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73 of 75 found the following review helpful:
 THE GODFATHERS OF METAL Oct 24, 2004
By Mik Bik
I was 15 years old when this album came out in 1970. Unless you were present in 1970, it's probably hard to fully comprehend the significance of this album, as well as Paranoid, released in the same year, in relation to what was happening cultural wise.
Let me try to put things in context by describing the music scene in 1970. I lived on the outskirts of Chicago. AM Radio (WLS) ruled the airwaves. Bubblegum music (cruel jokes like the Archies passed off as music) had stubbornly carried over from the Sixties like a pesky virus. The Beatles had broken up, and very little airtime was being given to groups like Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd.
I was taking refuge in my bedroom in the basement one evening, painted black, replete with blacklight and strobelight, listening to an underground FM station called Triad, when suddenly Black Sabbath's Paranoid burst over the speakers. It was as if aliens from another planet had landed. I was totally mesmerized, while at the same time deeply disturbed. NO MUSIC....I repeat....NO MUSIC....up to this point had ever sounded this HEAVY and EVIL. And that included hard rockers like Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Hendrix.
The next day I ran out and bought this album and the Paranoid album, pestered my parents into buying a fuzz box for my Teisco Del Rey electric guitar, and have been hooked on metal ever since.
If you are into metal, and want to know it's history, you MUST start here, in order to understand where it all began. The first five Black Sabbath albums serve as the foundation from which the heavy metal genre, and subsequent subgenres, evolved.
Ozzy, unfortunately, is a mere shadow of his former self, but his memory, as well as Geezer, Iommi, and Ward are forever frozen on these early discs. LONG LIVE SABBATH!
20 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Soundtrack for an imaginary apocalyptic movie..... Mar 01, 2000
By Johnny S Geddes
"OC"
'Black Sabbath' is primitive in texture but that's what augments it so much. Of course, this was the first Sabbath album I bought and a good place to start it was, too. The whole first side (Tracks 1-6 on the CD) is mindblowing. To hear the title track and 'The Wizard' is like taking a stroll through dungeons and dragons land. Tracks 3-6 are intertwined and when you hear 'N.I.B.', it's likely that you'll feel a little 'deja-vu' kick in. The rest of the album is almost entirely blues but this was Sabbath's bread and butter in the early days when they were called 'Earth'. I think that the real sound showcased on this, their debut entry, is the rhythm section of Geezer Butler and Bill Ward. Listen to 'Bassically', 'Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep' and 'N.I.B.' and feel the power.... what happens when rhythm takes the lead. Other kudos go the cover art of the album - very innovative and disquieting. As a matter of fact, it was the cover art and a long-distant piece of my memory recalling the band's name scrawled as graffiti from when I was a young child (around the early Dio era) that spurred me on to purchase that cassette. My advice to you is to buy it and buy it now. No greatest hits coverage will be able to do what is in here.
14 of 16 found the following review helpful:
 Evil Blues Mar 19, 2005
By Chester
Black Sabbath is a band that tends to go in and out of fashion as the years pass. Even the most pretentious indie rocker was bowing before them in the mid-90s, but now they seem to have lost favor with the music snobs these days. That's a shame, because they were a great, captivating rock band that should never be forgotten and not just because of their influence on the burgeoning metal movement. Any way you look at Black Sabbath they were a great band and this album is their best. Bluesier and less lumbering than the more famous "Paranoid," it also captures the band at their best from a technical standpoint. With clever rhythms and unforgettable riffs, this album is at once earth shaking and surprisingly fun. The suite that includes "Behind The Wall Of Sleep" and "N.I.B." is definately the best thing here, but it even the weakest moments (and there are a few; the closing suite goes on for just a bit too long and "Wicked World" is good but a little slight)are elevated by occult, almost gothic atmoshere, which is delivered here intelligently and in a (comparatively) subtle fashion. Even if the lyrics are occasionally kind of clumsy, Osbourne's distinctive (if not always pleasing) wail and the general feelings of dread of the unknown make it all believable enough to suck you into Black Sabbath's dark little universe where satanic creatures lurk in the woods and the blues are reinvented in a druggy, heavily distorted haze.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
The one that started it all. Aug 15, 2001
By Church of The Flaming Sword
When Black Sabbath came out in 1970, critics couldn't understand what they were listening to. Sadly, what is not understood is often hated. Critics found it easier to trash the band's music rather than to take the time to make an effort toward understanding it. Which is a shame because this album still stands up today. Considering that Black Sabbath had a very small amount of resources - time and money especially - in which to make this album, it sounds amazing. Even though Tony Iommi's guitar is quite dominant, Geezer Butler's bass and Bill Ward's drums are still clear and audible. Nothing is drowned out or given too much volume. Out of all the Ozzy-era albums, this one has the best production. The album starts off with "Black Sabbath". This song is a slow gothic number that is brilliant in its simplicity. Instead of sounding like it was done in a hurry, the band seemed to savor every note as it came out. Not much in the way of techincal genius, but dramatic and powerful. The second cut is "The Wizard". Black Sabbath gave Led Zeppelin a run for their money in the funky blues department. Ozzy plays a harmonica and Bill Ward's drumming is in top form. Any classic rock station that doesn't play this should just drop the pretense and change their format to Top-40. "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and "N.I.B." from what I can tell started out as jams that evolved into two separate songs that were connected by Butler's bass solo. "Behind..." is quite creepy for 1970 standards. "N.I.B." is the mandatory love song for the album - a love song from Hell. Iommi makes his guitar sing on these two tracks. "Wicked World" was a reflection of what was wrong with the world in 1970. The lyrics may seem a little dated, but the musicianship is awesome. I especially love the jazzy intro. Last but not least is the song that so many people dislike. It is listed as "A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning", but some simply call it "Evil Woman" - out of laziness I'm going to call it that too. Sabbath was kind of out of their element. "Evil Woman" would have worked better if it was shortened down to about four or five minutes. Not that I have anything against jam sessions, but this one would have been better on a live album in my opinion. The section ( on this album) that would have contained the jam session would have been better utilized if one or two different songs were present in its place. I do not dislike this track, I just think the band was better at songs with structure than jamming. All things considered, this album is still a classic. It might not be Black Sabbath at their best, but it is still required owning for anyone who calls themselves a fan. Overall rating: 4.5 stars.
20 of 25 found the following review helpful:
One Band To Rule Them All -- Jan 21, 2003
By B. Lynch
"the_onewhoknows"
Like the "One Ring" in JRR Tolkien's book series, Black Sabbath is almost eternal it seems. It is difficult to choose a single "best" Black Sabbath CD. But the beginning is a good place to start. PARANOID: essential. no Rock Collection is truly complete without it.
MASTER OF REALITY: excellent. If you liked 'Paranoid', you won't think your collection is complete without it.
VOLUME 4: same as Master of Reality.
And so on, througn "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Sabotage", "Technical Ecstacy", and even the jazzy "Never Say Die". After Ozzy Osbourne left, the band was never the same. Except for "Heaven and Hell", they never put out a really good album of material again. Which brings us back to this CD. Suffice to say that for all intents and purposes, grunge, metal and goth as we know it were all invented here. Everything that has followed has been an improvement, refinement, or a re-run of the material found on the early Black Sabbath albums. So in popular music, Black Sabbath are the Masters of Reality: Just as progressive bands are compared to ''Led Zeppelin'' or ''Pink Floyd'', and any band that features acoustic sounds is inevitably paired with ''The grateful Dead'', good rock bands are inevitably compared to Black Sabbath if they do heavy rock, gothic music, or 'metal'. But Black Sabbath is not about high art: they are (or were) about power and performance. Even though this recording dates from 1969, which is normally associated with hippies and flower power, it echoes as powerfully as anything recorded since then. Black Sabbath has been blamed for a lot of things that they had nothing to do with (alleged Satanism, etc.). But if this is the one band that rules them all, then there are legions of fans waiting to be bound in the darkness ("... And In THe Darkness Bind Them..."). or so it appears. So I recommend all of the Ozzy-era Sabbath CD's, starting with this. As for the post Ozzy Sabbath CD's, only "Heaven and Hell" is really worth a second listen.
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