"The Roots of Metal" Project

This exercise was interesting, because were this any other band, I'd think right now we'd say this is hard rock. This album, outside of the first song, really dances around genre. But, because it's Black Sabbath, we're trying to find ways to justify it back onto metal. (not accusing anyone of anything I'm not doing myself)

I actually remained completely impartial throughout the exercise & tagged each song as I would a release from an anonymous modern-day band. I have no skin in the game as such as there are several other Black Sabbath releases that I don't believe to qualify as metal (see "Technical Ecstasy", "Never Say Die!" & "Seventh Star"). I was just looking for a unanimous site position on the matter so that everyone was comfortable with the direction.

I would point out that believing the other three not being metal doesn't necessarily affect one's thoughts on this one. Those three are not very fondly looked and are not important, so to speak. This one is, and that 40% rule is not a luxury that would be afforded to many albums.

Anyway, Speed King. Metal. I don't think in this case the techniques it lacks disqualifies it. The energy and riffs are very much metal.

On the contrary, that 40% rule is the rule I have afforded to literally every metal album on the site.

On the contrary, that 40% rule is the rule I have afforded to literally every metal album on the site.

While my final opinion of the song is on Morpheus's side, I think 40% is a fair assessment, especially since I'm less merciful with my general 50% rule.

Ok, let's move on to "Bloodsucker" then, shall we?

Less heavy than Speed King.  Totally hard rock with a bluesy backdrop and a slight metal heaviness for its time.

Unlike "Speed King" which simply amped hard rock riffs up to eleven, "Bloodsucker" is built on a riff that I'd describe as being the prototype for heavy metal & was enormously influential on bands like Judas Priest. In fact, check out the main riff from Priest's "Victim of Changes" which would appear to simply be a variation on the "Bloodsucker" riff. The rest of this track sits more in the hard rock space but that main riff is the basis for the song so I'm happy for "Bloodsucker" to qualify as heavy metal.

Unlike "Speed King" which simply amped hard rock riffs up to eleven, "Bloodsucker" is built on a riff that I'd describe as being the prototype for heavy metal & was enormously influential on bands like Judas Priest. In fact, check out the main riff from Priest's "Victim of Changes" which would appear to simply be a variation on the "Bloodsucker" riff. The rest of this track sits more in the hard rock space but that main riff is the basis for the song so I'm happy for "Bloodsucker" to qualify as heavy metal.

You've got a strong point there.  On top of that, the drumming is much heavier than most things that came out before then.  I change my vote to hard rock and heavy metal, so now I'm even further convinced of my stance.

Yeah, I'm changing my vote to hard rock and heavy metal as well for "Bloodsucker". Clearly I was more focused on the catchiness in the rhythm and soloing that seemed to have the spotlight for me.

I'll go with the grain and say hard rock/heavy metal.

How about "Child in Time" guys? Metal or not?

First off, lemme say that this is my favorite song off of this album.  The progginess of past DP albums takes a more tame less-is-more approach to the drama aspects.  And I'll admit that Gillan marked the b eginning of the heavy metal wail on this album.  This slow breezy melody that takes the first third of the song devolves into a massive riff that certainly has metal roots.  However, since it's still not as heavy of a song as the previous two tracks, even though the riff itelf is VERY heavy for its time, I'm gonna label it RYM style:

Primary: Hard Rock, Prog Rock

Secondaries: Heavy Metal

So my final consensus is simple: it's an obvious influence in the world of prog metal, but I'd say it's more of a hard rock song that belongs on a metal album, unless you want to count this as metal's first ballad.

I'm not hearing any metal in "Child in Time". It's predominantly a progressive rock track with some building hard rock crescendos. The stripped back proggy sections are similar to Pink Floyd's more atmospheric moments while the guitar solo section in the middle is nothing more than a take on the bluesy Status Quo rock 'n' roll shuffle. I think a dual prog rock/hard rock tag is appropriate here. 

And yes, it's by far my favourite track on the album & possibly of Deep Purple's career.

Right, let's move on to "Flight of the Rat" then. Metal or not?

Thanks to the vocal effects, there's at least a metal approach to this.  The noisy guitars can be seen as an influence on bands like Motorhead.  This song is practically the reason noisy metal songs exists.  So I'm calling this a hard rock heavy metal hybrid, one that might have louder guitar tones, but that has nothing to do with the composition.

"Flight of the Rat" has nothing to do with metal whatsoever in my opinion. It's about as hard rock as hard rock gets with those strummy open-string chords, the jovial atmosphere & a bouncy rock beat.

"Flight of the Rat" has nothing to do with metal whatsoever in my opinion. It's about as hard rock as hard rock gets with those strummy open-string chords, the jovial atmosphere & a bouncy rock beat.

I listen to power metal, so the last thing I'm worried about is jovial and bouncy.  I really don't see a reason why jovial and bouncy metal shouldn't exist, what with so many types of metal we have.

But that’s a defining characteristic of European power metal Rex. Are you claiming this as power metal? 

If we’re gonna class a track like this one as metal then you might as well ditch the concept of hard rock altogether because it’s about as pure an example of hard rock as you’re gonna find really.

I never said it wasn't hard rock, I just never said it wasn't metal, either.  The point I'm illustrating is that heaviness is a major aspect of this song, and it follows in a similar vein as songs like Speed King.  Really, the overall atmosphere of this song might be closer to hard rock, but its delivery to me is similar to the heavy metal songs of its time, at least the speedier ones and not the doomy Sabbath ones.  I mean, the whole time I was getting Motorhead vibes.

Heaviness is certainly a common element of metal but it’s not exclusive to metal. Rock songs can be heavy too (as your “Speed King” example proves) while metal tracks can be comparatively not as heavy. The defining characteristics of metal need to be there for it to be metal though & there’s nothing in “Flight of the Rat” that falls outside of the scope of hard rock in my opinion. I find it to be about as heavy as a wet kiss from mum too.

Let’s not go down the Motorhead path or we’ll have a similar conundrum on our hands. I don’t think we’re gonna agree here so let’s move on.

I don't think you guys are gonna agree with me here, but similarly to what I think of "Speed King", "Flight of the Rat" is practically proto-speed metal, or speed rock, I don't know. Even back then, there's some speed and intensity in the hard rock/metal riffing not too far off from early speed metal. My genre verdict for "Flight of the Rat": Hard rock/heavy metal/proto-speed metal

I think the driving, double-time bass work of Roger Glover & the general intensity in the production & performances gives these songs the illusion of being faster than they are. Neither track are actually that fast, certainly not verging on speed metal tempos (i.e. "Speed King" is only 100 bpm & "Flight of the Rat" is around 115 bpm). The lack of tremolo-picked guitar work & double-kick drumming is also a notable omission from the speed metal kit bag here. The former is absolutely essential in speed metal in my opinion & wouldn't eventuate until the back half of the decade.

Thoughts on "Into The Fire"? Metal or not?

It certainly pounds in its slow way, but metal feels like a stretch.  Hard rock.