Review Summary: Sabbath... fully unleashed...
Apparently, 1970 was enough time for young Sabbath to release two albums. After the release of their sound-changing and genre-pioneering debut early in the year, their second effort
Paranoid followed not much more than half a year later (as was a common thing in the 60’s and 70’s). Today, it stands head and shoulders above their other releases as far as popularity and impact are concerned, and arguably even so quality-wise.
Paranoid contains a full barrage of Sabbath classics throughout, of which many are still thought to be their most enduring material of the 5 decennia they have been active in. At this point, Sabbath had done away with their earlier heavy blues-rock influence, which, as a result, led to a full-scale heavy, doom and gloom approach that would truly become their signature sound for the remainder of the 70’s to come. With
Black Sabbath, they only laid down the roots of the genre. With
Paranoid, they went on to realize its true potential.
There are a number of different things that make
Paranoid such an inspirational, essential and therefore classic release for heavy metal. The as-picked-by-fate musicians, the inventive material and its unfailing execution, and the variety. Too few realize how much impact the boys’ environment at the time had on this record, including the heavy drug use (you’d be an idiot not to hear how stoned those four were when recording this). It cannot be stressed enough that
Paranoid could have only been made by
these musicians, at
this time, and under
these circumstances. But then again, so could be argued for more true classics.
Originally, the album was to be titled
War Pigs, after its opener, but this was changed due to commercial reasons (the eventual title track had already been a hit before the album was released) and possible controversy it could have caused in the US, which was still very involved in the Vietnam War (obviously, the song was an anti-war protest). As a result, the album was continuously associated with
Paranoid, a track that was allegedly written in five minutes and record in only twenty more, only created to serve as filler. Funny, how these things happen.
The eventual title track is quite catchy of course, highlighted by the signature opening riff everyone knows, but overall, it is the least rewarding effort on Sabbath’s second (apart from the two-minute instrumental
Rat Salad). First choice
War Pigs, on the other hand, is quite a different story. With its unforgiving backbone, created by heavy bass and guitar, lazy drum fills and little though effective vocal parts, it could better have been Sabbath’s signature song instead. With its perfect build-up and manner of execution, it stands as arguably Sabbath’s very best song, fully realizing their doomy sound. It should be noted that the particular difference from the track and
Black Sabbath from their debut is that while the latter was scary-sounding, according to the ‘entertaining’ purpose the band has in mind,
War Pigs is really a doom and gloom affair. Every metal fan knows the lyrics of the verses:
‘Generals gathered in their maseeeeees/Just like witches at black masses/Evil minds that plot destructioooooooon/Sorcerer of death’s construction’. What
really makes
War Pigs possibly their best song is how it allows each member to show their strengths at maximum potential in the same song: Iommi’s sheer ability to create mood, in favour of technicality, Osbourne’s actually superb and catchy (!) vocal performance, with the precise right amount of eeriness in it, Butler’s aggressive, dominant bass position and Ward’s wicked drum fills. These combined qualities makes it even better as an opener, because it shows, from the very beginning of
Paranoid, how good we can expect it to be, or as becomes clear about 40 minutes later: how good it
is going to be. Simply put, Sabbath got it all together on their second release, and as such, it has ever remained their peak.
The third very recognizable tune is of course the classic
Iron Man, with its share of cheesy moments (
'I… AAAM… IRRRON MAAAN!'). As far as that term can be applied to Sabbath, it is one of their more playful songs, and after repeated listens, it will become clear how light-hearted the fashion in which the heavily hitting riffs are actually performed. Describing a superhero-turned-villain, or supervillain if you will, it takes after the band’s earliest inspiration to base music upon scariness similar to movie horror, more than any other song on the album. Another not quite playful, but quite humorous moment is closer
Fairies Wear Boots (
‘Yeah I looked through a window and surprised what I saw/A fairy with boots and dancin' with a dwarf’), carrying an even slightly jazzy tune. The very mood-setting bass is especially good here, and the
‘Fairies Wear Boots, and you gotta believe me!’ chorus is insanely catchy, resulting in it being stuck in your head after playing the record.
The most unique moment remains the strange, spacey
Planet Caravan, which relies purely upon atmosphere rather than heaviness, a huge contradiction with the rest of Sabbath’s material (on the album and in general). Osbourne tops it all with his weirded-out vocals (yes, it has been checked, that is actually him singing). A bit of a grower because it is so different, but worth the while in the end.
The two darkest and heavy (not just in the instrumental sense) tracks,
Electric Funeral and
Hand of Doom fall in between the aforementioned less serious two. The former, while seemingly about execution in the electric chair, is actually about the aftermath of a nuclear war, describing a post-apocalyptic world, and contains some of Sabbath’s darkest lyrics, with lines such as
‘plastic flowers, melting sun, fading moon falls upon/dying world of radiation, victims of mad frustration’ and
‘Earth lies in death bed, clouds cry water dead/ Tearing life away, here's the burning pay’ capable of making quite an impact. The latter is not particularly hard to figure out with enough suggestive lines.
‘Disillusioning, you push the needle in/From life you escape, reality's that way’ and
‘Now you know the scene, your skin starts turning green/Your eyes no longer see, life's reality’ count among the best of them, and succeed in painting an accurate picture. Both songs have fitting instrumentation to boot, and remain criminally overlooked as true Sabbath classics by the general public.
I’m simply not going to lie about it.
Tommy was it for rock operas.
In the Court of the Crimson King was it for progressive music.
Paranoid was it for heavy metal. The blueprint upon everything later to come in the genre was based.
Paranoid is not just a blueprint, however. It was already a classic. Some of its work is appealing at first, and other finds time to sink in, as it should happen. After some time, the devoted listener will realize there is much more to Black Sabbath’s second album than just that silly, short title track he’s heard appear on the radio an uncountable amount of times. Sabbath really had something amazing for them going here, and they managed to continue their legacy for some years, be it not as long as one would want. Perhaps their greatest achievement is how much growth they shot through since their previous, somewhat undeveloped record. What
Paranoid remains in not only their most popular, but also their best album. No fan of heavy metal dare call himself a fan of heavy metal without this on his shelf.
Paranoid’s Black Sabbath was:
- Frank Anthony ‘Tony’ Iommi ~ Lead Guitar
- John Michael ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne ~ Vocals
- Terrence Michael Joseph ‘Geezer’ Butler ~ Bass Guitar
- William Thomas ‘Bill’ Ward ~ Drums
Sabbath classics:
War Pigs
Iron Man
Electric Funeral
Hand of Doom
Fairies Wear Boots
TO BE CONTINUED…
