And so we have heavy metal, in it’s first pure incarnation. Vibrant, edgy guitar riffs, thundering bass, pounding and cascading drums—and cutting through them all is Ozzy Osbourne’s pinched, nasally, relatively high-pitched voice, forming the perfect juxtaposition to all that surrounding heaviness.
Black Sabbath seemed to take one aspect of what Led Zeppelin was doing and channel it into a darker, gloomier sound, more deep-toned and rhythmically plodding. Horror-flick, occult, and apocalyptic imagery perfectly matches the gloom and doom of the music. It’s all a bit ridiculous, of course; best not to listen to the lyrics too carefully, I’d say—at least not if you expect any profundity or sophistication.
But the music? It rocks, pretty much by definition.
This playlist focuses on their first four albums, with the bulk of the songs coming from Paranoid, their best. Enjoy!
Cover Art:
- Vol. 4: Source, Discogs.com
My 10 song Sabbath list: The Wizard, Sleeping Village, War Pigs, Planet Caravan, Children of the Grave, Into the Void, Supernaut, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Sabbra Cadabra, National Acrobat, The Writ
Sabbra Cadabra is my favorite song off Sabbath Bloody Sabbath–starting at around the 2-minute mark there’s this guitar wash in the background that I just love. Aural bliss!