Rocktober Album #18: Black Sabbath – Paranoid (1970)

In honor of the greatest holiday in the world, Halloween (take that, Guy Fawkes Night!), the last week of Rocktober will feature bands that delved into the macabre (with one notable exception, which I will explain when the time is proper).

We start the week off with a metal classic, Black Sabbath's sophomore effort, Paranoid. What a great album. Ozzy's vocals are creepy and excellent, Tony Iommi's guitars are predictably awesome, and the rhythm section of Bill Ward and Geezer Butler holds everything in place. It's axiomatic that this is one of the great heavy metal albums of all-time.

1. War Pigs/Luke's Wall
"War Pigs" is my favorite Black Sabbath song. It starts off slow, with air raid sirens in the background, then kicks into the main riff at about the 50-second mark. I get goosebumps whenever Ozzy kicks in with "generals gathered in their masses ' just like witches at black masses." It's right then when you realize you're not in Kansas anymore. This song has great dark imagery ("in the fields, a body's burning," "now in darkness world stops turning / ashes where the body's burning," "day of judgment, God is calling / on their knees, the war pigs crawling"). Once in high school, I wrote out the lyrics to "War Pigs" and told my mom it was a poem I wrote. Her reaction was, and I quote, "Oh. It's dark. It's good. But it's dark." Then I went away for a while.
2. Paranoid
I'm pretty sure I don't need to say anything about this classic.
3. Planet Caravan
This is a trippy, slower song that doesn't really mesh that well with the rest of the album, in my opinion.
4. Iron Man
You all know "Iron Man," and if you don't, you certainly know the riff, which is one of the most recognizable in rock history. This is a great metal song.
5. Electric Funeral
This is a badass, dark song about nuclear winter (not that there are many "light" songs about nuclear winter).
6. Hand of Doom
This one starts out kind of slow, but then kicks into gear about two minutes into it. It's another great early metal song.
7. Rat Salad
This is a completely awesome name for a song and, at the same time, something I hope never to eat. The song itself is a nice little instrumental.
8. Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots
This one (or two) is a solid end to the album. The latter half of the title is alleged to be an anti-skinhead credo.