Track Listing

1. Black Sabbath
2. The Wizard
3. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
4. N.I.B.
5. Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me
6. Sleeping Village
7. Warning
8. Wicked World - Black Sabbath, Rodger Bain

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1452 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Running time: 43 minutes

CD Description
The archetypal heavy metal band, Black Sabbath unleashed a debut album marked by ponderous, sludgy rhythms, heavily distorted riffs and chords, and more than a whiff of darkness and Black Magic. Its crushing atmosphere of doom proved intense and relentless; the cumulative effect was dubbed "downer rock", but it proved immediately popular with a disaffected audience. Though no one could have predicted it at the time,Sabbath was laying the groundwork for a genre that would continue to grow in popularity through the '70s, '80s, '90s, and beyond.
BLACK SABBATH announces the arrival of both the band and the style in no uncertain terms. Though given more to extended jams and "suites" than later Sabbath recordings, songs like the ominous title cut and the bluesy, harmonica-driven rocker "The Wizard" set the standard the band wouldfollow for years to come. Singer Ozzy Osbourne already possessed one of the most distinctive voices in rock, and his chemistry with guitarist Tony Iommi, whose crushing guitar work descends like a ton of bricks, is undeniable. Still dug out, dusted off, and played, BLACK SABBATH is, in many ways, the true beginning of heavy metal.

Customer Reviews

A classic
Rain pours down outside, and the distant sound of thunder crashes through the sky.
Then, like no moment in music before, the striking of a single guitar chord kick-started a genre. Drummer Bill Ward pounds his drums like a caveman alerting the tribe of something bad, and indeed, something bad does arrive.

John "Ozzy" Osbourne's first impression on the music world was a strong one:
"What is this that stands before me", he barks over the minimalist soundscape, "[a] figure in black which points at me"...
And all this gloom and doom gave legions of angry teenagers something they could relate to, as well as inspiring them to pick up a guitar and start singing about the devil.

"Black Sabbath", the song and the album, is really where heavy metal began. From the imagery to the look and the sound, and to the three-note riff that pours from Tony Iommi's mangled fingers, this album sounds like nothing before it. Distorted, discordant, and ungodly slow, filled with dark, Dungeons and Dragons-like imagery which somehow ends up being much more than just your average heavy metal posturing, mainly because of the dim, suffocating musical atmosphere which is like nothing, literally nothing, anyone had ever heard before.
There isn't much variety in mood or tempo, but that's not the point; Sabbath's slowed-down, murky guitar rock bludgeons the listener in an almost hallucinatory fashion, reveling in its own dazed, druggy state of consciousness.

Black Sabbath's debut album is filled with lengthy songs and suite-like pieces where individual tunes blur together and riffs pound away one after another. And it remains one of the most influential albums ever in popular music, and a must-have for anyone with an interest in heavy metal.
4 1/2 stars.

Listen to Black Sabbath
I first heard Black Sabbath on a rock compilation when I was 14 and have been listening to them for 17 years, in which time this album has not worn thin. Even apart from the whole "they invented heavy metal" thing and the patent influence of this album and what came after on all rock music thereafter, this album stands on its own as a brilliant piece of music from the early 70s. It is the musical equivalent of a Hammer Horror film, but has aged much better!

A new beginning for ROCK............
....'What is this that stands before me......' This album was the type of sound the youth then and now were/are looking for.The lyrics,Ozzy's distinctive voice,Iommi's heavy guitar work-those brilliant rifts-Geezers great bass playing and Wards'thumping drums. Although the lyrics are simple enough,it is clear that they hold great meaning about this 'system'and the evil within said system and within individuals. This album is a work of genius:in all its glorious aspects. this album will be around forever.A definite must for any collector of hard/heavy rock.