On this very day, exactly Fifty years ago, Metal as we know it was born with the release of Black Sabbath's first album
In this single album lie the thematic, structural, and lyrical seeds of not just metal as a whole or the eventual NWOBHM but a slew of subgenres, from the technical skeleton of Doom Metal to the fantasy themes of Power Metal to the satanic references of Black Metal to name just a few.
While it may not be as heavy as its successors or as extreme as those it would inspire, it is still one of the finest albums in music history and well worth the praise it has received this past half century
Hot take: Black Sabbath's first true Metal album was Paranoid. The self-titled debut was Hard Rock through and through. The term "Heavy Metal" was first used to describe Sir Lord Baltimore's debut LP Kingdom Come, but even that isn't quite Metal despite it being an important influence.
Another annoying tendency is to term Black Sabbath as a fully fledged Doom band when only Vol. 4 is their doomiest, but since I've elaborated upon this point before, I won't repeat myself.
Perhaps the best way to define Metal is to trace the history of bands from its inception in the early 1970s to the current wave of bands today. Metal is heavy, Psychedelic and Blues-based Rock music structured in either minor-key, modal or chromatic scales. Power chords, quick picking and galloping riffs are also very important. So much so, that heavy bands that don't utilize them in any fashion are rarely considered Metal. The tonal centers of the Metal riffs in each composition are not fixed but progress over the course of it. The rhythm guitar is therefore not a merely a rhythm instrument but the lead one. Even if you're shredding, there can be no Metal without a rhythm guitar. The drum kit is enslaved to the guitars as a mere metronomic timekeeper despite whatever swing, texture, or fills the drummer flourishes the music with. If Robbing the Graveyard and Raping the Dead from Satan's Massacre is any proof, you can construct Metal music simply with your amp and guitar with no bass or percussion needed at all:
The main riff to THAT particular number is lifted from Mercyful Fate's "Death Kiss" which would later be known as "A Dangerous Meeting".
It’s these reasons I refuse to dub Black Sabbath's self-titled album as Metal. Black Sabbath's Metal work started with Paranoid and virtually every album since that time. If you ask me, Sabbath's most Metal albums under Ozzy's tenure were Sabotage, Vol. 4, Master of Reality and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. “The Wizard” may have that one riff (I'd argue it's a Hard Rock riff [the fills, phrasing, and little notes popping up here and there are even more indication]), but even with that song, the rest of the album isn't even close to what would define Metal.
Just listen to “Ride the Sky” by Lucifer's Friend which dropped in November of 1970, almost a year before the world would hear “Children of the Grave”. That song alone is heavier than most of what Sabbath made until Master of Reality. For shits and giggles, follow that up with “Deceiver” by Judas Priest and you'll immediately notice some parallels:
What also can't be overstated is the significance of the heavier side of Psychedelic Rock from the early '70s with bands all over the world forging the foundations for Heavy Metal. Just check out Buffalo, Sir Lord Baltimore or Cool Feet:
Stone Axe:
Bang:
Captain Beyond:
Jerusalem:
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folksy Blackmetal
