Hard to believe this album is approaching it’s 50th birthday. Boy do I feel old. Lots of people argue all day long about who was the first band to be classified under the banner of “Heavy Metal”. I’m going to go with the general consensus and say it’s these guys. This album in particular is often cited as the ground zero moment for the stoner/doom scene. Another astonishing fact is this was Sabbath’s third release and recorded in just over a year. That would never happen today. I remember rockin’ out to this when I was in my early teens and loving the evil grooves within. Nice big fat simple riffs that hit the spot, well for me at least. There are only 6 proper songs on this record, plus 2 short instrumentals.
The album starts with the all time classic, Sweet Leaf. Everyone should have heard this at some time in their existence. After Forever is next, and is quite a rambling tune that goes from a standard verse-chorus into a hippy guitar workout. The instrumental Embryo follows, and it’s quite an oddity with its baroque vibe. The original stoner classic, Children Of The Grave, ends Side 1 and is another track that everyone and his dog will have heard somewhere.
Side 2 beckons with the second instrumental, Orchid, which is a pleasant acoustic ramble that leads into Lord Of This World, with Iommi’s fat fuzzed up riff that announces its arrival. Quite a slow plodding track that the doom lovers like. Solitude is next with its opening picked riff – having been stolen by many a metal band (Opeth anyone?). A very slow song with an almost unrecognizable vocal from Ozzy. Into The Void closes out the album with another Iommi fuzzed out riff. My favourite track. Fun fact Iommi de-tuned his guitar on this track – not for the sound – but because he had injured his hand by losing the tips of two of his fingers, and it relieved the string tension to help with the pain. Years later everyone would de-tune to get that evil sound.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
