Paranoid
Black Sabbath
1970
Album Summary
Paranoid is the second studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in September 1970 through Vertigo Records in England and Warner Bros. Records in the US. The album contains several of the band's signature songs, including "Iron Man", "War Pigs" and the title track, which was the band's only Top 20 hit, reaching number 4 in the UK charts. In a 2017 publication by Rolling Stone magazine Paranoid ranked number one on its list of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". The album is often cited a key influence for the development of the heavy metal music genre as well as one of the earliest heavy metal albums. Paranoid was the band's only album to top the UK Albums Chart until the release of 13 in 2013.
WikipediaEasiest 5 stars I've ever given. Before even listening I know - but this is one of the first albums I became attached to as a kid. Every track is perfect. Other bands paved the way, but Sabbath actively invented heavy metal. I think it could also be argued the song "Electric Funeral" alone also spawned an entire sub-genre of 'sludge' bands and eventually made the term 'Sabbath Clone' its own descriptor as bands tried to re-create it. || I've always loved the bass in this album, and obviously Iommi and Ozzy do great guitar/vocals - but on this listen, it was the first time I realized how truly incredible the drums are! Bill Ward always felt like a Sabbath afterthought to me, but listening more intently to the drums throughout, especially on the back half of the album, it's clear he's just as important a part of Sabbath's success. Perfect from top to bottom.
“Paranoid” by Black Sabbath (1970) When I listened to this as a teenager, my moral superiors were scandalized that I was sinfully indulging an embrace of the satanic. They were ignorant. This is not evil proudly standing as evil. This is evil as a genre pointing to the good, in the classic, gothic sense. “War Pigs” excoriates the fomenters of mass destruction, likening them to workers of the dark arts (It is Satan, not God, who laughs at their vain appeals for mercy before divine judgment). “Paranoid” is the empathy-evoking lament of a man losing his mind. “Planet Caravan” is morally neutral pagan sci-fi. “Iron Man”, also sci-fi, is a morality tale about the deadly potential of technology turned against us. “Electric Funeral” is simply apocalypse. “Hand of Doom” and “Fairies Wear Boots” are poetic sermons warning against the use of drugs (Would that he had heeded his own message). What’s not to like? You uninformed cultural moralists need to get off your high horse. While the prophetic voice in this message is rather too simplified, it’s not nearly as graphic as some portions of Sacred Scripture (slowly read Deuteronomy 28:47-57 before proceeding to The Lamentations of Jeremiah and the Revelation of St. John). Call me if you need counseling. The aesthetic question here is whether the mood of the message properly harmonizes with the mood of the music. Boy, does it. It is dark. It is heavy. It is horror harnessed in sound. Tony Iommi is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. If you want to play guitar like Iommi, all you have to do is cut off the ends of the first two fingers of your fretboard hand, and use homemade prosthetics and banjo strings in order to compensate. Simple. The pain of that horrible experience might just give you a sense of what a guitar can accomplish as a conveyor of human passion. Feedback and sustain on power chords (“War Pigs”, “Iron Man”) provide space and invite reflection, and exquisitely colorful lead riffs and solos amaze the listener. Jazz solo lines in the outro of “Planet Caravan” are exemplary for dynamic fluctuation and improvisation. Anybody can play the groove chords on “Iron Man”. But nobody can play them like Tony Iommi. Ozzy Osbourne has precisely the right voice for conveying these lyrics and melodies. He has a strong, snarly voice, and pitch control is a secondary concern. He understands the power of the emphatic consonant. Bill Ward’s heavy drums, with masterfully synchronized fills, provide fearsome rhythms and a fine solo break (in “Rat Salad”). And Geezer Butler’s virtuosity on electric bass set a standard for metal music, mastering the art of ‘pairing’ bass and electric rhythm without simple aping. Listen to how Butler’s pulsing bass vibrates the rattle wires of Ward’s snare drum on the intro to “Hand of Doom”. The engineers intentionally didn’t correct it. Masterful. Listen to this album. Today. Remove your hat; you’re in the presence of rock nobility. 5/5
So this was the first album I ever bought at 13. To say my mother was disappointed that I stopped binge-listening her Tom Jones and Sadler & Young albums to binge-listen Black Sabbath is an understatement. I first hear it when an older brother of a friend played it for us. So heavy, dark & riff-centric. For me, all hard rock that came after paled by comparison. I read a review of this album about 10 years ago and the guy said just ignore Ozzy (happily) and the heavy guitar and listen to nothing but the bass and drums and you will get a better idea of what a great band they were. I see this is the 7th highest ranked 1001 album so I will not resist.
SHAAARRONNNN. Three obvious big fat classic riffs in War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man but pretty sick how they can also pull off Planet Caravan in the middle of it all. I think Electric Funeral is my highlight though, can hear heaps of gizz and ORB.
When I first met Luke in a crowded Bot garden. Sandwiched between Laura and Jenny and opposite himself, I accidentally made out I was a massive metal head by talking to him solely about Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. That man was no liar. 8 tracks of pure godly tunes.
So fucking tight. Riffs for days. Can’t wait to drink a few rockshores and drift away to planet caravan.
Put me in a time machine and let me go back to 1970 and hear this for the first time and see others reactions. What a time that must have been. An absolute heavy metal and rock classic from start to finish.
Quoting Rob’s mix-tape rules from the movie Hi Fidelity: “You gotta kick it off with a killer to take attention, and then you gotta kick it up a notch. But you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you gotta cool it down a notch. There are a lotta rules.” - even though ‘Paranoid’ is not a mix, it nails that form spot on - ‘War Pigs’ is the best song on the album, and then it gets better with ‘Paranoid’. ‘Planet Caravan’ is still a closet favorite which I love playing to the Metal uninformed - “This is Back Sabbath?”. It all works - galloping, locomotive bass and drums, ominous guitars and Ozzy. They convey the emotions of the disillusioned industrial youth that they are. Love the lyrics throughout. ‘War Pigs’ could have been written 3000 years ago. This album and their eponymous debut album were released within six months of each other, which still amazes me. These albums changed Rock music forever. Doesn’t get much better. 5+ stars
War Pigs is a huge opening track and sets the tone for a genre defining album. Rifftastic Iommi with the unchained brilliance of Ozzie. A match made in metal heaven.
Probably the most influential metal album of them all, and arguably the greatest collection of metal songs on a single record. War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron man and that’s just the opening three tracks. More focused and cohesive than its predecessor Toni Iommi’s ability to write a riff is unrivalled and Ozzy’s vocals are so simple but so incredibly effective, while the inimitable Bill Ward and Geezer Butler show why they are as under-appreciated as they are accomplished.
10/15 Raw as all hell. Standout Tracks: Planet Caravan, Iron Man, Electric Funeral, Hand of Doom
How I wish I'd gone to that Black Sabbath concert on May 5, 1982. I guess it only took 40 years to realize that. I was scared away at the time. How was I to know with everyone freaking out at the time? Good grief, this review will be more obscene than the album is. How can you not go, "Fuck yeah!" through this whole album? It's the "War Pigs" that are satanic! Fuck, yeah! What is this freaky, spacey, awesome sound in "Planet Caravan"? Fuck, yeah! Oh my God, that riff in "Iron Man" is so epic that we're going to play it and sing to it over and over for five and half minutes and never get tired of it. (When you look up "Riff" in Wikipedia, this is the riff that illustrates what a riff is. Fuck, yeah!) I went batshit when that voice that kind of sounds like Animal from the Muppets chanted "Electric Funeral! Electric Funeral" Fuck, yeah! When "Hand of Doom" slowly, creepily builds and builds to "Now you're gonna die!" Fuck, yeah! (Well, maybe not "yeah" except that it's definitely not glamorizing drug abuse, so, okay, fuck, yeah!) I will never get tired of the title "Rat Salad." Fuck, yeah. The album so far has dealt with war, depression, the end of the world (twice), and drug abuse, and ends with "Fairy with boots and dancing with a dwarf." Fuck. Yeah. (Granted it might have had to do with the "smokin' and trippin'" but as the album ends, "Yeah!") I had to giggle a few times when the lyrics really struggled to fit the rhythm "Ca-an he-e see-e, or is he blind?" and then I laughed again when I realized it sounded like Jack Black was singing, but I felt like a goddamn badass pulling up to work with it blaring on my car stereo and now I finally get it all.
Staple thrash metal infused with riveting use of stylistic bar variations and impactful guitar riffs. Ozzy Osbourne's immediacy in his vocals create intangible catharsis for the record. Cohesive and a CHB, 'Paranoid' (album) is instantly recognizable to many listeners alike regardless of genre.
Disappointing! War Pigs and Paranoid together made a tremendously strong, energetic start from out the outset, but all my enthusiasm was lost by the time Iron Man came on—at which point the album descended into lyrics that were edgy but shallow, and settled into that unfortunate aimless, rambly guitar/drum combo that seems to have dominated rock in the years prior. An easy five stars if the momentum had carried through, but as it stands, three is being generous. Recommended season: Winter
I don't expect anything I have to say is fresh, partly because this is well-trodden ground and partly because there's not much to talk about. That's not as negative as it sounds, just recognition that one of Sabbath's main virtues is recapitualating proof of concept that rock music can be chunked and stacked into songs like cheese cubes on a toothpick. I really like that bit of their music. They're very good at it. Riffs atops drum rolls atop looming bass atop screeching vocals. If they weren't, I wouldn't recognise so many of these (Kanye borrows the Iron Man riff for Hell of a Life, huh?) without ever having heard the album. My issues are (I warned you this wouldn't be original) that while all they want to do is rock (so far so good) they don't have much to rock around. A robin, a jailhouse, a clock--music is stuffed to the gunnels with things around which one can orbit. They've supposedly got weirdness, paranoia, satanism or whatever. But do they? Because despite their image, there's nothing especially evocative or atmospheric going on here. They could just as easily be singing about the best time to zest an orange (once it's hardened, I'm told, as that means the juice has moved from the innards to the outards) without causing much dissonance. Of course, ideas aren't a requirement in great music. I can listen to Franco Luamba or James Brown all day without giving too many shits about what they're saying. But that brings us to my other issue, which is that those guys have got rhythm, groove, funk and soul that's ass-bustingly transcendent, while Sabbath only have their cheese on a stick, and that can only get you so far.
A Rat Salad away from absolute perfection FT: Can I really choose? OK. I will. A tie between Planet Caravan and Paranoid. 9/10
Clássico ignorado por mim e que supreendeu demais pelos riffs e vocais. Ouvir mais vezes
almost every song on this album is perfect, in so many ways, really incredibly great music 🥲
Qué puta belleza. Quiero decir que es gracias a este ejercicio que neta me doy el tiempo de escuchar con calma y atención a black sabbath que por algún extraño prejuicio consideraba música del montón. Es un puto discazo de principio a fin, y no sé si me gustan más los riffs de guitarra o los solos de batería pero la puta madre. Y qué carajos con planet caravan? cómo una rolita así de suave entra tan perfecto en un disco de metal progresivo. Putos genios.
Imagine putting this on for its first spin back in the day. Planet Caravan is a bit of a rad piano diversion from the rest of the album
Su aparición en aquel aclamado juego Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock me hizo conocerlos jajaja no se si salieron en otros pero ahí conocí paranoid y la de Iron man que chuladaaaaaa.... buen glugluneees
Sí me gustó la vrd, jamás le había dado chance a escuchar mucho de esta banda salvo Paranoid que no me logró atrapar y otros pares de canciones que me habían pasado desapercibidas. Chistoso, fantasioso, brujesco y apocalíptico. Un disco poco relatable, nada sentimental, lo cual es refrescante, si bien ahora suena graciosisimo, supongo que en la época era dark. Según lei en la Wikipedia la primera canción se iba a llamar Walpurgis, pero la disquera dijo que no porque sonaba muy satánico (aunque según entiendo todo este performance de los nombres místicos era un pedo más como en la punk-politics-related ondita en vez de ocultista, lo cual fue bummer pa mi), así que, cuál niños regañados, le tuvieron que cambiar el nombre, lel. Pues, yo no soy quien pa afirmar esto, pero pa mi que sí que se nota mucho la influencia que han tenido en el metal hasta nuestros días estos dudes (sobre todo en el famoso stoner metal con el cual estoy muy poco familiarizado, pero dizque yo todas las bandas de ese género suenan a una digi-evolución de Black Sabbathh). Fav: Electrical Funeral porque tiene un inicio que sí suena a que va a empezar una invocación con las fuerzas del maligno. Mood: Este Iron Man cae mejor que el de marvel porque es bien loser y nadie lo quiere ajajaa
I may be more of a Black Sabbath fan than I had ever considered... I’d love to have this on vinyl.
It's the album Prince Philip will have blaring out as he's lowered into his grave. As if we're not getting a bank holiday. That is most upsetting.
Some disgustingly good riffs in this album, had actually forgotten abt War Pigs, which was a nice surprise. Pretty much every song is a banger, also they pieced together Paranoid in 2 hours??? What the fuck Already Saved: Paranoid Saved After Listening: War Pigs, Iron Man, Electric Funeral
yes please. this is a band i would love to watch, sadly the later versions of sabbath are pretty awful so that just isn't going to happen.
What an album, there isn't a bad song on it. I can tell why this is such a touchstone for the genre. It has a primal quality that it's heavier predecessors struggle to capture.
Insane. The riffs on here are SICK NASTY..a HURRICANE of intensity. One of my all-time favorites. This one is so good it's RIDICULOUS
Such a classic. It's cool to hear the subtle stereo panning of the drums and guitars with headphones.
Such a great album. These guys were ahead of their time. You can see where so many future bands got their influences from.
Classic album. Generated a new genre for future middle school boys to headbang too. 5-star banger.
Hand of doom. The best part about this album is you can take all of the singles that everyone’s heard plenty of times away, and what you’re left with is still amazing. I love this album. Again….hand of doom.
Wonderful stuff and so influential to the development of heavy metal - amazing tracks such as war pigs, iron man and of course paranoid I haven’t debated a score as much and my head says four but……
Outstanding, nom stop bangers start to finish. Also, the best percussion I've heard in ages.
Ох, это же Блэк Сабат Гитары звучат сочно. Слышно каждую ноту, плотно. War Pigs - ох какой соляк! У баса интересная партия тоже. Теперь я понимаю, за что любят Томи Айоми. У него просто ахерительные рифы и вкусные соляки. Paranoid - тут всё понятно Planet Caravan - вау, вот это перкуссия! Раньше я слушал только кавер Пантеры на эту песню, оригинал вообще другой. Бас всё так же творит чудо, гитара потихоньку подыгрывает, дополняя атмосферу. Интересно звучат соло Томми (уже в трех песнях подряд), они звучат сухо, практически без эффектов. Слышно лишь короткую реверберацию. Но эта реверберация создает невероятную глубину в песне. Iron Man - классика хэви метала) Опять же гитара звучит очень собранно и хрустяще. Есть непопадания, когда после паузы все немного играют мимо, но почему-то это не звучит как что-то прям очень плохое. Типа трушно, что-ли. Хм, концовка очень интересная, только сейчас обратил внимание на неё. Electric Funeral - Оззи снова не парится и поёт в унисон с гитарой Томми) КАК ЖЕ ОФИГИТЕЛЬНО ЗВУЧАТ ЭТИ ГИТАРЫ! Во всех песнях! Hand of Doom - барабаны очень панчевые, слышится каждая атака. Rat Salad - похоже на импровизацию. Барабанное соло драйвовое. Fairies Wear Boots - как всегда крутые рифы Томми Айоми. Интересно меняется ритм на протяжении всей песни. Хорошее закрытие альбома. ---- Буду ли я переслушивать этот альбом? ДА.
We do not deserve and can barely handle the badassery of Black Sabbath. This song is at least 50% hits, and the other 50% slaps. Keep it up and you'll go places, Oswald.
This album is great because it also contains the 1001 greatest guitar riffs you must listen to
Albums were so short! The tracks that everyone knows still wail but the others are surprisingly chill.
Front to back this is what heavy metal should sound like. Sabbath were pioneers. From the fast to the heavy and even a slower song like Planet Caravan
Greatest Metal Album of all time. Genre defining. Driving guitar links heavy bass and harrowing vocals make for an amazing listening experience.
Holy cow! This album is freaking fantastic! What have I been waiting for??? I think as a kid I bought just enough into the satanic panic of the 70s and 80s to believe at least a tiny bit that listening to Black Sabbath would invite Satan into my soul. (There were Christian protestors outside the brand new Events Center when Black Sabbath came to my home town in the early 80s.) And even after I became certain there was nothing to fear in this music, I had convinced myself that Black Sabbath just wouldn't appeal to me. They'd be too hard, too noisy, too mean. I even knew and liked half these songs already (War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man) but there was still a part of me that did not believe. Gah! Propaganda works, yo! Now I get why the powers that be needed me to be afraid. But the truth is we don't need to fear this bunch of hippies! The war pigs are the ones to fear! Anyway, my feelings about every single track on this record run the gamut from like-it-a-lot to oh-my-god-I-love-this-so-much! The drums, the guitars, bass, vocals are all amazing. When everything but the hi-hat drops out at the beginning of War Pigs? Sublime. The mellow bongo-ness of Planet Caravan? Smooth. The psychedelia Electric Funeral? Terrific. The bluesy grooves in the middle of Hand of Doom and Fairies Wear Boots? Bluesy and groovy --- and wicked! I love this record. More please!
Absolutely fantastic. Not a heavy metal fan normally, but thesingers voice is great, the subject matter dealt with excellently in the lyrics, and love the balance of the music.
Ozzy forever! War Pigs, Paranoid, Electric Funeral and Fairies Wear Boots. Iron Man is also great but been worn out by hearing it on the radio. Easy 5.
Solid metal album by Black Sabbath. The first half is full of bangers and the second half doesn't disappoint either. Not as memorable the first but still a great listen.
What's to say about this album that hasn't already been said? A great trip from start to finish. I think when I was younger I wasn't a big fan of Planet Caravan but I love the trippy groove of that track now and it makes a good bridge from Paranoid to Iron Man. On side two It feel like Electric Funeral pays an homage to early Pink Floyd with the vocal melody at the beginning.
Oh yeah. Now that's an album. I'm not really a metal fan but I love guitars and bass. It's probably the simpler (yet still intricate) sound that I love so much about Sabbath. I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Iommi invented or popularized power chords. It just brings so much sound. And yet there is plenty of complex tapping, plucking, hammering on and off (solos & sequences in Paranoid, Iron Man, Rat Salad, I could go on and on). War Pigs really epitomizes their sound - goes wherever it wants and it works. The intro crawls in, then the first verse has an up-tempo power chord repetition, then a 1min bridge with a different pace and chord progression, then back to the verses sound for 30s, then a new 1min bridge/solos, back to another verse, back to the style of the first bridge for 30-45s, then a long outro complete with some final distortion just because. Some stuff is simple, some is complex, but altogether it's a masterpiece.
That first side, man. Just floors you. Three of the greatest metal songs ever. Then there's the Planet Caravan song. Yikes. It reminds me of the Spinal Tap song, "Clam Caravan." I'm sure that that was what they were going for, but it just seems out of place here. Everything else fits really well. I remember getting this CD a few years back at Best Buy (remember when they had CDs, kids?). It was in a $5 bin. Only five dollars?! Sold. This defined the genre. Pretty much all of metal has taken from this album (except for "Planet Caravan", maybe...) The one song being a clunker, I am still going to rate this pretty high. How can you not?
Love this album. No question. Easy to drop in and let the music wash over. Feel it in my chest. Propelling. Deep.
I didn't even finish War Pigs. Not on purpose, but I got busy and forgot to come back.
Wow. I've never intentionally listened to Black Sabbath, maybe because it was too old or something. I've heard some of the songs a lot, but I never knew what a great complete album it is. Cohesive sound, but enough variation between tracks to stay interesting.
As an Ozzy fan, I looked at this album cover and was like \"huh? I haven't heard this one\" but once I clicked to listen to the album, i've realised that i've played it on high rotation prior to today.
Extra special this album coming up on my list on Ozzy Osborne's birthday. This album for me is working back till 3am on many deadlines, alone in an office with this blasting out of my computer's speakers. Perfect album
the perfect early metal album, almost flawless except it feels too slow in places. paranoid was the second song i ever learned on guitar so it has a special place in my heart. favorite tracks - war pigs, paranoid, iron man, planet caravan least favorite tracks - hand of doom
Una de les grans fites del hard rock, i això que no feia ni un any que el génere havia nascut a les mans d'ells mateixos. La primera cara és demencial, 4 temes amb dret a figurar en qualsevol llista; la segona és menys coneguda però gairebé igual de bona. Rock de malson, pesadot, agressiu, recargolat, que t'absorbeix de mala manera per no deixar-te anar mai més
Classic. War pigs, paranoid, and iron man are right up there with the best rock songs. Amazing to think it was only a few months since their debut.
More of a blues rock album than I expected. Some really great technique on display. The compositions are simple but effective, and the repetitiveness serves the themes of the album well. The instrumentalists are super together all the time, they play well with one another. Bill Ward especially kills it on this album.
An obvious metal masterpiece. Dark, intense, slow, ambient. Everything that a good stoner metal album could be
A stone cold classic. I actually like it BECAUSE the guitar relys more on tone than on histrionics. The first half is incredible from War Pigs through Iron Man its one classic after another. I especially the moody Planet Caravan. The second half can get a little heavy handed, but not enough to dim the status as an all time metal classic; 5 stars.
Great rock and roll album with many classic songs. Some filler but does not disturb the flow.
Early Ozzy !!! Iommi blazing the guitar on "War Pigs". Geezer's base just cranking out on Paranoid. Beautiful, soothing guitar picking and congos on "Planet Caravan". Raw raw power of "Iron Man". Song just does not give up; increasing in intensity all the way to the end. And "Hand of Doom". Just a great, driving song in every way. Sad lyrics, but that goes with the times (Vietnam, heroine). Simply a masterpiece. Hands down my favorite song on this album. "Rat Salad" devotes time to Bill Ward. His drumming is perfectly adequate, but this one just does not excite. Wrapping it up with "Fairies wear boots" ... "cause smoking and tripping is all that you do". hoo-rah. Absolutely classic album.
5/5 While metal wasn’t invented by a single artist or band, Black Sabbath did bring together a blueprint that is referenced to this day. This album is fun to listen to and full of that dark energy you are looking for when listening to metal, without feeling obscene or “evil” just for the sake of sounding that way. The Heavy and distorted riffs and Ozzie’s iconic voice are of course great but listening to the drums and bass specifically show that they help support the band just as much as everything else. Of course the big three hits are amazing but the rest of the tracks are great listens as well. I enjoyed “Planet Caravans” slow paced spacey feeling (the traveling bongos are fun), “Electric Funeral” has intense imagery in the lyrics and really brings forward the bass and drums, and “Rat Salad” is a fun jam session and drum solo. I guess I’d say that “Fairies Wear Boots” is the weak point of the album for me but that’s not saying much as it isn’t a bad listen. Fav Tracks: No point in choosing
Never considered myself a fan of metal but I can appreciate the genre because of albums such as this. Going through the lyrics of some of these songs shows them talking about generational topics (such as war pigs with them referencing, I’m assuming, Vietnam), to having an abstract story (Iron Man). Musically, everything from the guitars to the vocals made this album an absolute banger. The simple replay-ability of this album gives it a 5, no contest.
Amazing. I was blown away by how good this record was. This album has been on my list for a while, and I’m glad that I listened to it. Will be buying this if I see it at my record store.
Listened on February 26th 2022. Absurdly relevant to this crazy Russian invasion of Ukraine times were living in. Fucking meaty. Pure anger. Love this album
This was a great album. I've listened to a few albums on this list that lost a star or two because they added too many songs. This one is a little short but at least there's no filler garbage. (Turns out the title song was actually written as "filler" but it is far from garbage)
PERFECTION! This is the only way to describe this album. I've lost count of how many times I listened to this already. Favorite tracks: * Literally all of them, but if I need to choose three: * War Pigs * Electric Funeral * Paranoid
Anthony, Andrew, and I took some mushrooms and tripped hard to an early Sabbath concert where Ozzy still had youth in his face that he hadn't destroyed with drugs yet. Then we turned on a Tom Jones record, and watched a industrial crusher destroy a bunch of toys on YouTube. We laughed our heads off. This record is still one of the most imitated, but never duplicated. Lightning stuck hard with this one. Favorite tracks: "Iron Man", "Faeries Wear Boots", "Electric Funeral"
A classic, takes me back to being an angsty teen. Ozzy's vocals and iommi's guitar is a truly legendary mix
To produce instant classics like Paranoid, War Pigs and Iron Man on one and only album is a miracle, or is it genius? Tony Iommi absolutely deserves the "riff master" title after this one. Every second of this masterpiece is worth it. Black Sabbath will always be one of the best metal act ever.
So do I write a review with hindsight or do I write the review I would have written as a 12/13 year old, nearly 50 years ago. Because I remember hearing this the first time. War Pigs was like nothing I'd ever heard before, and the rest of the album kept me enthralled. It still does. Some of the lyrics are trite, but it's a sonic masterpiece.
Black Sabbath is such a misunderstood band. While a ‘Black Sabbath’ is indeed a satanic reference, the band was never really about satan. There’s only a couple of references to satan on 'Paranoid,' and even then, it’s certainly not celebrated or glorified as 21st century Black Metal bands do on their recordings. Shame the band wasn’t more appropriately named Black Doom or Monsters Of Destruction, or something of that nature. OK, now that that’s out of the way… I have been listening to 'Paranoid' ever since it was released in 1970, my first introduction at the impressionistic young age of eleven. Even then, I immediately knew the opening track was concerning the evil nature of the ‘war machine.’ I furthermore surmised this not be a critique of war, per se, but the profiteers of war, particularly at the expense of the poor who are treated ‘just like pawns at chess.’ It’s a great image. And when satan does make his appearance at the end, ‘laughing, spread(ing) his wings,’ it is to enact God’s merciless judgment on the war pigs. As this scenario is completely void of grace, I don’t think it’s particularly good theology; still, at least they got the satan/God relationship right. The hasatan in the Hebrew Scriptures was not a forename, like Anton, but a title (‘adversary,’ ‘accuser’) indicating his role as the heavenly prosecuting attorney arguing, in this case, for the conviction and sentencing of the war pigs. God is the judge (this is not a jury trial), and therefore passes the final judgment. This idea is found throughout both testaments, both Hebrew and Christian. Again, it’s not the complete picture, but it is an accurate representation of the book of Job, for example. I wonder if the Christian religious right ever really read Black Sabbath’s lyrics? The rest, and vast majority, of the lyrical themes on Paranoid cover the kind of things one would expect on a 1970 LP: the Vietnam war (‘War Pigs’), the dangers of drug abuse, which vocalist Ozzy Osbourne unfortunately became all too familiar with himself (‘Hand Of Doom’), global destruction from atomic bomb radiation fallout (‘Electric Funeral’), even modern psychiatry (‘Paranoid.’) And some wonderful sci-fi songs like ‘Planet Caravan,’ and ‘Iron Man.’ By the way, who exactly was Iron Man anyway, and what put him in the grave in the first place, and how was he resurrected, and why was his sole purpose to wreak vengeful havoc upon the people ‘he once saved’? He sounds an awful lot like Jesus’ evil twin. Or, I guess if you’re a Monty Python fan, Jesus and Brian’s sibling triplet who went terribly rogue. Finally, ‘Fairies Wear Boots’ isn’t so much in the fantasy literary genre so much as it is an LSD inspired vision, as the last verse reveals. My point is that its quite a range of subject matter, and again, you will not find a one of them praising evil. Quite the contrary. 'Paranoid' seems to be about cautioning youth about the deadly nature and consequences of dancing with the devil. Which, of course, is the very stuff of sermons and liturgical prayers one may find in a worship gathering on the Christian Sabbath. Now lets’ talk music for a moment. I don’t think I’ve ever previously considered that these blokes were every bit as talented on their respective instruments as the members of fellow hard rockers Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Experience, Cream, The Who, Rush. I mean it. Guitarist Tony Iommi is a rock god, just blazing away on super sonic lead solos on almost every song, even delving into a bit of tasty jazz guitar (accompanied by piano and congas… on a metal album!) on ‘Planet Caravan.’ Of course, he’s mostly known for one of classic rock’s all time most famous riffs- ‘Iron Man’ – his signature heavy, heavy power chords. (Every kid I knew, including myself, learned this and Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke On The Water’ immediately upon learning how to tune our guitar strings.) Geezer Butler gets this uniquely crunchy(?) kind of sound on his bass- he must have been playing with a pick- and meanders up and down and sideways and around that fret bar like a kid on a swing set trying to arc up and over the top bar. And drummer Bill Ward with his relentless driving drums of doom. Most of these songs were birthed from improvisational jams which is clearly heard in every song. Then, for the cherry on top of the hot fudge sundae, the infamous Ozzy Osbourne. His sneering vocals are a perfect fit for the head banging thunder his mates hurl down. How can you not love this guy when he sings in a particularly nasty manner on ‘Electric Funeral’: ‘Turns people into clay, radiation minds decay!’ This is a kid you would love to be friends with on the school playground but loathe to be the teacher of in the classroom. Sabbath ain’t what you think. Unless you think their mighty damn awesome. And then you’d be right.
Gostei. É bem rico e um rock mais pesadinho, talvez seja o que eu mais gostei até agora 5/5
The singles are of course top tier but everything else rocks just as hard. Electric Funeral and Rat Salad especially were great.
An all-time kickass classic. This album takes other albums out behind the shed and kicks their asses, and they give thanks that Black Sabbath paid them attention.
Trzeci Sabbathowy pick na liscie, tym razem padlo na paranoida, ktory jak dla mnie jest ich najklasyczniejszym krazkiem, jesli mysle o Sabbathcie, to przewija mi sie jako pierwsze skojarzenie wlasnie paranoid z legendarnym openingiem war pigowym, czy iron manowym songiem, plyta z 1970 jest drugim studyjnym nagraniem bandy o ktorej nie ma co sie rozpisywac skoro trzeci pick, cienka jest granica pomiedzy hardym rokowaniem, a ciezkimi metalami i tak o ile jestem sceptycznie nastawiony do metalowych brzmien, tak Sabbaty kupuja swoim podejsciem do komponowania, wiekszosc materialu z tego krazka powstawala w czasie jamowanych sesji zeby potem byc rerecordowana, slychac to glownie w wymyslnych riffach gitarkowych pana Iommiego, ktore zazwyczaj dominuja brzmienie utworow, ale nie jest to regula, bo pojawiaja sie takze spokojniejsze kompozycje jak planet caravan, ktora brzmi wrecz akustycznie, wiec na 42 minutach zawarli klasycznie ostre brzmienie i jednoczesnie eksperymentowali z spokojniejszymi brzmieniami, kolejnym ciekawym eksperymentem jest sam pan Osbourne, ktory zmienia sie z kawalka na kawalek nie tylko przez wykorzystanie synthowych efektow, ale rowniez przez granie na emocjach ktore sa przekazywane wokalem, a jest co przekazywac, bo Sabbathowe utwory pomimo tego, ze sa raczej prosto pisane to jednak potrafia dobitnie dotknac poruszanego tematu, dodatkowo nawiazujac do folkloru filozofii czy religii, jak czorny sabat, to przeciez diaboly musza sie przewijac, co tez zeby ubarwic kompozycje, nie bez powodu pan Ozzy stal sie pewnego rodzaju ikona hardego brzmienia, bo z samego wokalu czuc jego charyzme, ktora przyciaga sluchacza, na plejke nie ma co za bardzo dodawac, bo juz wiekszosc wspominanych trakow gdzies ma swoje miejsce, ale cala plyta laduje w biblioteczce spotifajowej
\m/ Fuck yes. I've loved this whole album since I bought it from a BMG catalog when I was maybe 13. Had no knowledge of who Sabbath was or how influential they were. Just thought it sounded cool based on the description. So much of what I love now wouldn't exist if it weren't for this band. Goddamn they are so good
Keep it going Sabbath. An album with the most popular songs still hits all the features of the group that I love.
Black Sabbath's diamond among a pile of precious gems. Has some of their greatest hits as well as so many fantastic deep cuts, and was instrumental in bringing the idea of heavy metal to the minds of the world. Amazing.
Clearly Side B doesn't keep up with Side A, but that's hard to do when you're trying to keep up with War Pigs / Paranoid / Iron Man. This is a 4.5 for me, rounding up today.
Featuring some of the most memorable riffs and drum fills in heavy metal history, Paranoid is nothing more than a relentless, balls to the wall masterwork. And to believe that this is Black Sabbath's second record! They continued to define and refine what would be the heaviest and most impactful genre in rock and influence many bands in their wake.
Absolute perfection. No ifs, ands, or buts. If smoking and tripping is all that you do, look no further.
Every song* has at least 2 legendary riffs. Great understated drummer, great bassist, Ozzy Osbourne. It’s a testament to how great the seventies were that one of it’s best albums was released so early and it still didn’t slow down. *not Planet Caravan. Still a great track
It might have a much stronger first half than second half, but that's still a five from me. The first 4 tracks are bostin'. Fave track - "Planet Caravan" is a chillout track of epic proportions! "War Pigs" for the more standard metallic fare....
Has everything you could possibly ask for. 8 songs in just a little over 40 minutes. Incredibly heavy riffs - fast, energetic, sometimes suddenly powerful - propelled the heavy metal genre influence in a new direction, serving as the primary influence of the creation of thrash and doom metal many years later. It's accessible, not just because its top hits have been cemented in pop culture, but because the riffs are simple and catchy, the vocals are clear, and the lyrics cover easy-to-understand, engaging topics of apocalypse and destruction. Production and mixing are well done: everyone can be distinguished and sounds good. Drumming gets their shine in the last two tracks.
Wow. What an a-side - so good that an actually amazing b-side gets lost - but if you start an album with War Pigs, followed by Paranoid - Planet Caravan and Iron Man - it’s hard to follow. But a perfectly packed punch of an album - definitely worth the score.
Loved this. I don't know much of Black Sabbath other than the rock radio hits. The guitar riffs all over this album fucking RULE.
Crazy good. Would love to have been around when this came out. I’m sure it blew people away.
A literal life changer. The kind of album that sets you on a musical road forever. It is chock full of iconic tunes. Black Sabbath created like three genres on this one.
I only went as far as the first six albums of Black Sabbath, but the first four of those are already stone-cold masterpieces for me. The thing is, out of those four masterpieces, *Paranoid* is probably my least favorite as a whole album, in spite of its reputation. Because apart from "Planet Caravan" and its hazy atmosphere, this record is maybe a little too one-note and "basic-sounding" for me. *Masters Of The Universe* and *Vol.4* have far more dynamic tracklistings, which makes them an even more enjoyable experience for my specific ears. That being said, *Paranoid* is also a historical record, marking the true birth of the whole metal genre. I love the eponymous debut, but the latter is still hard rock, basically, i.e. blues played and processed though overdriven guitar. In comparison, it's clear that *Paranoid* goes beyond all that. And inside that historical album, "War Pigs", "Iron Man" and the title track are rightly considered as timeless anthems. So I guess I can't give this one anything less than 5 stars. Number of albums left to review or just listen to: 858 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory: 78 (including this one) Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 35 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more important): 30
Gotta admit that while I'm familiar with the album's three most popular songs ("War Pigs," "Paranoid," and "Iron Man," obviously), I wasn't familiar with the album as a whole. Now that I've listened to it in its entirety, I can confidently say that it's about as solid as a rock album gets. It's hard to beat Ozzie's vocals and Iommi's guitar-playing prowess (and Butler and Ward aren't exactly slouches, either). If I'd heard someone say, "Yeah, we're starting the album with an 8:00-minute-long song," I'd have thought they were crazy. Don't you usually throw something that long into the back end of the album to make sure you don't lose people right off the bat (huh-huh)? Not if you're Sabbath, and not if that song rocks as hard as "War Pigs" does. And then immediately following that up with "Paranoid," and "Iron Man" two songs after that? Fuggedaboudit. Those three tracks alone make this album well worth the price of admission. "Rat Salad" is a throw-away track as far as I'm concerned, but the rest is top-notch, especially "Electric Funeral" and "Hands of Doom" (the latter of which I've officially fallen in love with). Old school metal doesn't really get better than this.
What the fuck is Planet Caravan?? I had to make sure I didn't somehow skip to the wrong album or something. Did not see that coming... Continuing, 3 of the songs on this record are flawless. If you like any rock bands from the from the 90s, these tracks are probably their inspiration. 3 of the most iconic songs of a generation. As an added bonus, you get Hand of Doom which is pretty great too. Then Rat Salad kicks your ass after that. Look, here are songs that were topping the charts in 1970: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" "Let It Be" Going over to your stoner buddy's house and hearing him put this on was probably like getting plowed in the ear by jesus and satan at the same time. I can imagine why it would be lifechanging.
Embarrassed to say this was the first time I have listened to a whole Sabbath album. Forgive me, for I have sinned!
Actually may like their debut more, but this album is too influential to give anything less than a 5. Really don't think there's a bad song here.
This was the first Sabbath album I ever listened to and where metal really clicked for me for the first time. I may prefer "Master of Reality" by a smidge, but this is definitely their most iconic album, and a major breakthrough in the creation of heavy metal as a genre. I absolutely love how derpy the album cover is too.
Much as I hate agreeing with general consensus, this album is fantastic. Can't fault it, and it's always an enjoyable listen. Sabbath tends to be overrated by metalheads and classic rock guys, and the rest of their Ozzy catalogue would only be 3s or 4s (Heaven and Hell will get a 5 if it's here), but Paranoid is just THAT good. 5/5.
4.5 stars. One of the seminal, early metal albums for a reason. Standouts "War Pigs", "Iron Man", "Paranoid".
It's impossible to rate it with less than five stars. Simply one of the most influential albums in music history and essential to creating my taste for music. Nowadays, I'm much more eclectic in my music preferences, but heavy metal is in my veins, and this album is the main reason for it!
Loved it, listened to it while mountain biking. Have listened to this one before as it is a classic but good to get the jams going again.