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Black Sabbath was born on February Friday 13th 1970. Their self-titled album would shock the very fabric of music forever. This is no exaggeration. For every rock/metal band around in the world today, all of them owe their creation, in one way or another to Black Sabbath.

The first incarnation of Black Sabbath and by far the most well known consisted of Ozzy Osbourne on vocals, Tony Iommi on guitar, Geezer Butler on bass (also the band's main lyricist) and Bill Ward on drums. Their debut album and title track "Black Sabbath," would start off the album in a mini-epic doom infused fashion, clearly stating their intention on the music scene.

The whole album would be recorded in just two days at a cost of peanuts, with other stand out tracks including "The Wizard," the inspirational "NIB," "Wicked World" and the longest track by far "The Warning," featuring some lengthy solos from Iommi, showing his real talents as a guitarist.

The next album, Paranoid, released later that year, seems to be the most famous album that tends to make its way into the public's consciousness more than any other, probably due to the successful single "Paranoid," which despite how many times it is played it always appears fresh. However the whole album is a classic, with each track a worthy success in its own right, "War Pigs" and "Iron Man" however being the ones in which the general public would recognise the most.

Their next album, released in 1971, and my personal favourite Master of Reality, is a real treat, a true classic, that should be owned by all fans of rock/metal. Following the lead set by Led Zeppelin, no singles were released from this album, which is perhaps one explanation why such mind blowing tracks such as "Children of the Grave," have not seemed to be as well recognised as "Paranoid" and "Iron Man" despite being arguably their superior. But it is in the two mellow instrumental tracks "Embryo" and "Orchid" and the quietly sombre "Solitude" that provide balance and maturity to the albums powerful and uplifting tracks. The whole album is simply a master piece and a superbly balanced seminal work.

The following year saw the band release Vol 4, which was originally going to be called "Snowblind" after a particular rock and roll habit that some of the band members picked up along with territory of the rock and roll lifestyle, but this was not allowed by the record company. Like all of the first six albums this is a classic in its own right, and to pick out individual tracks doesn't

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