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Rating:
It's 1970 and Black Sabbath releases their second album: "Paranoid", which is considered their supreme work, and also their best-selling album.
The album opens brilliantly with "War Pigs", which, as can be inferred from the title, talks about war, more precisely about the Vietnam war. The song opens in grand style, with meaningful lyrics, something I wouldn't have expected, and musically it's superb; there are many dark traces, which suggests that there will be some musical continuity with the previous record.
We then continue with "Paranoid": who doesn't remember its fantastic musical theme? Or perhaps even the lyrics, which can resonate with many people; among the most beautiful songs on the album. We then have "Planet Caravan", led by Ozzy's "modified" voice, warmer than ever, many consider it the album's "weakest" track, along with "Rat Salad", but how can we talk about "weak" in such a fantastic album? It continues with a bang with "Iron Man", the most famous song on the album, with a beautiful, unforgettable riff, and a final solo from true artists. In my opinion, the best song on the album, and perhaps also the most "commercial": it sells to everyone.
We continue with the beautiful "Electric Funeral", with a theme that is pleasing on the first listen, but that may not remain in mind for a very long time: more niche. The vinyl proceeds with "Hand of Doom", a song that, as suggested by the title, opens the doors to darkness, a truly doom song, which, as it seems to me, opens the doors to "Doom Metal" (double thanks to Black Sabbath, the "forerunners" of two musical genres!); To some, the song may seem excessively lengthy, but to me, it's worth it: it is not just a "filler track", but a true work of art.
We continue with "Rat Salad", which as mentioned before is considered among the "weaker" tracks on the album, it focuses on a drum solo, and a riff by Iommi; If I had to choose, making a ranking, I would put it in last place: still of good level, remembering that we are talking about an album where nothing is bad (apart from the cover).
We conclude this album with one of my favorite Black Sabbath tracks: "Fairies Wear Boots", which opens with a wonderful riff, I would dare say like an invocation of the Devil: immortal!; the lyrics also hold their ground, alternating with drum hits by Ward.
A cornerstone of Metal, the foundations of a genre. In my opinion, a masterpiece.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 Paranoid (02:49)
Finished with my woman
'Cause she couldn't help me with my mind
People think I'm insane
Because I am frowning all the time
All day long I think of things
But nothing seems to satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind
If I don't find something to pacify
Can you help me
Occupy my brain?
Oh yeah
I need someone to show me
The things in life that I can't find
I can't see the things that make true happiness
I must be blind
Make a joke and I will sigh
And you will laugh and I will cry
Happiness I cannot feel
And love to me is so unreal
And so as you hear these words
Telling you now of my state
I tell you to enjoy life
I wish I could but it's too late
03 Planet Caravan (04:25)
We sail through endless skies
Stars shine like eyes
The black night sighs
The moon in silver dreams
Falls down in beams
Light of the night
The Earth a purple blaze
Of sapphire haze
In orbit always
While down below the trees
Bathed in cool breeze
Silver starlight
Breaks dawn from night
And so we pass on by
The crimson eye
Of great god Mars
As we travel the universe
04 Iron Man (05:55)
Has he lost his mind
Can he see or is he blind
Can he walk at all
Or if he moves will he fall
Is he alive or dead
Has he thoughts within his head
We'll just pass him there
Why should we even care
He was turned to steel
In the great magnetic field
When he traveled time
For the future of mankind
Nobody wants him
He just stares at the world
Planning his vengeance
That he will soon unfurl
Now the time is here
For Iron Man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved
Nobody wants him
They just turn their heads
Nobody helps him
Now he has his revenge
Heavy boots of lead
Fills his victims full of dread
Running as fast as they can
Iron Man lives again!
05 Electric Funeral (04:49)
Reflex in the sky
Warn you you're gonna die
Storm coming, you'd better hide
From the atomic tide
Flashes in the sky
Turns houses into sty
Turns people into clay
Radiation minds decay
Robot minds of robot slaves
Lead them to atomic graves
Plastic flowers, melting sun
Fading moon falls apart
Dying world of radiation,
Victims of mad frustration
Burning globe of obscene fire
Like electric funeral pyre
Buildings crashing down
To Earth's cracking ground
Rivers turn to wood
Ice melts into blood
Earth lies in debris
Clouds cry for the dead
Terrifying rain
Ease the burning pain
Electric Funeral
Electric Funeral
Electric Funeral
Electric Funeral
And so in the sky
Shines the electric eye
Supernatural king
Takes Earth under his wing
Heaven's golden chorus sings
Hell's angels flap their wings
Evil souls fall to Hell
Ever trapped in burning cells!
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Other reviews
By 2+2=5
Every seed of what the Heavy scene would become from 1970 to today is here.
War Pigs, Paranoid, Iron Man: an encyclopedia from which no artist belonging to any fringe of the Heavy-Rock scene can deny having drawn.
By luca reed
Black Sabbath infused their music with a probably unconscious revolution that would alter the roots of the hard sound and reflect in all future heavy metal.
The lyrics actually combined the baroque-decadent fascination for English and non-English dark literature with the threatening sense of 'malevolent' everyday life of the present.
By Axlspark
"To highlight the greatness of this band among many successes and masterpieces, there is an album, certainly the greatest of Black Sabbath: 'Paranoid'."
"Giving 5 stars to this album seemed like an insult because the actual score it deserves is 10 with honors."
By kain3325
With 'Paranoid' Black Sabbath are at the peak of their creativity, pioneers of a genre that will see them on altars for many years.
The opening track is War Pigs, an incandescent riff by Iommy that turns into a pounding song punctuated by Ward’s snare drum and Osborne’s increasingly hypnotic voice.
By Battlegods
"Black Sabbath can be defined as the founders of doom, dark, and evil sounds which were later adopted in the metal of the eighties."
"The album is a beautiful lesson of true hard rock, still today!"
