Black Sabbath (1970)
The eponymous album that broke the world of rock n’ roll and brought metal into existence once and for all opens with the perfect example of what a phrasal riff should be like. The album as a whole hangs on to the blues and the swing-like motion of good rock music. The in-between that bridges rock to metal music can be heard in ostinato that comes from sources such as rough delta blues. What Black Sabbath did was take the atmosphere and the phrasal quality of horror movie soundtracks and insert them into that paradigm, thus creating the basic building blocks of metal music at its most primitive. The quality of the vocal lines floating above the music makes up an instrumental element of metal music. Such a quality makes listening to metal music entirely without paying attention to the vocal line; i.e. the vocal line cedes its precedence to the guitar.
Paranoid (1970)
As crazy as it sounds, Paranoid came out the same year as the self-titled debut, and not only does it continue where the previous work left off but instead leaps into a more powerful expression. The drums in particular appear to be much more animated as a general rule. Note that all the musical “raw materials” in Paranoid are still rock-based. The difference lies in how they are used. At the same time, Black Sabbath remains in undecided territory, not yet embracing the new possibilities made apparent by songs such as ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Electric Funeral’. The breakthrough was still ongoing.
Master of Reality (1971)
Unfairly relegated as the origin of ‘stoner metal’, Master of Reality solidifies the rule of the ostinato riff as thematic phrase. Nowhere else in Black Sabbath’s discography can we hear archetypal metal as clearly as we do in here (with the possible exception of their 2013 album, their late crowning achievement). To draw a comparison with later developments in genuine metal music, Master of Reality defines heavy metal in a similar way to how Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion does death and black metal in a very general sense. Song after song, Black Sabbath treats us to a banquet of wonderful drumming and driving riffs without distractions. Herein lies as well one of the requirements of focused metal music: single-mindedness and muscularity. Even the instrumental interludes here, acoustic guitar and all are Black Sabbath at their best.
Black Sabbath Vol. 4 (1972)
Only two years after their breakthrough debut album, Black Sabbath shows an astounding degree of evolution. The influence of progressive rock surfaces and defines musical passages as early in the albums as the first track, ‘Wheels of Confusion’. Like the best progressive rock (Yes, King Crimson, E. L.& P.), Black Sabbath’s heavy metal focuses on phrasal expressions in the spirit of European classical music. Combined with the European folk elements from which African-American blues springs, the result comes through as a down-to-earth and powerful music superseding any of its influences. While Master of Reality did everything that was needed to build heavy metal, Black Sabbath Vol. 4 takes the band to a whole other level of technical and creative accomplishment while respecting the music’s integrity.
Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (1973)
Where to go from the accomplishment of previous albums? We begin to see a pattern. Black Sabbath’s debut album creates slow-moving, sober music, austere, and compact in its best moments. Then comes Paranoid which stretches the limits of the first album, yet it follows similar patterns. To that, Master of Reality compresses and makes a new powerful form out of what the band did in 1970. Having gone super-tight then enabled them to go further, embellishing, and taking in more and more as the music permitted. What we hear in Sabbath Bloody Sabbath comes again straight from progressive rock inserted into the newborn heavy metal. Take into account the incredible fact that legendary progressive rock keyboardist Rick Wakeman (of Yes fame) records an improvised piano solo for this Black Sabbath album. Here the two currents fuse and hug together more closely, more serenely, and everything flows more evenly, more decidedly than on the wonderfully creative Black Sabbath Vol. 4. For many of us fans of old school Black Sabbath, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath sits at the very top. Here we find delicate pleasure and dominating strength exuding from every passage, every riff, & also Ozzy in his finest hour playing along with music on par with his delivery.
Sabotage (1975)
Following the pendulum swing, Sabotage would be the album to break conventions and reinfuse Black Sabbath with new sounds. And that, it did. Yet somehow, the field expanded not, and Black Sabbath found itself here playing an excellent yet totally contained version of itself. Excellent as the song sections here are, we hear that this is somehow the end. The album doesn’t come together as well as it could. The additions to the music concerned weird effects of production, and an added air of desperation that would later mark Ozzy Osbourne’s mid-to-late solo career. Sabotage is the beginning of the end for Black Sabbath. It is the writing on the wall that the more perceptive fans will notice. After this, only disaster, conflict, and mainstream standardization await the musicians.
Technical Ecstasy (1976)
Black Sabbath devolves to heavy rock music that comes eerily close at some points to the heavy rock of the early 90s. The music starts moving around Ozzy Osbourne’s vocal lines, delineating chords for him, with the singing interrupted only by guitar solos. Situated differently, looked at with a freer mindset, Technical Ecstasy could be Ozzy’s best solo career album. The original members of the band are all here, and Iommi desperately goes at the guitar solos, while the music as a whole sounds tired and laid back. The songs, as rock songs, are proficient, they carry a tune well, and have their own mundane mood as rock songs are wont to do. But that’s it. This is, in fact, the end of Black Sabbath. The spirit of metal has left them.
Never Say Die! (1978)
Now Black Sabbath sounds like they’re taking the piss. Again, way ahead of their time, this sounds like happy rock music from the 80s and 90s. It’s amazing how they single-handedly created a genre along with several subgenres from ‘stoner’ to the mainstream commercial rock of the future. There really isn’t much to say about this album, except that, for being a letdown as a Black Sabbath album, it is way better than any Ozzy Osbourne solo album, probably because the original Black Sabbath lineup is all here, and they’re for sure a talented bunch.
Heaven and Hell (1980)
Black Sabbath reinvent themselves in the image of Judas Priest, complete with a new vocal approach courtesy of mystic rock n’ roll band Rainbow’s Dio, and a new riff approach to go with it. Again, we see a further departure from Black Sabbath’s signature sound and the musical innovations they championed and developed. In Heaven and Hell, Black Sabbath sounds like one more rock-going-on-metal band, if a good one. Highly influential, Heaven and Hell defines the rock careers of thousands of professional and amateur bands around the whole globe, across nations and languages. Make no mistake, this is a polished heavy rock album rather than a strictly metal one, and as one, it succeeds.
Mob Rules (1981)
So much of this era of Black Sabbath forms the basis for Dio’s solo career. Mob Rules barely sounds like Black Sabbath at all. At this point, they are only playing as support for Dio’s career. Many fans of glam metal adore this album, but the underground metal fan will cringe at hearing this mentioned in the same breath as classic Black Sabbath. Thoroughly mainstream, happy-go-lucky, chord-driven, and vocal-centered, this is yet another example of a heavy rock album playing at “being metal”.
Born Again (1983)
By now, we have entered the darkest Black Sabbath and we are in full decline. In Born Again, Black Sabbath is trying to catch up to the younger generation and is left in the dust. Bands such as Judas Priest and Iron Maiden are at the height of their power (a story of its own), Angel Witch has already found its way to the heart of Hellhammer, and Bathory prepares for battle.
Seventh Star (1986)
Black Sabbath obsesses with capturing the 80s sound and catching up to Dio. The only original member of the lineup is guitarist Tony Iommi. Seventh Stari is the first Black Sabbath power metal album. Already they have fallen behind Manowar, and are playing a weaker version than anything else on the A list. It’s 1986, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden have just peaked and commence their own slow downfall. Celtic Frost has made its main contribution to metal. Sepultura and Mayhem have erupted into the underground metal scene. Bathory prepares to put out what many consider the foundation for the sound of bands in the Second Wave of Black Metal. Morbid Angel plays full-blown, fully-developed death metal at live gigs and has recorded demos that will see the light until years later. And what is Black Sabbath doing in Seventh Star? Playing run-of-the-mill ballads and weak power-glam metal.
The Eternal Idol (1987)
These are years of fast progress. With each year, the underground kids step forth and create new forms. Tape trading all around the world makes it possible for people to share their ideas fast enough for underground metal aesthetics to develop independently of the mainstream music industry, and yet slow enough that they are not paralyzed by overwhelming input as is the case today. What about The Eternal Idol? Enjoyable as background music, and ultimately forgettable.
The Headless Cross (1989)
Like The Eternal Idol, this straddles the territory between Dio-wannabe and Michael Jackson. However, Headless Cross somehow puts its finger when it needs to, Tony Iommi and the new gang are really getting a hold of this mainstream heavy rock thing. For all its mundaneness, the tunes are catchier, the mid pace of the songs and the quirky ideas work in favor of a concrete image that will give way to an interesting juxtaposition in the next album. Take into account that in 1989, death metal was already a thing, glam metal was dead, and the heavy metal giants were already devoid of relevant creativity, although they would go on to fill stadiums for the concert-going masses for decades to come. Slayer and Metallica have peaked and are passing away in their own cycles toward senescence. Truly, what can we expect from Black Sabbath at this point?
Tyr (1990)
A surprising Viking-themed album, Tyr is easily the best post-Dio Black Sabbath album. The aura is again enchanting. Finally, somehow, the new gang discovered that metal needs myth and magic. Tony Martin now sounds exactly, or almost, like Dio. He has been working up to that an album at a time. The songs carry more energy, more zest, even if they still sound “80s”. The question, the real question, is how does Tyr do against Bathory’s Hammerheart, also released in 1990? Well, poorly, for us. Bathory comes from a dark speed metal and rudimentary black metal background. Bathory’s Hammerheart is a very heavy, massive sounding, aggressive, mid-paced, atmospheric, focused, and dark epic heavy metal album with a gravitas that Black Sabbath has never possessed and that metal only acquired steadily later on. Even at its highest point in this period, Black Sabbath is left in the dust by more passionate, more daring young blood.
Dehumanizer (1992)
Black Sabbath tries to do bad-boy dumbed-down heavy metal. With Dio back on the line-up, this is even weirder, as it doesn’t mesh very well with his stadium rock approach. These are middle-aged men grasping at straws, playing forgettable 80s ballads and sing-along choruses in the middle the 90s. By 1992, the Norwegian black metal scene has exploded, death metal matures and is in full development. Better power metal and heavy metal bands have followed through whereas Iron Maiden and Judas Priest have dropped the ball, Metallica has sold out, and Megadeth seems to at least be playing some form of exciting guitar music.
Cross Purposes (1994)
Darko heavy rock ballads, more concerts, one supposes, the money keeps coming in, but the music has long left the building. This is the year the great black metal classics are released in Norway, the classic death metal bands know exactly what they are doing and are on a roll with the best albums they will ever make. Blood and Napalm Death are destroying the underground, and the silent underground black metal artists still going strong today from the shadows are in the rehearsal rooms, planning demos.
Forbidden (1995)
Have you ever even heard of this album? Of course not, not unless you are a hardcore completionist who thinks your heroes can do no wrong. Dio leaves, and Tony Martin is back. This is a very odd album that starts out with vocals almost extemporizing, and riffs that could come out of Candlemass’ 1986 debut album, except the whole isn’t as interesting. For all intents and purposes, this is Tony Iommi trying to play with “being dark” (he seems to have forgotten Black Sabbath’s debut, but he will remember it again in 2013). Throughout most of the album, in any case, what one hears is run-of-the-mill 80s glam-ish whatever music.
13 (2013)
The stellar comeback album of Black Sabbath, 13 shows us the band authentically playing their most archetypal music. While this is Black Sabbath playing Black Sabbath, the band manages to avoid becoming an imitation of itself. In many places, 13 sounds like it could have come directly from the first three albums. They reconnected with that youthful energy, and with the heaviest and most phrasal riffs they ever came up with. On the other hand, the album sets on display the matured vocal approach of Ozzy Osbourne, which does wonders for the album. Also, Tony Iommi is quite measured but still punches through with very decisive, unbeatable riffs. All that said, space has been left in this album for the “rock” influences that the musicians not only came from but that they picked up across their careers. The rock sections (chord outlines below a vocal melody) impede the momentum the songs could have, leaving us with the sensation that the songs are good, but… something pulled everything down. And that was all those sections missing phrasal drive. All in all, a very good album as far as metal as a whole goes in the 2010’s, and a welcome farewell album by a band that had previously destroyed itself.
