The Hall of Judgement: Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Daniel has requested that this release be submitted into the Hall of Judgement. If you agree with the below change request, vote YES. If you don't, vote NO.

Request: Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album should be added to The Fallen while maintaining its position in The Guardians.

This change will add the Stoner Metal genre to the release.

Member comment: "During my recent research for the 'Roots of Metal Project' we're currently running, I proved something to myself that I'd long suspected to be the case. Black Sabbath's self-titled debut album simply doesn't sit all that well alongside other supposed 'heavy metal' releases as it sounds very different to the Iron Maidens & Judas Priests. After genre-tagging each individual track it became clear to me that the general tendency to want to label 'Black Sabbath' as a heavy metal/hard rock hybrid isn't correct. These were my track-by-track taggings:

1. Black Sabbath - Traditional Doom Metal

2. The Wizard - Blues Rock/Hard Rock

3. Behind The Wall Of Sleep - Stoner Rock

4 N.I.B. - Stoner Metal

5. Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me - Blues Rock/Hard Rock

6. Sleeping Village - Heavy Psych

7. Warning - Blues Rock

8. Wicked World - Stoner Rock/Stoner Metal

There are a few things worth noting about the above. Firstly, I haven't tagged a single track as Heavy Metal. Secondly, all three of the songs I've tagged as metal fall into genres encompassed by The Fallen rather than The Guardians. And thirdly, there's a significant blues rock & psychedelic rock component that doesn't sit well with your classic heavy metal sound. For that reason, I'd like to see "Black Sabbath" receive a Stoner Metal tag & sit under The Fallen. Stoner Metal is defined as "combines elements of Doom Metal with elements of Psychedelic Rock and Blues Rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound" & that seems to be far more appropriate than the heavy metal definition of "heavier outgrowth of Hard Rock featuring greater distortion and intensity along with lesser Blues influences" as far as I can see. Please vote YES to see "Black Sabbath" added to the Fallen under the Stoner Metal genre."

NOTE: Only members of The Guardians &/or The Fallen can vote on this judgement. Once 15 votes of Yes or No have been entered, the Hall will make its judgement.