So, here it is! This album is ground zero for heavy metal music. Although heavy psychedelic music would have been more appropriate I guess, even though it’s taking blues chords and grooves and doing them to the max.
I was ten years old when this came out and it wasn’t until a few years later that I actually heard it. I do remember the news about them being satanists and gigs were being cancelled. It all seems a bit strange looking back with hindsight, but that cover still gives me the creeps.
Of the early albums I would say this is my favourite and the one I play the most. The track I love the most is the opening title song. That eerie bell giving way to that riff is just timeless.
It’s rightly given plaudits as a genre defining album, not only for heavy metal but also for doom and stoner bands as well.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
