review by thomas

Maybe the first heavy metal album ever made, well, in my opinion it is. Full of heavy riffs and equally heavy bass and drum parts. An album full of darkness and images of evil, warnings against evil. The title track is a perfect example and it’s one of those songs that really scare you when you listen to the music, no wonder the Church had forbade that tremolo accord. The rest of side A is also music history, “The Wizard” with one of the few good harmonica lines in music, the sleepy rocking of “Behind the Wall of Sleep” and the heaviness – mixed with flamenco influenced acoustic parts – of “N.I.B.”. Unfortunately side B is nothing like the A side. Here we are treated with the useless cover of “Evil Woman”, a dreadful eight-minute guitar solo in “The Warning” and then “Sleeping Village” which contains one good minute complete with acoustic guitar and the unusual jew’s-harp.

Even if this debut is a little shaky, it’s still heavy metal history and the good A side is worth the album.