Black Sabbath- Paranoid (1970)

It's extraordinary, looking back, how Sabbath could have released this second album so soon after the first. I suppose it was an era where rock band worked, toured and wrote much more quiickly. Killing themselves to live, so to speak.

Paranoid is, of course, brilliant. It must surely be the band's most well-known and popular album and, in "War Pigs", "Iron Man" and the titular track, contains some of the band's most iconic songs. Yet there's zero filler here- even deep cuts such as "Hand of Doom" are magnificent. 

There's still a similarity in style from the album's predecessor with the band's signature heavy riffs that evoke unease and horror. Yet this album branches off into different directions and is less dependent on this feel. There's a variation of styles in thos collection of songs, with the band's signature longer track with their superb transitions, but also shorter songs. Bill Ward's jazz sensibilities are allowed freer rein, lot least with his far from pretentious drum solo in "Rat Salad". The band are, by this point, fully formed- heavy, with their own sound, but announcing that they are by no means limiting themselves and reserve the right to explore.