My dad was a rocker, supposedly he was a “cool kid” in the eighties and Black Sabbath was the music he rocked out to. It only makes sense that I would like some of the shite he listens to! Black Sabbaths breakthrough came in 1971 with the release of “Paranoid”, Ozzy’s groundbreaking vocals mixed with some huge haunting riffs from guitarist Tony Iommi create the most atmospheric metal album ever.

Black Sabbath create huge riffs by spacing out the music to make a sense of airiness, until Iommi buts in with a huge solo causing the whole tone of the record to change. Effortless in their transition from soft-to-loud haunting metal Sabbath caused quite a stir with the church. Catholics said their music inspires thoughts of a sexual nature and brings out the Devil in people, now if that isn’t enough reason for a rebellious teen to buy the album wait until you hear the lyrics!

Talks of Satan and witchcraft fill the entire album especially the epic “War Pigs”, if this record can still cause a stir in modern times with a teenager who is skeptical and cynical to anything that is more than five minutes old then imagine the shock 36 years ago!

A favorite of mine on the album is “Paranoid”, with a catchy riff and chugging blues guitar in the verse progression it can’t fail to impress. The song is short aggressive and quickly helped the superpower that is Black Sabbath rise to power. A perfect metal album that is not easily beaten, I don’t think a band as dark and brooding as Sabbath will ever reach the mainstream as successfully as Black Sabbath did.

Overall 26/27 - Knocked one off because the songs get a bit long!