 | Black Sabbath (1970)Genres: hard rock, heavy metal |
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.
 | Paranoid (1970)Genres: hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
This set of songs must be the envy and inspiration of every metal band that’s come into existence forever after. The title track and “Iron Man” are probably so well known that there is no meaning in describing them, but maybe not everybody know them so I will do it anyway. “Paranoid” (the song) is a short psychedelic piece that became a hit and helped make the album a smash, the song is rather expressionless and together with “Rat Salad” the only songs that falters a little. “Rat Salad” is a short instrumental with the same structure as Zeppelin’s “Moby Dick”, and you can almost tell that it was designed to host a lengthy live drum solo. “War Pigs”, “Hand of Doom”, “Electric Funeral” and “Iron Man” are heavy Sabbath songs of absolute master class were they also show that they now can handle long songs without making the mistakes they did on their debut. “Iron Man” has one of the most effective and recognisable riffs in rock history. “Fairies Wear Boots” offers some jazz inspired sections and “Planet Caravan” is a very, very quiet song with bongo-like percussion and Ozzy singing in a state never heard again; a lovely song and a lovely vocal performance from Ozzy.
The band did really take a quantum leap forward with this album compared to their eponymous debut. I can’t for the world imagine anyone not liking this record and I also imagine that everybody already either own it themselves or have heard it, but then, there must be somebody out there who hasn’t – for them my advice is to obtain it.
 | Master of Reality (1971)Genres: hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
Another Sabbath and heavy metal classic, containing such gems as ”Sweet Leaf”, ”Children of the Grave” and ”Solitude”. This album is the most impressive in the Sabbath catalogue since it is almost flawless. From the opening weed smoke of “Sweet Leaf” to the closing “Into the Void” it’s one fiest of classic heavy metal, though not without calmer moments. The instrumental acoustic piece “Orchid” and the fragile beauty of “Solitude” sees to that. The latter has a lovely piano and some lovely flute as well.
This is perhaps the heaviest Sabbath record from the seventies and also, in my judgement, their best. And with such positive God assurances as “After Forever” maybe the self-appointed sentinels of morality will think twice before accusing Sabbath for being Satanists, but then again they will probably not think twice.
Surely this album is not to be overlooked and can be recommended to everyone not shunning this type of music.
 | Vol.4 (1972)Genres: hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
Many see the golden Sabbath period from 1970 to 1975 as almost impeccable with one classic album after another. And sure, that period is indeed very strong; but not solid. The – in some ways – very experimental “Vol.4” is partly a “failure”. The ten tracks can be divided into five fantastic ones and five not so good ones. The strong hand is almost a straight-flush: “Cornucopia”, “Snowblind” and “Supernaut” are typical heavy Sabbath monsters with some twists and turns. “Under the Sun” may get my money for the heaviest Sabbath track ever. It’s a dark and gloomy song that in six minutes shifts from one heavy riff to another without losing focus. “Wheels of Confusion” is a mini-epic that features good organ and strong progressive touches, without losing any of the usual heaviness. The weaker hand consists of some pure experiments gone wrong and the usual Sabbath acoustic that always worked so well, here it doesn’t, it just sounds dull and uninteresting. “FX” is just what it sounds like: a short effect experiment. “Changes” is a well-known song, a ballad with just Ozzy’s voice, piano and some mellotron, not bad but not completely successful either.
An uneven album although the weakest songs are not bad, most of them are decent. So this is another “must have” album for the hard rock/metal fans. And as I have already implied; the strong hand is amongst Sabbath’s best ever.
 | Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)Genres: hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
A natural progression from ”Master of Reality” and ”Vol.4” continuing their experiment with heavy metal mixed with other styles and instruments, not just heavy riffs. Keyboards are introduced as a major part of the sound on this album; which featured guest keyboardist Rick Wakeman on one track. On the other songs it’s primarily Iommi who plays piano, harpsichord, synthesizer and organ. He even plays some flute and bagpipes. Hardcore metal fans will probably not be happy with songs like the poppy “Looking for Today” complete with hand clapping or the string-heavy “Spiral Architect”. But here is plenty of heaviness included to satisfy most people, like the title track (reminding of “N.I.B.” from their first album), the stage favourite “Killing Yourself to Live” and “Sabbra Cadabra”. “Fluff” is the acoustic instrumental piece so often included on Sabbath albums and “Fluff” succeeds with all things that “Laguna Sunrise” failed to do a year before. The most “out-there” song is perhaps “Who are You” which is drenched in synthesizers. Dated? yes but still okay to listen to.
Besides the rather weak “Who are You” this record is awesome and a true Sabbath classic.
 | Sabotage (1975)Genres: hard rock, heavy metal |
review by thomas
Sabbath took the concept of ”Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” even further (though less keyboard heavy) and on ”Sabotage” they sometimes play in the grey-zone between heavy metal and progressive metal. Heavy rockers such as “Hole in the Sky” and “Symptom of the Universe” give way to heavy epics as “Megalomania” and “The Writ”. The usual acoustic guitar piece is also present (“Don’t Start (Too Late)”) and an instrumental choir driven experiment (“Supertzar”), a song that quite usually gets butchered; I can’t for my life understand why, I find it surprising, mighty and above all good.
Then we have a little thing called “Am I Going Insane (Radio)” that was released as a single and also clearly written to be that, but that does not make the universal slaughter of the song justified as I expect many a people dislike it just from the fact that it was rather poppy and commercial. It is much more pop than we are used to, yes, and it is highly commercial, that’s true. But it’s Sabbath’s best single, no doubt about that. Earlier singles: “Evil Woman”, “Tomorrows Dream” and “Paranoid” are all inferior (no, “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath” wasn’t officially released as a single). “Thrill of It All” is the only bad song on this otherwise splendid record.
Another Sabbath and heavy metal classic, one that is up there with “Paranoid” and “Sabbath bloody Sabbath”.
