Black Sabbath's eponymous debut needs no introduction; it's ground zero for heavy metal, the starting point for all metallic heaviness, and an eternal classic of early doom metal. Back at the dawn of the 70's, there were plenty of other bands who were developing the template for heavy metal (Led Zep, Deep Purple, Blue Cheer), but none of those guys were as dark and dread-filled and ponderous as Sabbath. The fundamentals of the sound were the same - huge blues-rock riffing married to psychedelia - but the combination of Tony Iommi's slow, downtuned riffs, the saurian rhythm section of Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, and Ozzy's tormented wail with Sabbath's infatuation with dark occult imagery and a wholly malevolent vibe turned their debut into something wholly new and groundbreaking. With that creepy cover art of a woman shrouded in black standing in the foreground of a macabre autumnal scene surrounded by withered trees and weeds, her features blurred and indistinct, the album just looks evil; then the first side starts spinning, opening with that iconic intro of soft rainfall, thunder and a bell tolling in the distance that gives way to the dismal slow-motion doom of the title track, still utterly heavy and morbid sounding as it goes into the mind-blowingly heavy central riff with Ozzy's eerie howl drifting over it, then moving into powerful psychedelic blues rock for the second half...classic. The rest of the a-side is crucial Sabbath, too; the bleating harmonica-led boogie lumber of "The Wizard", "Behind The Wall Of Sleep"'s extended psychedlic swing, the instantly recognizeable doom riff from "N.I.B." (one of the great metal dirges of all time), and the stomping Cream-esque boog of "Wicked World". All essential listening for fans of doom, and hell, heavy metal in general.

Side two isn't as powerful as the first half, with more focus on Cream-influenced blues/psych rock jamming on songs like "Sleeping Village" and the covers of "Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games With Me" (originally by Minneapolis blues-rock quintet Crow) and "Warning" (from Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation), but still heavy and swingin' enough, and any proto-metal fan knows these tracks up and down.

Sabbath's legacy has unfortunately been tainted over the subsequent decades by some straight-up bullshit and ridiculous Hollywood glitz, but their early 70's works remain unfuckwithable slabs of molten heaviness in my eyes. This NAMS release of Black Sabbath is a limited edition vinyl run on 180 gram

black vinyl presented in a heavy jacket, a crucial entry in any doom/metal fan's collection.