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Black Sabbath Paranoid Release Date: 1971 01 zz Running Time: 42:13 Label: Castle Paranoid was not only Black Sabbath's most popular record (it was a number one smash in the U.K., and "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" both scraped the U.S. charts despite virtually nonexistent radio play), it also stands as one of the greatest and most influential heavy metal albums of all time. Paranoid refined Black Sabbath's signature sound -- crushingly loud, minor-key dirges loosely based on heavy blues-rock -- and applied it to a newly consistent set of songs with utterly memorable riffs, most of which now rank as all-time metal classics. Where the extended, multi-sectioned songs on the debut sometimes felt like aimless jams, their counterparts on Paranoid have been given focus and direction, lending an epic drama to now-standards like "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" (which sports one of the most immediately identifiable riffs in metal history). The subject matter is unrelentingly, obsessively dark, covering both supernatural/sci-fi horrors and the real-life traumas of death, war, nuclear annihilation, mental illness, drug hallucinations, and narcotic abuse. Yet Sabbath makes it totally convincing, thanks to the crawling, muddled bleakness and bad-trip depression evoked so frighteningly well by their music. Even the qualities that made critics deplore the album (and the group) for years increase the overall effect -- the technical simplicity of Ozzy Osbourne's vocals and Tony Iommi's lead guitar vocabulary; the spots when the lyrics sink into melodrama or awkwardness; the lack of subtlety and the infrequent dynamic contrast. Everything adds up to more than the sum of its parts, as though the anxieties behind the music simply demanded that the band achieve catharsis by steamrolling everything in its path, including its own limitations. Monolithic and primally powerful, Paranoid defined the sound and style of heavy metal more than any other record in rock history. Steve Huey, All Music Guide Tracks: Title Composer Time 1 War Pigs Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 7:55 2 Paranoid Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 2:50 3 Planet Caravan Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 4:30 4 Iron Man Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 6:00 5 Electric Funeral Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 4:50 6 Hand of Doom Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 7:10 7 Rat Salad Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 2:30 8 Fairies Wear Boots Osbourne, Butler, Iommi, Ward 6:15 Releases: Year Type Label 1992 CD Castle 1996 CD Castle 2001 CD Castle 2000 CD Castle Communications 1998 CD Castle Music UK 2002 CD JVC Japan 2007 CD Japanese Import 2001 CD Nems 2004 CD Sanctuary 2007 CD Sanctuary 2007 CD Universal 2002 CD Victor 1987 CD Warner Bros. 1987 CS Warner Bros. 2003 LP Earmark 2003 LP Earmark 2004 LP Earmark 2005 LP Earmark 2001 LP Gestrichen 2004 LP Rhino 1974 LP Warner Bros.

Group Members: Steve Redvers Neil Murray Jo Burt Laurence Cottle Dave Donato More >> Similar Artists: Metallica Ozzy Osbourne Megadeth Led Zeppelin Judas Priest More >>

Influenced By: Jimi Hendrix The Yardbirds The Who Cream Blue Cheer More >> Followers: Iron Man Cathedral Alice in Chains Fireball Ministry Scene Killer More >>

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