe third time’s a charm? Wrong. “Sleeping Village” begins as a somber acoustic piece and devolves into a tasteless cluster of chords and aimless jamming. Now we’re at the final track, a prolonged jam reminiscent of live Cream. It takes several twists and turns, intermixing blues rock and heavy metal, some parts being less eventful than others. Altogether, a tiresome listen. Long improvisations just weren't their thing.
After hearing this, your impression might be like that of the critics. Understandable, as it’s certainly not a spectacular debut, pioneering, but paling in comparison to their next release. Starting with Paranoid, the group left behind the blues-based Creamesque tendencies, honed their songwriting and sound, and took their reputation to new heights. I guess if you don't buy into the whole horror shtick, you won't like them no matter what. The lack of variation likely put off critics as well. Nonetheless, you still have to give Black Sabbath credit for fathering an entire subgenre. This is what got them noticed.
Black Sabbath: A-
The Wizard: B
Behind the Wall of Sleep: B+
NIB: B-
Evil Woman: B-
Sleeping Village: C
Warning: B
Overall grade: B
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