If the review of Sabbath's first album went without saying, then a review of Paranoid shouldn't even be thought about - this album is the king-daddy of all heavy metal albums. Whether or not you worship it as Sabbath's BEST album (I personally lean towards either Sabotage or Vol. 4), it is without a question their most influential - I believe that every song has been covered by numerous bands, and compositional elements and riffs have been endlessly ripped off to make thousands of other bands' careers (The 'Luke's Wall' riff towards the end of War Pigs is the one single-most-responsible riff for the initial success of Metallica...).

Overall, this albums takes a big step away from the more obvious blues influences that colored their first album, as the riffs and progressions move more into modal/minor-key territory. They also take their first step into a true 'ballad' with Planet Caravan (which actually uses bongos and clean-guitar jazz chords along with a 'swimming' vocal effect to create a very otherworldly atmosphere). There really isn't a bad song on the whole album - just varying degrees of greatness. A must-have for anyone who dares to call himself a metalhead - but then if you're even reading this, odds are you've already got a copy or two...

© 1999 lord vic