Reviews (page 13 of 16)
One of those albums that starts slow, but by the end, they hit it so well. Rip Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness.
not my taste
While not my typical kind of music, I did grow up with Ozzy Osborne and Black Sabbath was just before I would have started to listening to rock and metal. A good album, but just not my speed.
I have heard and enjoyed another Black Sabbath album (Master of Reality), so I think I'll like this too. Also, I shoul mention that this album was originally generated the day after Ozzy Osbourne died, which was very bittersweet. I'm expecting some heavy instrumentals and theatrical vocals. The first song delivers exactly what I expected. An odd build-up that leads to an explosion of a pay-off. Great! Love the guitar on The Wizard. Good song overall. Third track explores the same things but in a less successful way. N.I.B. is genuinely a lot of fun. And again, the ending is the complete pay-off of everything that happens before. Evil Woman is fun too, even if it doesn't go anywhere after a while. Could have been better developed. Sleeping Village falls short of everything that's come before. Still fun though. I like the beginning of Warning, mostly because of the bass and drumming combo. The rest kind of loses me though, as I'm not the biggest guitar guy, and the rest of the song is centered mostly on that. Some cool rhythmic sections and a great chorus though. With Wicked World they end the album on a high note, with great performances all around - some focus on guitar, but not too much. I enjoyed this album. Its genre and the sounds it explores aren't necessarily my favourite thing, but they are well executed here. I do wish there could be more focus on the rhythm section, but then again that is always my favourite part of a band number. Loved the vocals too! Bye
Guitars were more bluesy than metal. Ozzy was featured, but he's not yet the Ozzy that became famous. Still a good album
Less provocative (especially sound wise) than I expected. 2.5, rounded up
It was alright. Rip Ozzy
Their debut album. Musically it's very good but it doesn't spark the same joy as the Paranoia album.
not bad
*** Ok. However, I was never a Sabbath fan
Good
Pretty good
RIP Ozzy! It was good, you can see where it influenced the beginning of heavy metal. Not usually a fan of the 13 minute song but even Olivia liked some of it.
была уверена что слушала уже это, но ни одну песню не узнала и вообще нет блэк саббат в моей хистори, как так вышло. нормальный мелодичный альбом со старающимся вокалистом)
Rip beer thief
timely pick - rip ozzy. and all around good music.
nice
Significantly more blues-rock than one would expect. Between the prominent featuring of harmonicas on a few tracks and the classic blues riffing, it’s hard to imagine that this was the record that created metal as we know it. The title track and NIB help to solidify that influence, though, and make this a classic.
not really my type of music
Not my favorite sabbath.
Some elements of what I know of as music. Sure if I listened repeatedly I would probably start singing along. Perhaps I will after a night of drinking. Actually listened without drinking and almost enjoyed it. Most likely 3 in chart; if possible a 3+. Can't do 1/2 stars so will settle on 3
Certainly sounds ahead of it's time
вайбик норм
Good. Glad I listened to it. Does Sabbath not use power chords? Was surprised by that.
Solid
A sign of things to come. Raw, heavy prog-rock.
Not the best Black Sabbath record but it is what started it all
not for me
Very listenable.
A good debut, but miles off their second record
рип оззи, ты был очень крутым мужиком. но этот альбом не очень крутой.. звук как будто вот прямо из 1970 и идет, плохо слышно да. N.I.B. зачетная, спору нет. а еще он все никак не заканчивался, я уж думала все ура отслушала, а звуки все продолжались и продолжались.... так се
Nice record. Nothing really stuck with me.
This debut album (if stories are to be believed) was 'one and done' and finished in about 12 hours. Personally I believe it. It has a unity and energy that you don't get if you are doing take after take. It feels complete, even though it is short (at 39 minutes). Iommi's guitar sound (soon to define Sabbath's sound) and Ozzy's vocals made a good match. Overall, a good album, with hints about where they would go in the future.
NIB é bom e o resto é ok.
What a bunch of goth LARP nerds (complimentary).
Over the top and sorta simple sounding, but a fun listen that clearly inspired a lot
first time listen. holds up surprisingly well
3.5/5 I'm not a heavy metal fan, but didn't hate this album. The production was way better than I was expecting and the recording sounded very good despite being a 55 year old album. It loses points for me based on the lyrics and vocals.
I didn't like this as much as Paranoid, but still some great guitar work.
His voice becomes grating after a while, and the songs rule in simplicity. Pretty good overall.
Pretty good but later albums are better. RIP Ozzy!
Good stuff 3/5
Incredible album only downside is that it's a little short.. 30 minutes and 8 tracks is pretty short for a 70s album but then again this was 1970
Suggested on the day after Ozzie passed. Don't know if that was deliberate, but... oof.
I like it quite a bit, although I'm not sure any of the singular songs on it stood out to me as personally essential.
I actually liked this more than I thought
The so called Prince of Darkness. The first song lives up to that title. It was dark, creepy and a prefect song to set a dark tone. Then the album shifted a bit, faster rifts and what sounded like a bit of country guitar to me. Overall decent, but I wouldn't listen to it again.
Rest in peace Ozzy. This was a cool glimpse into the origins of heavy metal and doom metal. I liked it, but BS would go on to further improve this style.
not sure if this was completely random that I got this the day after Ozzie died or intentional on the part of the site managers...but was definitely fitting to get this one today. RIP Ozzie. In any event, I can see how this album would be hugely influential for future bands, but it didn't really hold my attention.
Not particularly memorable but fine enough for what it is.
Bom, bem experimental, os solos são sólidos, queria que todo o álbum seguisse o caminho da primeira música, que é a melhor
Black Sabbath First song being called black sabbath on the album black sabbath by the band black sabbath. They ran out of names clearly. 4 minute mark is so sick, the guitars launching pay off Ozzy’s annoying singing. The wizard Ozzy’s voice is significantly less annoying in this song. Guitar tone is really sick in this track. At around 2:20 there’s a singular cowbell, it was almost comedic to me idk why. Behind the Wall of Sleep Intro sounds a lot like something from Fontaines dc’s dogrel, cool to see the influence this band had. N.I.B Main riff is gas, this is iron man before iron man. Tony Iommi’s guitar work is insane. I feel like a recurring theme of this album is Ozzy cramming in as many syllables as possible into each line. Evil Woman, Don’t Play Your Games With Me First song on the album where the bass really stands out to me, the tone is like a Beatle bass but he’s punching the strings for every note. Sleeping Village Drum work on the whole album is sick. The grooves are all really dialled. The spring in the intro is also really comedic, must be a sign of the times. Warning Personally I like a Longer song, this however drags unnecessarily. As opposed to having captivating sequences, it feels like the song was copy and pasted twice over. Wicked World Enjoyable outro to a good album overall. The music may not hold up amazingly however there is no denying the influence this band had on the scene at the time.
girl no estoy en mi época metalera pero bueno ha estado bien
more in common with Led Zepplin than statan worship.
Opening track kinda freaks hardcore. RIP
I didn't save any songs, but it was almost as good as paranoid. Since I was an older album of theirs. I understand that they were still finding their voice.
Fantastic sounding heavy metal way earlier than most. It's a little before Black Sabbath found it's voice, such that I like their later stuff but it's still great.
Music to scare your parents. RIP Ozzy
C’est pas ouf un espèce de rock du far west Pas fan
Listened to this with reverence. Not my favourite Sabbath record, but it’s where it all began. Love how raw and heavy it is and how powerful his voice was. RIP Ozzy. A legend, always.🖤
Did you know Ozzy bit the head off of two animals? A bat and a pigeon. So that's fun. I do enjoy a little bit of black sabbath here and there though.
RIP Ozzy 1 - would not listen to again 2 - if some one played it, I'd probably just zone it out 3 - didn't hate it, didn't love it 4 - saved some songs from the album 5 - would buy the album or already own it
Pretty gewt
Very interesting to hear their early sound compared to what I know.
Oh hey, that sample used by Enigma! Music is quite simple. A lot of unison play in here where the vocal/guitar/bass are all doing the same thing. Decent mix. Good guitar solos. Nothing really going on in the last 15 minutes of the album. A 4 before that, a 3 including it.
Rip Ozzy
Olihan se upeaa, ja osui vielä merkittävään ajankohtaan. Mutta Paranoid oli parempi, tämä menee enempi taustamusiikkina tai auton radiossa kuunneltavaa.
Sabbath were never my jam but I can see how influential they’ve been. This is stepdad music for sure.
Didn't like this one as much as Paranoid. RIP Ozzy
Quite liked the opener, Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath from the album Black Sabbath. 3 Sabbath albums deep now though, and the only song I really like is the atypical spacerocky one from Paranoid. Obviously influential but ultimately not my Band/genre.
a abertura do album bem soturna e te mostra perfeitamente o que vem ali. gostei que só. rip ozzy osbourne. 3,5
Ozzy spzieller typ Ozzburne Hed mi abgschrevkt aber immer meh inecho. Sowit so guet, vlt sogar durschnittlichi schwarz brännti currywürst?
Rest in Peace Ozzy. I loved that it recommended this album the day after he passed. I think I would have been a big Black Sabbath fan back in the day. The music is eerie, doomy, and it’s different than all these other types of metal bands from that time.
Not a fan of this type of music but Sabbath is good at it. RIP Ozzy
I liked it, but I like most of their other albums better
Leaves something to be desired relative to the other Black Sabbath albums but still RIP to a legend
Not a personal favorite of mine generally/of the Black Sabbath I’ve listened to, but still fun
I didn’t dislike this as much as I feel I have disliked my previous goes with Black Sabbath. Nevertheless, not my cup of tea. Rest in peace.
This was way calmer than I was expecting!
We listened to Paranoid some while playing cards in high school, but not this first album. This was better than I thought it would be. RIP, Ozzy.
once again-not nearly as heavy as I expected it to be. almost a bit mellow. certainly see how this was influential in the music styles
This is a tricky one to review with Ozzy’s death just yesterday. I hadn’t heard this album before and enjoyed it. I was going to give it a 4 but then realised that was just down to sentimentality. A solid 3
Rest well Ozzy
Half of this sounds very much like hard blues rock, the kind Led Zep, Cream and others had already tried their hand at. There are some nice grooves but nothing too memorable, song-wise - it mostly just passed me by in the background. But I don't want to focus on the negatives on this day of Ozzy-mourning; there are a few aspects that are very recognizably 'heavy metal', so even if this album doesn't fully fit that genre IMO, it's clear to see how it would've birthed it. Which is pretty neat for 12 hours work by four lads from Birmingham. Also, it contains a rare but satisfying instance of a track, album and band name all being exactly the same.
Sacrilege, but I don't think this is as good as it is influential.
Modern heavy metal sounds very different from this origin point. I didn't expect to hear harmonicas, for example. I'm sure the guitars are loud and brash in concert, but they felt muted in the recording I listened to. The singer's voice doesn't quite work at some places (which probably accounts for the large number of instrumental breaks), but when it works, it works very well.
Dawn of metal. It's primitive but aye good enough.
Really interesting hearing the Ozzy's earliest work. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn't this. This felt actually approachable. And although it doesn't sound groundbreaking to my ears, no doubt it was back in 1970. In a vacuum, I would give this two stars, but since it was such a crisp reset of assumptions for me, I'll score it more generously.
thoughts: hey, another album with some harmonica! this is a lot blues-y than i would’ve expected, but still very much the black sabbath sound i’ve heard in their most famous songs. a lot of doom and gloom here, very methodical pacing songs: “black sabbath”, “the wizard”, “wicked world” rating: 6.5/10
Buen comienzo, para nada mi estilo pero vamos por más. Destacado Black Sabath. Nota: 3.0
Good album. It was clear with this album that they were onto something it did sound different and spawned a whole genre. Ozzys vocals were excellent strong tunes lyrics a bit daft.
First time I’ve heard Ozzys vocal before they were shredded by time, coke and bats. Pretty interesting listening to proto-doom.
Interesting
6/10
Never really got into Black Sabbath. I understand their importance in the history of metal and so on but I always preferred other metal. I guess I can say it was heavy before its time and that's cool but it was tedious.
Did not love the intro track, really liked the second. Kept going back and forth between songs that were extremely melodramatic and ones that I liked better. Overall a 3 for me. Don’t hate it, don’t love it
5/10 Mid voor muziek Slecht voor black Sabbath
A classic
There are several versions of this album; I listened to the 2009 remastered version. There was no music like this in 1970 - this may be the very first heavy metal album. Apparently the band recorded the whole album in one day, which is almost never done. Overall it’s pretty well done for a heavy metal record. I give it three stars.
We had another Black Sabbath just last week! This one has the wiki genre "traditional doom metal", though, which sounds pretty cool. Lotta Satan and/or Gandalf talk, which I guess is (mount) doom-themed content. Unlike on "Paranoid", I don't think I've heard any of these songs before, even though one of the riffs is supposedly famous. But I don't know if there's any riff I'd recognise, to be fair. (By the by, for those wondering (future!me?), the etymology of "riff" is a mystery.)
good
Earliest metal, simple and doom-filled
I mean it’s alright
Pretty cool to be fair. Quite 'classic rock', but I'd say on the more interesting end. Favourite tracks: Black Sabbath, The Wizard, Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games with Me.
Not a sabbath fan but did go with my son to the location on album.
Iconic.
Had never heard in full, enjoyed this a lot. 3.5? 3?? I think if I kept listening it would be a 4
Groundbreaking. Sure. If that means introducing the cartoonish darkness that would pervade heavy metal for years to come. The Wizard cooks (silly lyrics aside) and N.I.B. is an all time riff amidst a 9 minute odyssey. The pieces are here but they got better in the years to come. Much better.
Eh, it was alright.
Many point to this as the very first heavy metal album so this is a pretty pivotal moment in music history. I went through a decent Black Sabbath phase a few years ago, and I think they have a lot better stuff - specifically the Paranoid and Master of Reality albums. But I do get why this album is so important and essential. I really enjoy N.I.B. but the album also feels like a lot of filler and drawn out jamming. Crazy to think of what Ozzie Osbourne would amount to after this. Hoping those two albums pop up in the future.
1. Black Sabbath - 7/10 2. The Wizard - 7.5/10 3. Behind the Wall of Sleep - 6/10 4. N.I.B. - 9/10 5. Evil Woman - 7.4/10 6. Sleeping Village - 6/10 7. Warning - 8/10 8. Wicked World - 7/10 7.5/10
Good, but short. 3/5
Man this must have been crazy to hear in 1970. Dark, foreboding, hard but melodic. I prefer other hard rock from the era or Paranoid though.
It was an alright album, I enjoyed it. There where no big hits on it but there weren't any bad songs either. Didn't love it so I'll give it a 3.
Not too bad
liked it more than expected
cool shit. like the blues but harder. ozzy's still learning how to sing but it's all there. lots of cool solo and instrumental passages. they're still kinda figuring it out, but a solid foundation for what was to come.
Very grungy rock. Has some unique elements that you wouldn't expect from rock (harmonica).
The guitar, that's all I could hear. New fav tracks form the album- N.I.B, Black Sabbath and Behind the Wall of Sleep. The progression of Behind the Wall kept me captivated. Dislikes: Southern sounds.
Sloppy sometimes, silly most of the time. More blues based than their latter stuff.
I love hearing all the bluesy parts in early metal. ‘The Wizard’ is a fantastic song. I do think some of the longer jams lost my interest. But really looking forward to more Sabbath in this list!
Loved, LOVED the first song, and enjoyed all the rest. Would definitely like to give this a closer listen. I'm not normally into metal or blues, but the performances really sell this. 3.5 stars.
Jammin record
Apart from it's two bit hitter tracks in N.I.B. and The Wizard, Black Sabbath forces you to experience a 70's heavy metal experience, where the norms weren't as established yet, allowing creative approaches even to the detriment of the song.
I've heard of the band, I knew they were heavy metal, but I couldn't have told you anything else. I wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but I mildly do - it's not as heavy as I'd assumed.
Good yet a sort of awkward transition from blues rock into metal with a bit too many traditional instruments that work against the atmosphere of the album for me
Nuria: 2 Jaime: 3.5
Fine
Enjoyable. Favourite tracks: The Wizard, Evil Woman & Warning Would relisten. 3/5
Probably the first time that I've listened all the way through a Sabbath album. Not bad. Just gotta try to ignore the lyrics and some of the guitar solos (the solo at 9:50 of the last track killed me dead). 2.5 stars.
I’m actually in the middle of a pretty fruitful acid rock phase with an eye to how Sabbath represents the road taken towards hard rock/metal (whereas punk and hardcore cleaved off earlier thanks to the Stooges and MC5 and Velvets?). Anyhow, one of my favorite bands to occasionally listen to but I can never take it seriously thanks to Ozzy/Geezer’s black occult preoccupations. I’m more patient these days with the concept of Satan as (mostly) western culture’s way of handling temptations and everything else but, good grief. I could listen to Iommi, Geezer, and Ward do their thing all day, such a great capture of tone (even if it’s not “pro”).
☀︎pas si pire ☀︎3.5
Very nice, better to not make sense of it and just listen. NIB and wicked woman have lyrics worth listening to, but overall the album is pretty nice if you listen to the riffs and guitar.
Not their best album (which is understandable since it's their first), but there's still some good stuff on here. Hard not to compare it to their later stuff that's more polished. 3.4
actually quite enjoyable
Enjoyed more than I thought I would, especially the Wizard and N.I.B. The cover of this record is an iconic image, which is both opposed to my view of "classic" heavy metal aesthetic and at the same time totally effective in giving the sense of psychedelia decaying towards foreboding. The riff from 'Black Sabbath' is a weird tri-tone arpeggio that is hypnotic and feels like it has little connection to the heavy blues rock of the rest of the record. A world-shifting riff.
Not bad, one of the better ones so far. 3.8/5
I might come back to this occasionally. It's not really my vibe, but it's cool stuff
I actually really enjoyed it. I'll have to listen to more of them
Production: 4/5 Lyricism: 3/5 Sound: 3/5 Enjoyment: 2.5/5 Overall: 3.1/5
Classic
Yes. One of the rock band I can relate to. Mild head banging tunes. Iron Man one of my favorite.
A classic, but not my style personally
I like the tone of this one, more rock, less prince of darkness.
And on the 13th day, there was heavy metal darkness. And then came the satanic harmonica, the most fearsome of sounds especially when played in the dark. Frightened, we trembled and fell having no upright bass to hold on to. +one star for kind of creating their own genre.
Good early metal. Love NIB and the Wizard.
Me, having never listened to Black Sabbath before: Ooh, there's harmonica on Wizard! And a llllong-ass guitar solo on the last track.
Halloween rock.
alltime evil riff followed by some mid
Pretty good! I vibed with it, don’t think I’d put a song on my playlist but still good.
This is a pure 70’s rock album. Not my type of music but it wasn’t bad
Rock music - not really my forte. I’ll have to keep this review short since im in a hurry right now - had some really good tracks but I wasn’t really blown away by any of them
Not my genre but this project throws up some surprises. Was much kinder to my ears than I expected. Not as heavy or shouty as I expected and appreciated the melody. N.I.B favourite track.
It gets better atleast
short album, really cool bass riffs
Surprisingly progressive lyrically for the time (and the public personality!). This goes in the category of expecting I would have felt differently if alive at the time. For modernity it’s just not for me and I didn’t gain much from the exposure.
Maybe I’m judging it harder than I should because I know they make better music later (or rather almost immediately with their next album) but I thought this was fine. I’m feeling a strong 6 to a light 7. Favorite Song: A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning
7/10 Good album by a good band. Not my favorites but I enjoyed this album and will likely return.
I can imagine how this was ahead of its time coming out in 1970. It's ok but not my thing, 3*
Good album but I found the songs sounded similar in many cases dropping it to a 3
fine fine 3/5
I'm not a big Black Sabbath guy, and I find this album a bit boring as a whole. I think they get a lot better on Paranoid. "NIB" is probably the standout for me, but the rest I could take or leave. Light 3 stars.
None too shabby Black Shabbath debut. Does lay the seedlings and groundwork for the heavy metal genre ok enough and title song is super iconic. Whilst it is a good late 60s rawk album throughout it is not totally phenomenally top class and all my fav Sabbath songs are indeed on their next one Paranoid. 3.5 stars.
I can respect what is going on here. Hell, there were moments I found mystifying and worth appreciating! However, I can confidently say I would never be scrolling through my music collection and pick this out for a casual listen. That's a personal preference thing at the end of the day though, and as an album I can see how it paved the way for a genre of music that has become popular, so I will settle with a 3/5 here to split the difference
Better than i expected
They haven't quite figured the whole thing out yet, here. The pieces sound amazing though - such great guitar sounds and the drums are recorded impeccably. It's mind-blowing how much the musical decisions made on this record still reverberate. There must be thousands of kids who imitate this sound (via generations of metal heads) and have never actually heard of Black Sabbath.
I found this one a bit basic, I had hoped for better. It failed to capture my attention Standouts N.I.B 3/5
3.5
They're tight and no doubt this was very influential. Liked it, didn't love it 3.4
In my opinion this is the first true Heavy Metal album. Iommi’s guitar sound and style is the sound bands like Metallica would use, not Deep Purple or Zeppelin. Some great blues/metal riffs, incredibly gloomy album 7.8/10
Where it all started. A genre defining album
It's alright.
This is good, but didn’t really get any emotional reaction from me. The guys are talented and there’s some bangers in here but this is one of those cases where I don’t have anything to add to the conversation. I do appreciate the trend of rock/metal bands in the 60’s and 70’s all starting off super bluesy because it’s what they would have grown up listening to though. 3 songs added to my playlist, 5 added to the 1001
Without this, we'd never have one of the greatest reality TV shows of all time. I prefer later Black Sabbath albums, but there's still plenty to like here. Imagine being 16 in 1970 and hearing the opening track. How much you can achieve by just tuning down and playing slower... Highlight: Black Sabbath
I don't know what to say other than that this is pretty good and it drew me in.
didn’t hate it as much as i thought i was going to. definitely not my cup of tea but worth the listen
Not exactly my type of vibe, but certainly impressive from a musical and instrumental standpoint.
Better than Led Zeppelin, if I was born in the 60's I would have been listening to this in some dark and danky corner. But I wasn't, so I'm not. Nice vibe, though.
Iconic and revolutionary but not fully formed
Classic Sabbath!
Sounded like early metal, early Black Sabbath. Generally good but neither are my favourites. (5 known / 10 new)
7/10
nah
The title track presages what's to come, and I appreciate how this record serves as a missing link between 60s rock and 70s metal. But overall it's pretty missable. I had Paranoid on my list a couple days ago, and it's definitely the stronger record.
Probably one of the first 25 to 50 lps I bought as a teenager. Hard to evaluate now since I associate it with that time in my life.
Still finding themselves.
Good
Not as bad as I thought! Some good sound in there. Surely not something I will re-listen soon btw
aight
Ah man that was a hard one to rate. I weirdly really wanted to give this a 4 as I love some of their other albums but this has very high highs and pretty low lows for me.
pretty good
I hated the first song. I was impressed by how long some of the songs were. It compelled me to dive deeper into the history of the band. The guitar player, Tony lommi rips. There was also a harmonica at some point if I remember correctly.
Interesting that this is considered the first metal album. Also interesting that it was all recorded on a single day in a 12-hour session, almost entirely played live, at once. And also interesting that the guitarist developed his special style in part because of a work accident that caused him to lose parts of his middle fingers on his fret hand! The Wizard starts kind of bluesy (harmonica, somewhat like Led Zeppelin) but then has parts that sound exactly like what I'd expect from Black Sabbath (some of the drumming sounds like War Pigs).
Kind of felt like I'd wandered into the 1970s version of Salem's Lot, with creepy sound effects and over-the-top music. & it's not that it's not scary, but there's definitely a layer of cheese when watching (or listening) with modern eyes (or ears.) A bit like the Van Halen album, this was mostly a fun listen - if not anything I'd go out of my way to listen to again. But Black Sabbath has definitely been the most solid metal band I've been exposed to yet from this whole exercise.
Great moments but in very long songs, kinda makes it blend together
Ozzy is a Rock God, but not at my church.
This was groundbreaking, but it’s been done a lot better later by countless other bands. It belongs on the list. No need to play it more than once before you die. Favorite song:the wizard
Hard Rock, 1970 -> 3
6/10…rock / heavy metal
I suppose there is something interesting going on here, but I’m more interested in the fact that enough people got it for them to have a career afterwards. I guess heavy metal isn’t for me.
Better than I expected.
Black Sabbath walked so Wolfmother could run
I guess this is important but the ground it broke is not something I enjoy.
🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Honestly, easier listening than I expected and enjoyable from start to end.
The album itself was fine, though I do wonder if those that are religious go pray at church after listening to it.
I enjoyed it. It's always interesting to hear this early 'heavy' stuff and discovering templates and ideas that have permeated through the ages. It's not something I will return to, but overall I'm glad about it.
This is another that seems to be on here as the debut album by a band that has much better subsequent albums. Title track is iconic but I don’t care about anything else here. The next 2 (arguably 4) Sabbath albums blow this one out of the water.
Not my Cup of tea
Восторги мне не понятны, но это очевидно ультра-влиятельный альбом, который чувствуется как демо того, что ждет группу и нас впереди. Лучшая песня - N.I.B.
good, the last song didn't need to be that long
такая хорошая солянка из риффачков и настроений. но на то она и солянка
En sjanger jeg sjeldent besøker, men når jeg gjør det; så er det black sabbath jeg hører på.
Not as intense as I was expecting.
Great for a late night drive with the top down.
It’s more psychedelic than I thought it would be. It’s also got an English pastoral, folklore feel to it that I like. It’s amazing to think this came out in 1970. I probably won’t listen to it again but it’s clear they took rock music in a new direction that led to everything from Iron Maiden to Faith No More to Nirvana to Mogwai and beyond… even… dare I say… Pantera. Innovators.
Their debut is not one of my favourite Sabbath records, but there are glimpses of the magic(k) to come over the next five albums.
I've never listened to this before, but I knew it's considered the first metal album. I'm familiar with Black Sabbath, but I also don't like most metal, so I've not put it high on my list. To clarify, metal is a lot like anime to me. I have friends who will tell me that I'm just being prejudiced, I'm not giving the culture the respect it deserves, and then they tell me that, because they know me, I will actually really like THIS one, because it's different. And then I sit down with them and watch an episode. And then, the main character is a special magical boy who tells you what attack he's going to do, the art quality changes wildly multiple times, and, most egregiously, a child's shirt disappears for plot reasons (no, she's not a child, she just looks like a child). And so I'm out. That's metal, too. "You'll like this," followed by a wall of guitars that sound like wood chippers and singers that sound like a chain smoker getting in a screaming match with a banshee. That said, yeah, I like this quite a bit. It's powerful while still having dynamics, I can tell when the singer is trying to portray different feelings, and it's mixed by somebody who realized that those sliders on their board are gradual settings, and not just an on/off switch. I understand why this created a genre. This is one of the most important albums ever, and helped me understand metal a lot more. But I looked up their next album, and, wow. I know almost half that album before even listening to it, and they never even came close to those highs on their debut. I think I got more value from this album as cultural appreciation than from finding some music to buy. I don't know if there's much here that Paranoid couldn't surpass. Is Paranoid on this list?
1001 Albums #22 Ok my thought going into this was: I'm so over metal can it stop But, actually, for a metal album this really is not bad I'm not revisiting in the future I don't think but easily my favourite metal album the generator has cursed me with yet
I'm not really a metal fan. I know this album is usually said to be the first heavy metal album, and I supposes that might be true, but really their next album, Paranoid, is far better than this.
this is just led zeppelin with extra steps. you want me to take the whole “first metal album” thing seriously when the album in question has “evil woman” on it? no thanks. their next few are significantly better
Cool that this was released in 1970, feels that this sound is way ahead of its time. Although I feel like they are still 'taking shape' and fully growing into their style. Still solid, 3.5.
its aight
I've never heard this album before. It's not bad at all. And, honestly, not what I expected.
This was a surprising listen, it started a little questionable but it picked up and I liked it.
It was okay, probably wouldn't listen to it again but Killer no filler score: 5.5/10
This is not my genre so I expected I'd hate this, but it wasn't so bad.
I enjoy Sabbath and like Ozzy's voice but this album is dark and dreary and he is just learning his vocal ways. 5 songs at 40 mins, those are long tracks. From the intro of the opening track you can immediately hear their influence on future rock and think of songs by Metallica, Alice In Chains, Deep Purple, Rainbow, even Zeppelin. "The Wizard" is rock royalty, still played regularly on the radio and those licks are worshipped by metalheads around the globe. "Wasp/Behind The Wall/Basically..." eventually becomes known simply as "N.I.B." and is one of the foundations of hard rock as we know it. What a jam, it blows the doors off and has likely killed many a woofer in it's day! Not an album I'd listen to often but I am glad I consumed it from top to bottom once in my lifetime. Top 1001 due to influence, defining a genre and staying power. Thank goodness Ozzy learned to sing with inflection and became a much better songwriter in future years.
Loved the guitar solos
interestinggg
favourite song - behind the wall of sleep favourite lyric - a politician's job they say is very high / for he has to choose who's gotta go and die / they can put a man on the moon quite easy / while people here on earth are dying of old diseases cover - 5/10 album overall - 3/5
Sounds kinda bluesy, not what I expected Never listened to black Sabbath before.
My first metal album, unexpectedly nice and calmer than I expected.
7/10 Enjoyed this way more than I expected to. Listened in the same week as Led Zeppelin, and vastly preferred this approach to bluesy hard rock/metal. Having said that, this was a more accessible sound than I would have predicted. It was also fun - the lyrics knew exactly what they were doing in terms of the slightly silly spookiness. Drums were amazing. Best: the Wizard
The opening track, 'Black Sabbath', encapsulates the essence of dark, gritty, heavy metal music that is Black Sabbath. Followed by The Wizard, a very well-written song, the harmonica intro set the tone for the song, adding new flavor for the album. But the middle section, the album gets boring. It feels like circling around one solid identity and rephrasing it into different songs. The longer instrumental songs are somewhat boring, but overall it is a really good album.
Heavier sound than expected, strange to think that this was just after the psychedelic 60s. Unlike some albums on this list it's really easy to see how new and revolutionary this sound was. I still hear sound like this in modern metal. It's all pretty good and enjoyable for me as well, although Ozzy Osbourne does sound like he's just shouting the vocals from the back of the studio.
tiene mejores album(s)
ok ganz ok, viel gitarrengedudel dann
Gutes Old School Metal
Not a huge fan but can understand the significance of the album.
Better than I thought, and surprising! Harmonica?! Not too bad indeed. And if this was the birth of metal...it just seems surprisingly tepid compared to what's out there now.
Not my Favourite Black Sabbath album but still excellent. Wicked world is my favourite from this album.
5/10 - I thought that this album would be way too loud and rockish however it was actually just boring.
Don’t care
very good mood
Not really my thingie, but i liked it!
I understand what they did for metal and i might seem hars. but i cant rate it higher.
this sounds a lot like led zep. the blues influence is really apparent and i think i would be more appreciative of this kind of music if it hadn’t evolved (?) into something so far away from the blues especially in terms of the guitar sound. there’s a SUBTLETY and a certain level of restraint here that i do not think applies to later hard rock/metal music (at least what i’ve heard so far). yeah the devil lady ghost stuff is silly but so was zeppelin’s lord of the rings schtick. i can imagine that this would have been pretty goddamn mindblowing to hear in 1970 if you were just some random british kid. also i love the fact that the first song on the album *black sabbath* by the band black sabbath is called “black sabbath.” OK branding!
That was fine; definitely not as bad I was expecting. It didn’t feel as “metal” as I expected and leaned more towards hard rock. It definitely reminded me a bit of Led Zeppelin so I can’t really say I didn’t like this without being a hypocrite…I still think some of the theatrics of this kind of music are a bit silly but I don’t think this music is bad or anything.
I get the cultural significance of this record but I just don’t think I was put on this earth to listen to heavy metal. It’s just not for me. I’d like to say I’d listen to it again but I probably won’t.
Not a fan of heavy metal but this had a bluesy feel to it, lyrics were good, I have never enjoyed any other Black Sabbath album up until now.
Fav: N.I.B. Least Fav: Black Sabbath It’s ok, and I’ll acknowledge that on a better day I may have rated this higher, but I didn’t vibe with this as much as I’d hoped. There’s some talent in there for sure
hell ye im hai asf bru n.i.b bass solo amazing solos overall makes me drool k k solid 6 10
This was decent. Bland singing and edgy goth lyrics, but good instrumentals and pleasantly short
3.5
Started as a 2, but worked it way up to 4. So I'll give it a solid 3.
A classic
Surprisingly good!
This was probably remarkably heavy for the time, it seems relatively tame with so many heavier genres today. I knew of Black Sabbath but had only heard bits of ‘NIB’ all the other tracks were brand new. 3.25/5 decent rock but not sure I’d seek it out again. I can imagine this influenced many musicians
I liked this well enough, but I prefer later Black Sabbath albums to this. Nothing bad here, just a lot that sounds the same. Instrumentation is great and some interesting lyrics as well, but nothing really grabbed me. Still good, though. Just not great.
And on the 8th day, Black Sabbath created Doom Metal. And it was ok in places. I quite like the long, atmospheric moodiness of some songs but it didn't blow me away. Quite amazing that later in the same year they came back with Paranoid, which seems a lot more deliberate and sure of itself, where this debut feels a bit more of an experiment.
betra en eg helt
A classic I guess, but not my cup of tea.
Standard heavy guitar rock. Some decent guitar solos.
This is a "classic", and it's obviously enormously influential (reasonable people can disagree if that's in a good way or a bad way). Somebody's always going to reference "Helter Skelter" or Link Wray's "Rumble" or whatever, but with the benefit of hindsight, this is obviously Mitochondrial Eve for modern heavy metal. But, in a way entirely consistent with that legacy, it's fairly crude and primitive. The recording quality is rough - not bad, just a little rough. And there's clearer through-lines to the blues rock that Sabbath spun off from than you would see in later metal (e.g. the harmonica on "The Wizard", or basically all the licks after the title track). It's more like a hard-blues fish with lungs than a real heavy-metal reptile. And it's perfectly listenable rock, if a little basic. But faced with a choice between eponymous Sabbath and any of dozens of later albums their style evolved into (including several by Sabbath themselves) I'd just never put this on. The POD has a fairly expressive voice, but he's not a great singer, and his lyrical lines are often kind of stilted. The best moments on here are usually instrumental, partly for that reason. It holds up fine though.
Massi, ce sta Ho preferito di più Vol.4 però, c’erano dei brani parecchio malinconici che mi erano piaciuti assai e che qua non ho trovato
Nog een black Sabbath album Niet slecht maar ook nie heel top ofzo
Classic Sabbath
The more classic rock concept albums I listen to from this time period, the more I realize the peak male fantasy was some alignment of heavy rock n roll combined with mystical lyricism. The fellas just wanted to live in a Tolkien-inspired world. Pepper in some honkeytonk, add a smidge of rebellion. And boom. That’s it. Soft 3.
***An ok album
Day239 - idk every great band doesn’t need every one of their albums on this list, but that’s just like opinion man
I had no idea that between this and the release of Paranoid there has only been like 7 months. That’s insanely prolific even by today’s standards. Solid album. Not sure how, but I feel like I never heard NIB before
I recall a story from an interview where Tommy Iommi told the interviewer that Black Sabbath recorded their albums on first try, in one take. That's incredible, if true. 3.5
not really my style. i liked the wizard but nothing else really spoke to me. i don't really enjoy the sound of the lead singer's voice. some good vibes in there tho for sure
This album is almost a 4 for me, but didn’t quite make it. It was a fun listen though. It sounded almost a little theatrical. And I liked that it was short and sweet.
Not a fan, specifically of the messaging. The music's definitely good, and I can see why they were popular, but the satanic shit just doesn't sit well with me.
Metal will never be my thing, but I can appreciate Black Sabbath and what they built for the metal genre. They had darkness and deep vibes that were not just screaming, dissonance and loud. Their lyrics could be heard and understood along with music that didn't hurt the ears but was different, dark and haunting. This album has a sound that was groundbreaking and different.
Here we start off with the song called Black Sabbath on the album Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. That's hilarious. It's fine as an intro song or whatever. Mass is in session I guess? The album that follows their bell tolling painfully slow opening THEME SONG is okay but not as good as the Paranoid album. Sabbath has sort of a groovy prog rock flavor of metal. Ozzy is pretty unique as far as lead singers go. I mean he's not really a "good" singer and I don't think his lyrics are that great but it all works. It wouldn't be Black Sabbath without him but it's the guitar and bass that I like best about this band. N.I.B. is my favorite on this album and something about the guitar playing on that one sorta feels Hendrixy to me.
This was fine, but it kind of bored me.
Black Sabbath’s debut is a cool listen if you’re into the roots of metal, but it’s definitely a bit rough around the edges. The title track has that spooky intro everyone talks about, but it drags for me and has never really been a favorite. That said, “N.I.B.” and “The Wizard” still hold up—both have a great groove and show off what the band was about to become. You can tell they were onto something, even if the full album doesn’t totally land for me. Favorite song: NIB
Not bad.
Would need to be loud!
definitely enlightening to hear an entire genre being created in real time, but they're not quite there yet. the random blues noodling can be really distracting, and the songwriting isn't really as tight as a lot of their stuff from paranoid. they're still figuring it out.
It is very difficult to listen to this and place it in context. I have listened to so much music that has iterated on the sound they developed here that it's hard to give it a fresh listen.
At first I was lke "ah, come on" because I sometimes struggle with "classic rock" and the world built around it. On the other hand by the second song I was more "well, this is actually quite entertaining and well done." After a while Ozzy gets to you and the whole thing feels pretty fresh because the decades of overplayed songs just are not on this early album. Plus, it is not hard to like Black Sabbath as they are varied and interesting enough across the album and not stuck on one riiff, which so often seem to be the case with certain "classic" rock bands. I suppose I need to be more specific in what I am getting sick of, vs just bad mouthing a whole genre. And from now on, so I will. This was actually pretty good and worth a listen even if you question your loyalty to "classic rock."
I know it's the first metal album. But I'm still going with "rudimentary, with laughably simple lyrics"
First 2 tracks suck, but it builds as the album goes on. Band is talented, instruments are dynamic and layered well. Ozzy sucks and sounds tinny and muffled and like he was recorded in another room with shitty equipment. I’m sure it was mind-blowing at the time but it’s only okay to me hearing it the first time.
3.5
Was ok
Solid Black Sabbath album. Most songs were pretty good but some were dull. That’s all I have to say about that
Eh
Old school heavy metal
I get the attraction, and there were some decent RnB based sections, but ... nah. Just not for me.
Not 100% my cup of tea but soft music
Good album. Gets straight to the point. Surprised by how short it was. Still a good listen. 3/5 Might listen again
groovier than I was expecting, the history is awe-inspiring I enjoyed it more as it went on, the second half better than the first
It works for me. Sort of heavy bluesy metal. Doesn't get a five because it's musically quite simple, based on a good guitar groove, usually picked up by the bass too. Ozzy's recognisable vocals. Songs are all quite similar; I like this sound but tire of it quite quickly. But, it does what it does, very well.
An interesting start to Black Sabbath. It's a fun album to listen to, but not as good as others in their discography. The third track on Spotify that mixes Wasp, Behind the Wall of Sleep, Bassically, and N.I.B. is my favorite.
a very raw Black Sabbath
Stunning