Is Black Sabbath underrated? They certainly were by me. Perhaps they just weren't fashionable when I was in high school, but their influence and talent for writing power cord riffs is perhaps un parallelled, and in evidence on 3 classics on this album; War Pigs, Paranoid and Iron Man. Their sound is so heavy, I don't know if the term Heavy Metal was coined for them but it shuld have been. What appeals to me is their NON-RRELIANCE on guitar and vocal histrionics, the musicianship is in service of the song. Sure the lyrics sometimes are sophomoric but that's a minor quibble. I even enjoy the "quiet" songs which have a depth and gravitas that is rare in this genre. A nearly perfect Heavy Metal album. 5 stars