I hate reviewing albums that are monolithic in stature, because I have to be fair, and a lot of times I find the album isn't as good as the hype. In some cases I find I have become jaded toward certain albums so I feel I'm under valuing them as well. However, I get a break from those worries with this review.Today I get to write a review about the very first Heavy Metal album, and probably the greatest Heavy Metal album ever written. Black Sabbath's Paranoid is the album that created and defined Heavy Metal. The follow up to the Proto-Gothic Blues Hard Rock self titled album released the year before. (Of course, that's a complicated term that didn't exsist back then.) This album contained every single recipe you needed for what would become the wide world of Metal, and it was given to us in 1970. The album opens with War Pigs. Chances are you know this song, as well as two others on side one of the original vinyl, since they are some of the biggest song names in Rock and Metal.
Now if you have ever listened to War Pigs with anything more than a passing notice, you'll notice a few things. The first is that Tony Iommi understands that you don't have to be playing non stop. You don't have to cram as many riffs, notes, scales and chords into a messure as you can. It's over kill if you always do it. The next thing is that Bill Ward's drum tracks are total psychotic Jazz drumming, he's controlled chaos. Other things you may also notice is that there isn't much low end, but that's because Geezer Butler isn't actually playing in the low end of the bass. I mean it's low, but he plays the bass in a range that allows Tony to go flying into the higher notes without there being a huge gap in the mid range. This is one of those songs that bands just don't understand today. The idea of letting a song breathe, while allowing every member to do what they do exceptionally well.
If you don't know the title track of this album, something has gone drastically wrong in you life, and I am sorry. This song should be considered one of the most over played songs in history. I should be ranting and raving about how tired I am of hearing this song, God knows I've done it with many others, including a track still to come on this album. However, Paranoid may be one of the single greatest songs under three minutes. This is also the song that I say is the complete blueprints for what became Trash Metal.
Planet Caravan is the only song on this album that could not be considered Metal, and yet Pantera did a cover of it. This is a song I use to use for meditation purposes. It would be the equivilant of Metallica's Fade To Black, Megadeth's A Tout Le Monde, or Pantera's Cemetary Gates, in the sense that it's a slow mellow song on a heavy album. This song is different from those though, because it's a hell of a lot cooler. For starters the percussion is being played on hand drums, I believe sticks are being used, but it's not your normal kit. Then there's the lyrics "We sailed through endless skies / Stars shine like eyes / The black night sighs / The moon in silver trees / Falls down in tears / Light of the night / The earth, a purple blaze / Of sapphire haze in orbital ways / While down below the trees / Bathed in cool breeze / Silver starlight breaks dawn from night / And so we pass on by / The crimson eye of great god Mars / As we travel the universe". Not overly complicated, in one sense and totally mystic in another. Then there's the guitar and bass. Both are totally incredible and need to be listened to for themselves.
The last song on the first side of the vinyl is Iron Man. This is the most over played piece of crap... Naw, I'm just messing with you. I don't enjoy the song like I did when I was younger, because it's been played so much, but I do still enjoy it. It's another one of those songs that's just amazingly written, and allowed to breathe.
The greatest thing about Black Sabbath is that Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler know how to write great music, and Bill Ward knows exactly how to punctuate his drumming in all the right spots. You have to take into consideration that this band is based on the foundations of Blues and Jazz, and it is all over every single song on this album. The dark sinister rumbling that comes from this combination of three musicians is what became Metal. Also the fact that the production always managed to capture Sabbath's sound really helps too.
Okay, so now that we're done covering the highly successful commercial side of the album, it's on to tracks that are a million times cooler.
The second side starts of with Electric Funeral. "Reflex in the sky warn you you're gonna die / Storm coming, you'd better hide from the atomic tide / Flashes in the sky turns houses into sties / Turns people into clay, radiation minds decay / Robot minds of robot slaves lead them to atomic rage / plastic flowers, melting sun, fading moon falls upon / dying world of radiation, victims of mad frustration / Burning globe of oxy'n fire, like electric funeral pyre / Buildings crashing down to a cracking ground / Rivers turn to wood, ice melting to flood / Earth lies in death bed, clouds cry water dead / Tearing life away, here's the burning pay / Electric Funeral / Electric Funeral / Electric Funeral / Electric Funeral / And so in the sky shines the electric eye / supernatural king takes earth under his wing / Heaven's golden chorus sings, Hell's angels flap their wings / Evil souls fall to Hell, ever trapped in burning cells!" Musically this song is scarier than the lyrics. Here's the interesting thing about Black Sabbath, did you ever notice how those above lyrics are actually a warning about how we are going to end up in Hell? They aren't being all Satanic and saying worship Satan, it's quite the opposite.
Hand Of Doom continues on the Hell Howling. I mean this is such a vicious song, but it's all anti-war, anti-murder, anti-killing, anti everything that Metal became a giant cliche of. Then you get to about the two minute marker and the song goes from a peaceful protest to a complete assault and battery that's storming the Capitol. This song has chug, gangland mentallity, brutal and savage intentions, but it's all being directed at the right people, not just randomly. This is one song I would love to hear Metallica cover, except for the fact I don't think Lars could handle the drumming, it would take too much skill.
Rat Salad is an instrumental track. If you want to hear what Jazz and Metal sound like when they are truly being played together this is the song you want to listen to. This is one of those songs that will always be overlooked and underated by anyone other than a music connoisseur.
The album ends with my favourite song from it. Well it's actually two songs put together in one, and I mean that literally, Jack The Stripper / Fairies Wear Boots. The instrumental part at the begining is the first part. Just before the lyrics kick in, you are totally into the actual song Fairies Wear Boots. The lyrical content isn't very acceptable in this day and age, considering it's an offensive double entandre for homosexuals. However, if you take the lyrics at face value instead of reading too much into them, it's a perfectly harmless song about a man that saw some weird stuff and no one believes him. Musically this song is just as amazing as every other, but I like the feel, the flow, the fact that you could dance to this song if you wanted to. It's just a really, really good song.
All in all I consider this one of the greatest albums ever recorded and released, and rightfully so. This album has not only stood up to the test of time, but it has beaten it on the head with a black Gibson SG over and over again. This is more than just a classic album. This is a masterpiece.
The only downside is that my CD copy is not a jacked up digitally remastered from the original tapes copy. This was just ripped from the master copy instead, so the sound is a bit cold until you crank it. However, the production and mixing on this album are fantastic especially given the time period in which it was recorded.
10/10 - content
9/10 - production
10/10 - personal bias
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