Albums every Metalhead should own

Circa 1970, the landscape of music in general was poppy, fluffy, drop-acid-and space out hippy-influenced nonsense. Sabbath brought this whole happy-love train to a screeching halt with a series of three albums a mere sixteen months apart: Black Sabbath, Paranoid, and Master of Reality.

Steve Huey from Allmusic declares Paranoid to be Sabbath's greatest contribution to the formation of the Metal genre. I dispute this. Songs like "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" certainly rose to legendary status, with the former having been covered by dozens of bands from Bathory to Faith No More to Government Mule, and the latter being one of the most iconic rock riffs ever, having been sampled, quoted, and used in silliness from WWE wrestling introductions to Beavis and Butthead episodes to Michigan U's football marching band playing it every time their team collects a sack.

However, this legendary status does not a truly influential piece of music make. Metal has never been about being embraced by pop culture.

No, the truly iconic riffs and haunting melodies from Master are the ones that ultimately built the foundations of modern metal. These were the crude frameworks from which so many subgenres would draw their inspiration. Where would Stoner be without "Sweet Leaf"? Power Metal without "Children of the Grave"?

And for that matter, where would any of the modern metal from the last 15-20 years be if Iommi hadn't finally decided (on this record) to detune his guitar to C# to make it easier to play with his prosthetic fingertips? That sludgy, grinding sound that pervades this album was a veritable revolution of sound that was so far ahead of its time, it took Rolling Stone 32 years to finally acknowledge its importance to the musical landscape, when they posted this record in their top 500 most influential albums of all time, calling it "the definitive studio relic of Sabbath's golden-hellfire era". Q Magazine agreed, stating that it was "the most cohesive record of their first three albums" - and cohesive is the important word here.

The sound Sabbath was building was hazy and confused in their first two records. This was the moment of clarity amid the mountains of drugs that set the world on fire and paved the way for the NWOBHM to begin in the mid-to-late 70's when acts like Motorhead, Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head, Samson, and many others began to storm the gates of pop music and tear them down.

Next week, we'll look at a vintage offering by another early entrant into the metal landscape.

March 21st, 2009

OK, so here’s the deal. This series of blogs is all about the great metal albums that were released before most of you were born.

Why bother?

Because it’s a lot easier to recognize straight derivative work when the originals are right in front of your face.

Modern metal has become a cesspool of derivative work. Yes, there are a few bands that pop up here and there that push the envelope, but most of what’s out there is just more of what’s already been done. It’s about time the metal-consuming public got a refresher course on the real innovators in this genre. And I’m here to provide that for you.

This is going to be a chronological study of the most important albums in metal history, the ones that truly broke new ground and built the foundations upon which the genre now stands. Each edition will break down a record piece by piece and explain not only why it was important, but why it was MORE important than other offerings from the band that recorded it.

PS: I’m all for healthy debate in the comments section, but be warned - trolling will not be tolerated. If you have nothing more intelligent to say than “F*** YOU, YOUR OPINION SUCKS” then don’t bother.

- The Metal Curmudgeon -