Black Sabbath - Paranoid (1970)^{Release ID: 2}

I was 13 in Mr. Byke's (thats Bi-Key not Bike) art class-the first class of the day, working on a paper animal. You know that project where you glue tissue paper to a balloon to create an animal? That one.

Anyway up to that time I had lived on a farm in the deep rural areas of Nebraska, along the Kansas Border. If you need a clearer picture do a quick google of Inavale, Nebraska and understand I was still 20 miles south of THAT, so my musical understanding consisted of 90's pop courtesy of KQKY Hits 106 (105.9)-the only radio station with a signal that would reach us,  my dad's collection of OLD time country like Hank Williams Sr, Marty Robbins, Waylon Jennings, ect., and my mother who was a fan of opera, musicals, and symphonies. We did have VH1 so I got pretty acquainted with the 80s as well. I had lived a hard life out on the farm and had a lot of scholastic struggles related to a chaotic homelife. This isn't a blog about my life, but an album review so I will leave it at that. I do have point in mentioning it...

Mr. Byke was a fan of classic rock and he would bring in various mix tapes he had made and play them as we worked on our art projects. On this particular morning, one of those tapes changed my life and I remember it vividly; I'm 35 now and I can transport myself to that time and place as if it's happening right now.

THUMP... THUMP... THUMP... THUMP  BROOOOWWWWW--oooooooWWWWWWW "I AM IRONMAN!" BROOOOOOOOOOOWWWW-oooooooowwww... and then what I consider to this day to be the single greatest piece of audio ever recorded, the iconic riff from Tony Iommi. I stood up and forgetting where I was exclaimed "HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?" Mr. Byke promptly handed me a detention slip but I was to serve this one in his office rather than the usual detention room. I did not mind at all to stay and have Mr. Byke tell me all about Black Sabbath, and it's wild front man Ozzy Osbourne. I also heard Randy Rhodes play "Crazy Train" that day. Ironman is this story about a man who is used  and rejected by mankind, and sets on a path for revenge-it was the first time I heard lyrics that I related to-"You mean other people are unhappy too?"

That was pretty much it-I knew what I was gonna do with the rest of my life. Play heavy Metal. 

And that's the impact a single track from this album had on me. There are 8 on this album. Need I say more?

I’m not the biggest fan of Black Sabbath. Admittedly, I got into metal around the end of the 90’s, and by that time Sabbath seemed a bit dated to me. I was all about the rising nu metal scene, as well as the thrash metal bands which were still hanging in there (just about). Of course, I gave Sabbath a chance, and in fairness, I don’t dislike them, but ‘Paranoid’, supposedly THE greatest metal album of all time, just doesn’t quite work for me.

None of the guitar riffs, which are meant to be some of the greatest guitar riffs ever, or so I’ve heard, don’t really do anything for me. Maybe it’s the production of the time, but they just seem kind of dull and flat, lacking the audible punch that later bands would have. Ditto for the vocals.

Maybe it’s just a product of its era, but then, I listen to a lot of other music from different eras, so surely that can’t be it. Maybe it’s just been so overhyped over the decades that there was no way it could live up to my personal expectations. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. I don’t know. It’s got the likes of ‘Paranoid’, ‘Iron Man’ and ‘War Pigs’, which, again, are meant to be some of the most iconic metal songs ever, but I can’t really think anything more of them than “they’re okay”.

Heavy metal was still a fledgling and evolving genre at this point. How could it be possible to really create such a classic’s classic in such early days? An important and inspirational album? Yes. A pivotal moment in metal history? Sure. But being better than anything that’s come since? Really? Maybe bands joke about it, but perhaps the adage that “Black Sabbath created metal, [insert band name here] perfected it” isn’t too far off.

I don’t totally dislike Black Sabbath though, and I think over time they do go on to produce far better works than this. But I just can’t get into this. No matter how much I love my rock and metal, ‘Paranoid’, arguably one of the most highly revered and beloved metal albums of all time, just doesn’t quite do it for me.

Paranoid is more what I expect out of a Black Sabbath album, but still finds ways to be odd in retrospect. The sort of thing that reminds you that this is still really before metal is metal as we know it. We might owe heaviness to Sabbath, but in many ways it just isn't what we expect of metal.
Take War Pigs. There's nothing weird about War Pigs, right? Wrong. No one outside of a progressive or technical band would make anything like War Pigs. Metal bands don't devote sections of their song to short guitar riffs followed by drum fills. The more loose song structure here is far more alien to the average metal song, than say, a comparable hard rock song from a non-metal band.
In this sense, the hero of the album is Bill Ward. He might as well be called Peter, for he is the rock the rest of the band is built around. There might be better technical drummers, but in this moment, there is no drummer more precise than him. No drummer more perfect than him. Without him, songs like Paranoid or Iron Man would still be as heavy, but without him, they would lose that feeling of tightness that they enthralled the world with.
On an album full of hits, I feel like the real best song on the album is Electric Funeral. Keeping the doom metal spirit alive through sound rather than vibes. Takes a lot of skill to make a song with effectively one riff work for 5 minutes. Oh, sure, it has variations, but it's one riff. I guess there's a solo, but it has to be the simplest solo ever made.
Paranoid still remains within the confines of this weird heavy rock that retroactively became heavy metal. I think if anyone else did what this album did you'd see a progressive tag for sure. Which isn't a mark against it, just an observation about how it remains beloved in and out of the metal community.

If the debut established Sabbath as the most historically important act in metal, then follow-up Paranoid cemented their position as one of the Metal Gods. Every single metal album you have listened to owes a debt of gratitude to this classic, an album that defines exactly what metal means. The pacing is perfect, the songs are anthemic and the musicianship, though some may say it is neanderthal, is flawless as the albums eight tracks pretty much carve in stone the Metal Commandments.

Tony Iommi was always an absolute riff machine - he could no doubt write riffs in his sleep while lesser mortals are only able to dream of such an ability - and here on display are some of the most memorable riffs ever written. Coupled with those riffs is one of the most recognizable voices in metal, Ozzy commanding his space with a presence and confidence very few have ever matched. Geezer's busy and irreplaceable bass playing underpins the whole and Bill Ward's jazz-influenced kitwork is not mere piledriver pummelling but is loaded with fills and never misses a beat. This is the sound of a young band riding high, with their creativity and energy being chanelled in a unified direction and defining a sound for generations of as yet undreamed of metal hordes. War Pigs, Iron Man, Electric Funeral and Hand of Doom - which self-respecting metalhead doesn't know these tracks not as mere songs, but as if they were irreplaceably part of him- or herself?

On a personal note, this is the album that got me into metal in the first place. As a kid and young teenager I had graduated from The Beatles to Bowie, T-Rex and Queen then had become exposed to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon which was a real mind-fuck. But then along came Paranoid and something just clicked - I knew I had found a lifelong soulmate and metal seeped into my blood and has resided there ever since.

Well, here we are, the album that started it all. The album that began a new revolution in music. A revolution, which without, this website would never exist... at least if you believe the mainstream. Paranoid is actually Black Sabbath's second record, also released in the same year as the self titled debut.

Fifty years ladies and gentlemen. It has been half a century since Ozzy Osbourne formed Black Sabbath and changed the landscape of rock music forever. And I have very little to add to the discussion about this record that has not been said countless times across countless websites like Metal Academy, RateYourMusic, and other critic sources. So allow me to add some very short, but much needed dissent in relation to this album: it is not as good as the self titled debut.

Oh it starts excellent: the opening track "War Pigs/Luke's Wall" has a great opening riff and the siren before the opening is the perfect, ominous opening that an album of this magnitude needs. The album has songs that are sacred among the metal community: "Paranoid", "Iron Man", and "Electric Funeral", although "Hand of Doom" is my personal favourite and the one song that gets slept on by far too many.

The production on this record is quite solid even for its time. Lots of bass presence and the distortion of the guitars gives it the crunch without compromising the lower end. The vocals are iconic at this point and Ozzy's vocal timbre is still heard attempting to be replicated to this day.

But here is where my major gripe takes place. Paranoid is too commercialized. Now I will admit that accessibility is not always a bad thing, but it is quite clear to anyone who listens to the first record that this group doesn't want to be on the cover of Rolling Stone or some other music publication magazine; Long songs to go along with its doom like content. Paranoid meanwhile chooses shorter songs, more groovy tunes and clearly plays into a Led Zeppelin/Deep Purple vibe. For lack of a better term, this album falls by the wayside in comparison to the following bands that it influenced. S/T meanwhile was one of a kind.

I feel like Paranoid is remembered more fondly because of its singles rather than its influence. And I don't think that any of the singles on this record are bad; quite the contrary actually. But like with all styles of music, a root is not necessarily the prettiest thing to look at. It's not until you've watered it and let it grow that you witness your plants true beauty.

What better place to start the Metal Academy Heavy Metal - The First Era challenge than with (almost) the album that started it all?

Of course, Paranoid wasn't truly the first, that honour going to Black Sabbath's self-titled debut. But it was Paranoid, released a mere seven months after the debut, where Sabbath would really start to refine their craft. No covers this time, and while the blues influences are still there, this time it's a head-first dive into the origins of doom metal. And what an end result.

Paranoid is an album all about death, ruination and endings. It is grim, obsessed with the darkness of the world and humankind. It is doom metal, truly and utterly. "Iron Man", opening with the infamous, apocalyptic pound, is a tale of a scorned, vengeful man of iron, with the faster beat of the drums towards the end like the onrushing doom of his victims. "War Pigs" rightfully lambastes the powerful people of the world who enable the horrors of war, with Ozzy's vocals often isolated and solitary to hit all the harder: there's no ignoring their message, delivered almost like beat poetry.

"Paranoid", despite its higher tempo, is all about mental turmoil and chaos. It has a driving beat, but one driving straight off the edge of a cliff into oblivion. "Hand of Doom" gives us a stark look at drug addiction - that quiet opening is menacing enough the first time, but when it rears up again nearer the end it takes on a whole new meaning, painting the image of someone withered and broken, nothing left to give, drained of all energy. "Electric Funeral" is a deliciously dark dirge, a constant, mournful funeral march for the whole human race in the wake of nuclear war.

"Planet Caravan" is sometimes considered a bit of an outlier track here, and I can certainly see that, but I think it fits in in its own way. It's a hypnotic, otherworldly piece that typically conjures images of a transcendent hallucinogenic trip, though could also be taken more as something about ascending beyond life itself. I find it an enjoyable break if nothing else.

Where I -do- find a starker shift in tone is in the last two tracks. "Rat Salad" is another short one, but where "Planet Caravan" takes us on an ethereal trip, this one is more a couple of minutes of jamming out. Nothing bad, but it doesn't really add anything. "Fairies Wear Boots" is the only "full" track that really sticks out from the general theme of the album. It just kind of exists, never really going anywhere or fitting in with the other tracks all about doomsday or personal turmoil. Especially with it's somewhat more upbeat, almost jazzy instrumentation, it feels more like a leftover from the debut. 

Neither of these final tracks are outright bad, but they leave the album closing on a much weaker note than the rest. 

As on the debut, there's a darkness here that's so fresh. Sure, there's plenty of rocking groove and still some traces of their early blues influence, but it's all so ominous and heavy. That dark atmosphere is what made the opening track on Black Sabbath itself so good, and here they take that and make it work over (almost) an entire album, capitalising on their strength perfectly. Paranoid isn't just a historically important album, it remains a benchmark and measuring stick for dark, heavy music. 

Choice cuts: War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man, Electric Funeral, Hand of Doom

The weakest of the original Ozzy era to me. Still a great record, the "sophomore slump" album. I enjoy this record as is, and it's an unfortunate that War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man, have been commercialized to death to the point I never want to hear them again that I have become biased before even listening to the record in full. I am not old enough to have been there for the release or the initial impact of this record. I do listen to older music all the time and enjoy many things but there is no record that I have been hit over the head with more than this one that I feel I cannot give it an accurate rating. My personal opinion is of an average 2.5/3 out of 5 or a "C" rating. However, I also have to recognize in listening what this brought to the music scene and other artists were truly inspired by this so gets a "Good, important" ranking for me. Besides the "singles" i mentioned, the other songs just don't work for me either. The slow moody Planet Caravan, the psychedelic doom Electric Funeral, heavy blues rock in Hand of Doom, fairly repetitive yet endearing Rat Salad, and finally Fairis Wear Boots that I do still enjoy quite a bit. Every one of these songs I've heard referenced else where in other songs or even media. 

As my first classic Guardians release I'm reviewing this is a tepid start, but I enjoy the hell out of other albums of this era. My preferred Ozzy Sabbath is Sabbath Bloody Sabbath which feels much different then this record. It really is hard to rate a record nearly twice my age that i've heard parts of so many times in my life. It's like watching scenes from a movie, multiple times trying to put them together and though you've felt you've seen the movie and already made an opinion have you really watch it? Sometimes, yes and for many other people those best songs are just an appetizer for this album. For me though,  I have already outplayed it's welcome and the other songs unfortunately don't bring enough to the table for personal relistens.