Favourite Black Sabbath album?
 

What is your favourite Sabbath album and why? Each new singer that has joined the band has brought something new to the sabbath sound for better or worse. Don't just vote, we need a reason!

My favourite Ozzy era album was Paranoid (cliche I know :D). It was the first Sabbath I ever heard and I still feel the musical earthquake I felt when I first heard the album.

My favourite Dio era is definitely Heaven and Hell.


I guess I have to go with Paranoid overall.

Well, as far as metal goes I'm not a big fan of the fast/screamy/growly/macho/cock-rockin' varieties I tend to go more for the atmospheric, sludgy, dark vibes which I think Black Sabbath peaked with on Master of Reality. Also, Into the Void is one of my favorite songs ever.

i loved paranoid.. it just plain rocked

I am big into Black Sabbath's debut because it showed a great deal of blues influence, which I really liked with the dark sound. Plus I think this album is more complete then my next favorite, Paranoid, in that I get sick of some tracks in Paranoid, whereas the debut has me entertained the whole time.

3. Master of Reality
4. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
5. Sabotage

to tell the truth i only have the greatest hits albums, so i dunno....but any sabbath without ozzy is horrible in my opinion

I beg to differ. I think Black Sabbath was at its best with RJD as the singer. I am not saying Ozzy is bad, I just think that it was at its prime with Dio.

But my vote goes to Heaven and Hell, hands down. That album is just.....just....what's the word I am looking for....oh yea!

Amazing!

I hate dio so I'm gonna go with paranoid.

The Debut is their best effort by miles, groundbreaking at the time and it really has aged well.

The only thing I see as the same between Ozzy Sabbath and Dio Sabbath is the name. I used to think that Ozzy Sabbath was better, but I got smarter with age. Now that I have listened to Dio Sabbath with an open mind, I don't even hear them as the same band. The sound and content is so different to me that I no longer compare the two. I vote Mob Rules for Dio years, and Paranoid for Ozzy. I see them as 2 bands, so I want 2 votes. I don't have a vote for the other 3 singers as I never really listened to them.

Ditto for me on the Sabbath tune. Definitely my favourite track of theirs.

As a big stoner doom fan, Paranoid is the 'well from whence it came,' so it gets my vote.

I agree: Master of Reality is the best; it is such a pioneering album.
"Into the Void" is also one of my all-time favourites.

Apparently I'm the only one who loves Volume 4.

I like it because it has all the heaviness of the earlier albums but with more diversity in the song writing. I find any of the first 3 albums a bit of a slog to get through in one sitting to be honest.

High five to the other one who voted for Vol4!

It sounds like we like it for similar reasons. You cant discount any Sabbath album, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath alongwith Master of Reality are not far behind at all but Vol4 gets the nod from me.

I also look at it as more of a diverse record, especially for Iommi. Its let down by Changes but is so close to being a perfect record.

Im also a huge fan of stoner rock and doom metal, but I view this album as more of an influence than Paranoid, personally.

Vol. 4 is no slouch, that's for sure. After Master, my second favourite is Vol. 4.

sabotage cause it's the hardest rocking

Master of Reality. my favorite Sabbath album, with my favorite Sabbath song:

Bastards of Young - We're in agreement again. Master of Reality was the first Black Sabbath album I ever bought. I was in either 5th or 6th grade, so about 11 or 12 years old. I remember I asked my mom to pick it up for me and, my sister opened the album and took the poster that came with it. I was so pissed off! She was older than me so I had a hard time getting it back. Anyway, my vote is Master of Reality followed by Paranoid, Vol. 4 and the 1st album. Great memories!

yeah. I wish I had the poster.

Non Sabbath related, I saw this vinyl.. and I had no money.. I was going to go back a few days later, and they shut down and closed the doors before I could...

http://image.timepassagesnostalgia.c...cheechongb.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bambu

yeah, that is an actual rolling paper, not a poster..... rare to find copies of the album with the paper still in it.. but the copy they had did, it was there... and it was only $10.

Bummer. You don't see that too often. I'm showing my age here but, I can't say for sure, but I do believe I "used" one of these back in the day

nice. I would of kept it in tact though... that and I couldnt even afford enough pot to do it justice, haha.

The only one that did nothing for me out of that list is "Forbidden"

The first 5 Sabbath albums are absolute essentials for any metal album collection, Sabotage whilst not as good as the first five is still a great album though. Best album has to be "Master of Reality"

^Agreed. And they are some of the best albums I own.

My vote goes to "Black Sabbath".

Paranoid. <3

Runner up is black sabbath.

toss up between black sabbath and master of reality. chose the self titled album because of the first three tracks.

Master of Reality. Has my favorite songs by Sabbath on it. Plus was highly influential on my favorite genre sludge metal. Paranoid is a close second.

paranoid because war pigs has given me more pleasure than oral sex

are u drunk or high?

Neither and its a very popular opinion.

I am drunk and high, and I agree with it.

Sabotage is better than their debut.

Iv got to strongly degree. Not only does the first play smoother as a full album but it was recorded for 500 bucks in Iomii's basement, and to think it made such an impact on music is astounding. Not to mention there self titled has one of the best intro tracks every written.

Maybe

But I only like 2 songs off the debut compared to 5 songs of Sabotage.

You do the maths.

I`ve been revisting the Dio era of Sabbath over the last day or so after having not listened to them in years. I`m actually more impressed than ever with them now. I always remebered these albums as good but not great, Now after listening to them again I think they`re classic releases and just as good as the Ozzy era with Sabbath! Dio`s vocals on both Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules are amazing and I thought Mob Rules an even better album this time around than the superb Heaven and Hell. Even more surprising is that Mob Rules never got one vote in the poll.

If you asked me last year, it would have been Heaven and Hell. RJD is just a beast, and Ozzy is not so much. But I've been getting seriously into their earlier stuff recently. They just have this great atmosphere about them. And their self-titled debut is almost magical. And I don't mean metaphorically. It sounds like the soundtrack to a...well, black sabbath. So yeah, I went with Black Sabbath, though it's a tough choice between that and Paranoid. Paranoid is just a doom metal masterpiece.

Well at the end of the day their early to mid period stuff with Ozzy is always going to be better, as that was where the legend was born and in many ways it has never been quite equalled for sheer consistency by any metal band since.

I now look at the Dio period as an almost completely different band because he and Ozzy are worlds apart vocally.

This gets my vote:

Paranoid

i don't listen to the Sabs outside of Ozzy