Black Sabbath

Though some will debate this, with their first album, they created true Heavy Metal. The majority of Ozzy albums were sublime. Then even with a change of vocalist and slight change of style that came with it, Dio fronted Sabbath was of equal caliber. All albums once he was gone fell flat but the amount of top quality songs through that period prior cements them as one of the best Metal bands of all time

From Jboy56 01/09/2022 21:41

Princes of Darkness.

One of the few groups who invented a genre and several subgenres

"Politicians hide themselves away. They only started the war.
Why should they go out to fight? They leave that role to the poor".

From Goliath 04/30/2020 15:07

After much consideration I have come to the conclusion that this is my favourite band, managing to produce some of the most diverse and creative music ever recorded, (cocaine enhanced creativity some might say). (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Beatles, Bowie, Kate Bush, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest were also in the running for this, some might say, dubious honour).
Their first albums generated a plethora of zealous critics who took years to realise how wrong they were.
Black Sabbath are to Heavy Metal in the seventies what the Beatles were to pop/rock music in the sixties,
both were working class bands pushing the boundaries of their music.
Sabbath invented heavy metal, then shaped and developed the genre over the next 10 albums,
(unfortunately the band of the same name faded to mediocrity after Dio left despite Iommi's best efforts).
The only weak interlude in the first 10 albums was side two of Never Say Die (but that has the far from weak Air Dance).
I know many consider Technical Ecstasy a low point but this is not the case, there are some great tracks on this album.
Comments such as 'you can hear the band falling apart on this album' are ridiculous, how does that work? They continued to develop their sound as only a great band can, if they didn't then they would have been accused of becoming stagnant.
Every track they produced is highly distinctive with different structures, tempos, always inventive and heavy. The lyrics are not as one-track doom-laden as many would have you believe,
it amazes me how people will believe what they read rather than find out for themselves.
Black Sabbath did not record any of my very favourite tracks, or any of my top 10 albums, but they did produce 10 albums I regard as classic, no other artist got close, (PF and LZ 6 each).

From jeremy9 08/29/2019 15:03

They invented Heavy Metal

Their influence cannot be understated. King Crimson did it better, but it was with Jazz sensibilities as opposed to Blues, and in fleeting instances at that (e.g. 21st Century Schizoid Man, which was Iron Man before Iron Man; and Larks Tongues in Aspic Part II). Black Sabbath, on the other hand, was consistently heavy and dark. This was Blues Rock taken to its darkest pit - on the gates of a new genre called Heavy Metal. The vanguard for artists like Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and Metallica.

First three albums were great, classics of the genre. After that, I'm afraid to say, tedious. The band could have done so much more than they did. Still, huge credit for basically inventing metal.

From Nowhereman1965 09/24/2018 16:13

Not many Bands actually invented a genre of music...but Black Sabbath did. There was no Heavy Metal before Sabbath. Their early albums are all superb hard rock classics.

From Grouse 08/03/2018 13:24

The creator of so many genres of metal. They manage to be super heavy but still not feel too much. They also manage to throw in some prog and psychedelic elements in their song. A fantastic band!