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Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
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9 | 1720 votes |
Release date: 13 February 1970
Style: Doom metal, Hard rock, Heavy metal

Owners:
2218 have it
135 want it
2 trade it


Disc I
01. Black Sabbath
02. The Wizard
03. Wasp / Behind The Wall Of Sleep
04. Bassically / N.I.B.
05. Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Game With Me) [Crow cover]
06. A Bit Of Finger / Sleeping Village
07. Warning [Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation cover]
08. Wicked World [bonus]

Disc II [2009 Deluxe Edition Bonus CD]
01. Wicked World [Single B-side]
02. Black Sabbath [Studio Out-take]
03. Black Sabbath [Instrumental version]
04. The Wizard [Studio Out-take]
05. Behind The Wall Of Sleep [Studio Out-take]
06. N.I.B. [Instrumental version]
07. Evil Woman [Alternative version]
08. Sleeping Village [Intro]
09. Warning [Part 1]

Top 20 albums of 1970: 2
Top 200 albums of all time: 32
Featured In "Getting Into: Black Sabbath"
Guest review Lyrics (8)

Line-up
John Michael Osbourne - vocals, harmonica
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi - guitars
William Thomas Ward - drums
Terence Michael Joseph Butler - bass

Additional info
Produced by Roger Bain.

The tracklist of the more common American release (June, 1970) combines several tracks into one and incorrectly switches the titles around, as well substitutes Evil Woman for Wicked World, the B-Side to the original Evil Woman single, resulting in:
1. Black Sabbath
2. The Wizard
3. Wasp/Behind the Wall of Sleep/Bassically/N.I.B.
4. Wicked World
5. A Bit Of Finger/Sleeping Village/Warning

The '96 Castle remaster uses the original track-listing, plus "Wicked World" as track 8, being the only release with both songs on one disc.

Some versions of the album contain a live version of "Tomorrows Dream" as track #8.

Following the release of the expanded Paranoid set, Universal issue a further two classic Black Sabbath albums in the Deluxe format with an additional CD of goodies.

Guest review by
HS
Rating:
10
Black Sabbath is not an ordinary album. It's the one that gave birth to our beloved metal genre. It was recorded back in 1970. At that time, although the spotlight was on the popular rock'n'roll groups which were constantly producing new "hits", Black Sabbath managed to compose the first heavy metal album ever.

Read more ››
published 02.09.2003 | Comments (10)

Found in 96 lists
Top lists

A List Of Great Debut Albums  | #126
Erik M.
Hall Of Fame: Top 80 Of All Time  | #13
~Starchild~
Classic Metal Albums Of Forever  | #24
saw_you_drown
Songs From The 60's And The 70's I Think Every Metal Fan Should Have Heard  | #18
Aristarchos
Pain, Grief & Sorrow: Highlights of Doom Metal  | #4
~Starchild~
Top 50 Doom/Gothic Metal Albums  | #5
saw_you_drown
All Metal Of All Time Top 300: Albums  | #158
Redel
Top Doom Metal Records  | #18
EmperorIX
More lists with this album (96) | Create a list! ››


Comments

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Comments: 44   Visited by: 2227 users
09.01.2010 - 18:02
annodomini
We could proudly say, that Doom metal was the first metal genre
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the riddle wants to be...
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14.02.2010 - 00:49
Baz Anderson
Staff
Exactly 40 years old today. Now that is something...
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15.02.2010 - 20:37
Rating: 8
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
Admin
Amusingly this is the second best metal album of 1970 to "paranoid"... same band took gold and silver in the same year. i don't think that feat can be matched.
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get the fuck off my lawn.

Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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26.05.2010 - 19:14
Rating: 10
Hellchain666
Black Sabbath's first album is the birth of heavy metal and should be in any metalhead's collection. This album is a classic, it never gets old.
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08.09.2010 - 05:26
Wishmaster
Account deleted
What an amazing album! A masterpiece without any doubts!
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28.01.2011 - 18:58
Rating: 9
Axe Argonian
Written by BitterCOld on 15.02.2010 at 20:37

Amusingly this is the second best metal album of 1970 to "paranoid"... same band took gold and silver in the same year. i don't think that feat can be matched.

That's especially true when considering that both this album and Paranoid are timeless classics.

To be honest, however, I once foolishly overlooked this album in favor of albums like Paranoid and Master of Reality until most recently when I decided to listen to songs like "Black Sabbath" and "The Wizard" for the first time in my life. Admittedly I was blown away when I did; I never previously knew that 70's songs could be so fucking dark and heavy! This is definitely the definitive heavy metal album of the ages.
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"Man does at all times only what he wills, and yet he does this necessarily. But this is because he already is what he wills." - Arthur Schopenhauer
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20.03.2011 - 07:40
Void_Eater
Account deleted
I actually don't think this could be considered the first true metal album. Not true in the tr00 or trve sense, but true as in the album, as a whole, just doesn't completly fall into metal. It has some of the first metal songs, the title track, the wizard, and N.I.B, but the rest of it is mostly just blues rock. If you ask me, Paranoid was the first actual metal album. Not to say that this album isn't good- Although it's not that great. The improvment from this album to Paranoid is astonishing.
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13.04.2011 - 10:05
Rating: 10
erykk
Music: 10
Vocals: 10
Lyrics: 10
Melody: 10
Production: 8
Originality: 10
CD Cover: 10

My top 5:
1. Black Sabbath
2. NIB
3. Evil Woman
4. The Wizard
5. Wicked World

A masterpiece
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Open your eyes
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13.04.2011 - 17:36
JohnDoe
Account deleted
Written by erykk on 13.04.2011 at 10:05

Music: 10
Vocals: 10
Lyrics: 10
Melody: 10
Production: 8
Originality: 10
CD Cover: 10

My top 5:
1. Black Sabbath
2. NIB
3. Evil Woman
4. The Wizard
5. Wicked World

A masterpiece

you're still grading everything...

8 for production? what's wrong with it?

Remember most of the album was recorded in 1969 and released early 1970.
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26.05.2011 - 15:58
Rating: 9
Zombie94
Written by [user id=111774] on 20.03.2011 at 07:40

I actually don't think this could be considered the first true metal album. Not true in the tr00 or trve sense, but true as in the album, as a whole, just doesn't completly fall into metal. It has some of the first metal songs, the title track, the wizard, and N.I.B, but the rest of it is mostly just blues rock. If you ask me, Paranoid was the first actual metal album. Not to say that this album isn't good- Although it's not that great. The improvment from this album to Paranoid is astonishing.

I guess there's a lot of bands you could say influenced what eventually became known as heavy metal. But I also don't think that this album is THAT great when just looked at as a piece of art by itself. Paranoid is by far superior imo. Of course many people give it extra cred for its historical significance but for me, it's all about the music and this didn't really live up to what I expected, considering it's put so high on people's "greatest albums of all time" lists.
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05.06.2011 - 00:59
John Shock
It's one of my favorites Black Sabbath albuns! Oh well it's a classic! Love It!!
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05.06.2011 - 03:37
Lit. Metalhead
Account deleted
The title track scared me shitless when I was a kid, especially the end.
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12.09.2011 - 15:30
Rating: 9
musicalkaratekid
I just can't stop loving this album now. So damn bluesy and heavy:)
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07.12.2011 - 15:41
Cuca Beludo
Account deleted
I like how the bass sound in "N.I.B.", perhaps the best bass-sounding in all metal history. Great review!
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11.02.2012 - 11:20
Rating: 8
slinx
Hey, I have the American version of this album so I'm not sure the which exact songs I like off the album.

Could someone break up these two songs into exact parts for me? Into time frames, like say Wasp is from 0:00 to 3:37 (just an example) and such.

3. Wasp \ Behind The Wall Of Sleep \ Basically \ N.I.B.

5. A Bit Of Finger \ Sleeping Village \ Warning.

Thanks
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'You're short, you're fat, and even for a film critic you are ugly.' - The Critic
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02.03.2012 - 19:16
Rating: 10
Pelagial
The best first album from a band i've heard
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13.11.2012 - 17:26
Rating: 9
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Yaniv on 03.03.2012 at 19:36

Awsome Album. thank god who gave us Black Sabbath.

Maybe it was whitche swhen had a sabbath in some secret place in England?

About album after long time I was listening this agan.... well masterpiece, old school old BS this and Paranoid is pretty much true sabbath what I enjoy rest is OK, but not close to amsterpiece how this one and follower
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I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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20.11.2012 - 18:58
megadeath13
Account deleted
This people, is the first Heavy Metal album created! What would Metal be like, without this masterpiece?
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07.01.2013 - 03:00
Rating: 10
king_matt
Written by [user id=136417] on 20.11.2012 at 18:58

This people, is the first Heavy Metal album created! What would Metal be like, without this masterpiece?

Black Veil Brides
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http://www.last.fm/user/King_Matt
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04.03.2013 - 19:22
Rating: 9
Aristarchos
Black Sabbath and NIB are the two best songs Black Sabbath has written.
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08.03.2015 - 00:49
Rating: 7
Ruchesko
All this really did for me was confirm my indifference towards Ozzy and my lack of appetite for doom. NIB's a keeper, though.
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08.03.2015 - 02:42
Rating: 8
musclassia
Staff
Honestly, this is so far from what metal has become these days I can see why people would be willing to dismiss it, but the first 4 songs at least have so much to offer, even after everything that's happened since, that I hold this record in high regard even if I think e.g., Warning is too widdly-waddly-winding and unfocussed. Attempting to rationalise the early BS records these days is such a challenge just because they pretty much acted as cement for most-to-everything that was built since
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08.03.2015 - 18:51
Rating: 8
Azarath
Free as a.. Fish
It's a good album with some classics on the first half, but the second side goes deep into blues jamming and soloing.

I mean, I really like it, but I can see why some wouldn't care for it. Paranoid and Master of Reality are more "metal" overall.
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22.07.2015 - 01:33
Rating: 9
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Azarath on 08.03.2015 at 18:51

It's a good album with some classics on the first half, but the second side goes deep into blues jamming and soloing.

I mean, I really like it, but I can see why some wouldn't care for it. Paranoid and Master of Reality are more "metal" overall.

band started as blues band, they wanted play blues at 1th place, not metal so, that makes sense
----
I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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16.10.2018 - 17:20
TreyWeddle
I still consider this to be the very first metal album. The entire album as a whole feels like metal; rather than just having one or two songs sound like metal like Led Zeppelin, Blue Cheer, and Deep Purple had. I still feel as if Black Sabbath didn't release the first metal SONG (Dazed and Confused and Summertime Blues are examples of Metal songs before this), but they (unknowingly) created the first metal ALBUM and based their whole sound around it. Therefore, I consider them the originators of heavy metal. This album is a masterpiece from start to finish. \m/
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03.01.2019 - 22:47
Rating: 5
Maasai Mara
Homie we get it, you gave birth to heavy metal and shit but this sucks monkey balls. Black Sabbath is an excellent song but the rest of the album sounds as boring as most of the music from this era.
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You are not metal enough until you visit Kenya. The cradle of mankind, where man learnt first to work with stones and first enjoyed the sounds produced by banging stones which later influenced metal in all its sounds and genres.
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03.01.2019 - 23:19
JoHn Doe
Written by Maasai Mara on 03.01.2019 at 22:47

Homie we get it, you gave birth to heavy metal and shit but this sucks monkey balls. Black Sabbath is an excellent song but the rest of the album sounds as boring as most of the music from this era.

You're so fucking clueless
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I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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04.01.2019 - 07:57
Rating: 9
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Maasai Mara on 03.01.2019 at 22:47

Homie we get it, you gave birth to heavy metal and shit but this sucks monkey balls. Black Sabbath is an excellent song but the rest of the album sounds as boring as most of the music from this era.

Himie, then you font know much about that erss music.
----
I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...
04.01.2019 - 15:25
Rating: 5
Maasai Mara
Written by Bad English on 04.01.2019 at 07:57


Himie, then you font know much about that erss music.

I like heavy energetic music and i find the music from 1970s really lacking in heaviness, energy and an in your face attitude. You can point me to some records from the 70s that are full of energy like AC/DC or Hell Bent for Leather. Interesting music began in 1980s
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You are not metal enough until you visit Kenya. The cradle of mankind, where man learnt first to work with stones and first enjoyed the sounds produced by banging stones which later influenced metal in all its sounds and genres.
Loading...
04.01.2019 - 19:04
Rating: 9
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Maasai Mara on 04.01.2019 at 15:25

Written by Bad English on 04.01.2019 at 07:57


Himie, then you font know much about that erss music.

I like heavy energetic music and i find the music from 1970s really lacking in heaviness, energy and an in your face attitude. You can point me to some records from the 70s that are full of energy like AC/DC or Hell Bent for Leather. Interesting music began in 1980s

Its matte of taste
----
I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
Loading...

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