Paranoid

Easiest 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

Correct me if I'm wrong but this is one of the greatest album ever recorded.

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.

The Beatles are widely considered to be the greatest band of all time, yet the Beatles did not write “Hand of Doom”. Curious.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is easily both the best heavy metal album of all time and the most influential heavy metal album of all time. War Pigs, Paranoid, and Iron Man are obviously beyond legendary tracks, but tracks like Electric Funeral still absolutely rip and I’m still surprised by how they got away with putting a mellow track like Planet Caravan between Paranoid and Iron Man while still maintaining a coherent sound. The music and vocals are top fucking tier coupled with the genre defining sound and aesthetic that kicked off a whole generation of metal. Not to mention the ironclad tearing down of pro-war sentiments. This is truly one of the most perfect albums of all time for me. 4.8 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.

Classic metal album, unexpected jazziness on some songs, others are well known

I found myself not knowing when a song began and ended, a lot of the songs blended together, which isn't really for me. I like the genre of music and some of the songs are pretty iconic, however the blending is too much for me

An obvious metal masterpiece. Dark, intense, slow, ambient. Everything that a good stoner metal album could be

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

10/15 Raw as all hell. Standout Tracks: Planet Caravan, Iron Man, Electric Funeral, Hand of Doom

Possibly the best early heavy metal albums. 10/10

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.

Nope.

I may be Paranoid, but not an Android. I. AM. IRON MAAAAAAAAAN Incredible work!

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

Grandma Died On This Day. Allh Yar7em El Fey9a

Legendary!

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.

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.

ground breaking stunning album.

Amazing!

This freakin rocked. I had heard more of the songs than I expected, fun ride all the way through

Such a great album. These guys were ahead of their time. You can see where so many future bands got their influences from.

So fucking tight. Riffs for days. Can’t wait to drink a few rockshores and drift away to planet caravan.

Black Sabbath's Paranoid is a landmark metal album, brimming with heavy riffs, gloomy atmospheres, and Ozzy Osbourne's iconic vocals. Songs like "Paranoid" and "War Pigs" are undeniable classics, while tracks like "Planet Caravan" showcase the band's versatility. Pioneering and influential, Paranoid remains a must-listen for any metal fan. 5 out of 5 stars

This album is perfect. Banger after banger after banger after banger. And those changes in the song are just godly. One of the best ever

Super hårdt OG super catchy, lyder virkelig som et mission statement for hele genren. Jeg tror egentlig marginalt bedre jeg kan lide debuten, men den her fortjener stadig at joine Ágætis Byrjun på Claus-Rasmus-Sandra Five Star Hall of Fame™

Classic

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.

This album is great because it also contains the 1001 greatest guitar riffs you must listen to

Out of all albums that I love this is one of the most pesimistic when it comes to lyrics. Great, dynamic, atmospheric music with hypnotizing Ozzy's vocals make perfect match. Depressing lyrics make this whole experience hit different. One moment You want to jump to great riff, couple of seconds later you are dragged to the bottom with apocaliptic visions. One of my favourites. 6/5

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"

Perfection

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.

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.

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.

Rockin album!

It's Sabbath, and I'm a metal head. Having said that, it's not a brilliant album, and you can tell its the birth of metal as a genre. There are some excellent tracks, but it could use some refinement. It us still a good album, just not one of the very best.

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

It's a miracle that Ozzy Osbourne is still alive

Epic 😎

Strong first half, weaker second half

Short and sweet. The guitar sound >>> Ozzy’s vocals. Of course this album is on this list, no problem saying that even though they’re not my favorite band.

- better than seeing them live (saw them live in Wacken and they are just too old for this) - still old man metal, not mine

6 stars.

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.

Easy 5, one of my favourite albums of all time.

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.

I rocked out so hard I almost drove my car into a ditch

Que dire, un chef d'œuvre

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

Great album. Always forget how mellow and melodic it is.

Tried to think of something clever to say but...

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.

A Rat Salad away from absolute perfection FT: Can I really choose? OK. I will. A tie between Planet Caravan and Paranoid. 9/10

Ideal type of rock music I'd listen to when in the mood. Great stuff.

Album met veel hits op. Stond volle bak op in de auto! zeker van genoten

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

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

Gros classique. Fait Stoner. Considérer à acheter en vinyle

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!

Albums were so short! The tracks that everyone knows still wail but the others are surprisingly chill.

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.

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.

Awesome. 10/10 every song is awesome.

How is it so heavy for 1970?!?!

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

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……

.

One of the best albums ever made.

false

Outstanding, nom stop bangers start to finish. Also, the best percussion I've heard in ages.

Absolute Masterpiece

Great album. A lot of nostalgia

Classic

This is cult stuff!

Classic masterpiece.

Classic

Pretty good indeed. Side 2 is particularly strong.

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.

Iconic, IronMan, Maybe top 5

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.

Give it 5 stars or I'll get ye

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

Natuurlijk geweldig album, de start van de metal en altijd legendarisch.

Banger

Such a classic. It's cool to hear the subtle stereo panning of the drums and guitars with headphones.

Great 👍🏼

Great album full with big hits and great songs

Top classic metal

I may be more of a Black Sabbath fan than I had ever considered... I’d love to have this on vinyl.

Wow what a dead-center-kick-to-the-nuts album from top to bottom!