1970

Recorded in two days late in 1969 and unleashed upon the flower-power world in the early months of 1970, the self-titled SABBATH album defines the word "classic". From the incredible cascading blues licks of "Wasp" to the harp magic of "The Wizard" to the monolithic jazzy groove and solos of "Wicked World" -- this album captures the darkest, heaviest blues riffs ever recorded. Even after all these years, the title track still scares us a little bit. Then, a few months later in September of 1970, the SABS let fly a collection of tunes originally to be called "War Pigs", but later changed to the "Paranoid" title to avoid controversy with regard to the war in Vietnam. In retrospect, its hard to fathom that some bands that come up with a killer debut have so much trouble following it up. SABBATH managed to let loose two of the most intense metal albums of all times in the same year. Bill Ward's drumming comes through even more spectacularly on "Paranoid", as evidenced in "Iron Man" and "Hand of Doom". Even thirty-plus years later, nothing comes close to touching the darkness, energy, and raw power of these two SABBATH albums.

Picks of the litter, 1970: