Band:	Led Zeppelin
Album:	Led Zeppelin IV
Style:	Progressive hard rock, Heavy metal
Release date:	November 08, 1971
A review by:	Herzebeth

01. Black Dog
02. Rock And Roll
03. The Battle Of Evermore
04. Stairway To Heaven
05. Misty Mountain Hop
06. Four Sticks
07. Going To California
08. When The Levee Breaks

It's an actual challenge to review an album like this one, a classic album made by one of those unforgettable bands, so I swear I'll do my best.

Led Zeppelin released this jewel in 1971 (November 8th to be precise). It's a marvelous album, every song featured here is just incredible, we have the memorable "Black Dog," the classic "Rock & Roll" (we can even hear this song in the Super Bowl specials), the aggressive "Misty Mountain Hop," the mystic "When The Levee Breaks," the catchy "Four Sticks" and well?"Stairway To Heaven."

The album opener is "Black Dog," this song has one of the most amazing riffs performed by none other than Jimmy Page. The song is entertaining as hell, a true classic filled with short (yet incredible) lyrical pauses and the memorable Oh-Oh bit (1:28), this track is complex from the beginning to the end. Plant here has a lot of "Janis Joplin" undertones (which are great by the way), Page is amazing as always, and Bonham presents incredible beats and amazing irregular tempo.

There's no possible way to remark only one song, so I'll write about another classic piece called simply "Rock & Roll," this particular song gave R&B a whole new meaning, yes the who had "Behind Blue Eyes", and yes a lot of bands had amazing songs, but this particular one, written by Page & Plant, preserved everything Hard Rock, Blues and early Metal had to offer: aggressive spirit mixed with harmonious feelings. "Rock & Roll" starts with a quick drumming, then the main riff appears, this riff is now everywhere (Movies, TV Series, etc?) and then the song actually explodes with a Page Solo. The twists are everywhere throughout the song, and the main bridge (2:15) sounds overwhelming.

Then we have "Stairway To Heaven," this song is now one of the most respected songs in music history (along with "All You Need Is Love," "Jumping Jack Flash" and "You Really Got Me"), the song starts with a melodic arpeggio, then a harmonious instrument comes in setting the tragic atmosphere. Plant offers an amazing vocal performance.

A lot of people say? "Stairway To Heaven" is so overrated, Zeppelin has better songs dude?well, Stairway To Heaven is actually not the best Zeppelin song I know, but musically speaking it's enormous, this track features more than 13 progressions per instrument in only 8 minutes of music; I know Yes, Alan Parsons Project, and such bands had more progressions than only 13 per instrument, but those bands needed more than 18 minutes of song to reach this number of progressions, so this is one of the main reasons "Stairway To Heaven" deserves respect. I won't say more, we all know this song, we all have our opinions about this classic tune, so make a fair judgment.

We, as Metal fans, must hear this album, not only due to it's greatness, also because this album influenced at least 5 of our favorite bands.