Breaking the Taboo

 




After a series of heavier records, Breaking the Taboo is an overall more diversified release with a more melancholic, melodic and catchy direction. The record goes back to the band's commercially successful heavy metal and glam rock era from the mid-eighties to the early nineties without adding anything new to the formula. The record has a nostalgic charm and emotional melodies but also feels quite dated and is at times lacking imagination.
The album still has its highlights. ''Damnation'' has a really addicting chorus and recalls the band's classic heavy metal and glam rock material of the mid-eighties. If you like Loudness, you will love this track despite its bland predictability. ''I Wish'' finds the right balance between melancholic melodies and uplifting vocals which makes this track stand out. ''The Love of My Life'' is a dynamic, raw and rhythmic half-ballad with great guitar play and turns out being one of this record's most original and memorable tunes. The emotional closer ''Without You'' is another track to remember with skillful melodic guitar play, passionate vocals with the right balance between melodic lines and a raw undertone and an epic atmosphere that unfolds precisely in just four minutes. These two mellower half-ballads are clearly the best songs on an otherwise unspectacular album.
There are also a whole bunch of fillers on here that offer heavy metal by the numbers. Twelve songs with a running time of nearly fifty-seven minutes are a little bit too much and especially the first third of the record is quite unspectacular. Breaking the Taboo often feels like a compilation revisiting Loudness' most commercially successful eras of the past without adding anything new to the mixture. While the previous releases gave the band a heavy, passionate and raw identity, Breaking the Taboo is lacking its own style and is an overall forgettable release with a few enjoyable highlights.
To keep it short, Breaking the Taboo is the band's weakest release in five years, since the average reunion record Spiritual Canoe. This album is only interesting for faithful traditional heavy metal and glam rock fans as well as for collectors. Breaking the Taboo is still an overall enjoyable heavy metal record with a few highlights but it just doesn't stick out in Loudness' impressive discography.

Edge of Thorns

 






Edge of Thorns is the seventh album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released on April 2, 1993 on Atlantic Records. It is the last album featuring the talents of guitarist Criss Oliva, who died six months after its release, and it is the first Savatage album with Zachary Stevens on lead vocals, following the departure of Jon Oliva from his role as singer in Savatage.
Also the drums on this album sound different, from other Savatage records, as Steve "Doc" Wacholz decided to use electronic drums. Although most of the drum kits sound authentic, a difference in the timbre of the toms can be heard.
"All That I Bleed" and "Miles Away" were the last songs Jon Oliva, Criss Oliva and the producer Paul O'Neill wrote together. For that, they are still Jon Oliva's two favorites on the album.
The woman in the picture of the album art is Dawn Oliva, Criss Oliva's wife. Gary Smith, who also did the front and back covers for Hall of the Mountain King, the front cover for Gutter Ballet, the back cover for Streets, and all of Criss Oliva's airbrushed guitars, painted the cover. The face in the trees is supposed to be Jon Oliva, though producer O'Neill disputes that despite its publication in a Criss Oliva interview from 1993. The cover is supposed to represent good (the woman) vs. evil (the face in the trees). According to Criss Oliva in a 1993 interview, "The girl is surrounded by fear and innocence. But the face in the trees is evil. Everything around her is evil. It's about good and evil. The songs on the CD reflect this, too."
The opening piano riff to the title track was used extensively in the MTV reality series The Real World: San Francisco during scenes involving the hospitalization of Pedro Zamora.

Fighting

 







Fighting é o quinto álbum de estúdio da banda irlandesa de rock Thin Lizzy, lançado em 1975. Após quatro álbuns de experimentos, estruturaram seu som baseado principalmente na dupla de guitarristas Scott Gorham e Brian Robertson. O som passava pelo hard rock, folk, pop e rhythm and blues.
A canção "Suicide" foi originalmente feita pelo Thin Lizzy quando o guitarrista Eric Bell estava na banda, incluindo uma gravação da BBC gravada em julho de 1973. E esta foi a primeira perforamance com letra diferentes sobre o título "Baby's Been Messing". Outra canção gravada nas sessões do Fighting foi "Try a Little Harder", que foi eventualmente lançado em Vagabonds, Kings, Warriors, Angels em 2002.
Fighting é o único álbum do Thin Lizzy desde 1971 aonde outros membros da banda fora Phil Lynott receberam créditos por músicas escritas em certas canções. Bell escreveu "Ray Gun" na sua estréia, e Robertson e Gorham escreveram "Silver Dollar" e Ballad of a Hard Man", respectivamente.
O guitarrista do Europe, John Norum, fez cover da canção "Wild One" no seu álbum de 1987 chamado "Total Control. A banda Europe fez um cover da canção "Suicide" no seu álbum ao vivo de 2008 chamado "Almost Unplugged".

The Last Command

 




The Last Command is the second album by heavy metal band W.A.S.P., released in November 9, 1985. The album was produced by Spencer Proffer, who was perhaps best known for producing the six-time Platinum selling album Metal Health by Quiet Riot in 1983. The Last Command is the first W.A.S.P. album to feature the work of drummer Steve Riley. The album reached No. 47 on the Billboard 200 album chart in early 1986 and sold over one million copies, their first album to do so. It was also the last album to feature founding member Randy Piper on guitar.

Oceanborn

 





Oceanborn is the second studio album by Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish, released in December 1998 in Finland and in the spring of 1999 worldwide. Oceanborn has sold more than 68,000 copies in Finland. The single "Sleeping Sun" was released in August 1999, and the song has been included in every re-issue of the album since then. The album was released in the US by Century Media in March 2001.

Virtual XI

 




Virtual XI (pronounced: Virtual Eleven) is the eleventh studio album by English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 23 March 1998. It is the band's second and final album with Blaze Bayley on vocals.

Seven Seals

 





Seven Seals is the sixth album by the German power metal band Primal Fear, released on 15 October 2005. It is the first album with artwork which does not contain a scene depicting their bird-of-prey mascot, but instead a logo based upon it (a burning version of which is also seen on their next studio album New Religion).

The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent

 






The Wild, the Willing and the Innocent is the ninth studio album by the British hard rock band UFO and the first to be entirely self-produced by the band. The song "Lonely Heart" was a minor UK hit single. The original cover was as usual designed by the art studio Hipgnosis. This is the band's first album with the former Wild Horses' keyboard player Neil Carter, replacing Paul Raymond, who had left to join the Michael Schenker Group.
The album was remastered at Sound Recording Technology in Cambridge in 1994 and re-issued on Repertoire Records. The album was also reissued in 2009, remastered with an expanded booklet and bonus tracks.
In 2016, Eddie Trunk selected the album as one of The 11 Records That Changed My Life for Classic Rock (magazine). 

VISIONS OF EDEN

 





For some Virgin Steele fans and critics alike, this is the point in their career where things went awry. If DeFeis didn’t already hold the reigns of the band tightly enough to bring out the white in his knuckles, here he’s grasping it with maniacal fervor, eschewing the more prominent heavy metal elements of the band in favor of pompous, story-driven, operatic fare.
Visions Of Eden is an impossibly deep album, from the intense self-contained narrative, to the strange production, and everything in between. The advent of the Atreus albums set Virgin Steele on a path of the grandiose, which seemingly spirals into the unknown. No bounds are yet known as to how far David DeFeis and co are willing to go in their mission of manipulating both the Virgin Steele sound and its genre. Visions Of Eden begins the band’s metamorphosis into a flabbergasted leviathan of melodrama, adorned with a tense, orchestral vacuum, enveloping electric guitars, drums, bass, and of course DeFeis’ well broken-in piano work.
For a metal album to be largely piano driven is, I’m sure for many, a worrying thought, although I feel this approach has stood the test of time thus far as one of the album’s most endearing qualities. Whilst you easily can shrug off the thin guitars and synthetic drum sound, to deny the sheer scope and emotional quality of the piano and general orchestration would be short-sighted. If anything, Visions Of Eden is a highly passionate release, and one which David DeFeis has poured his every ounce into – of course the argument could be made, and valid, in saying this would work better as a DeFeis solo album. Speaking of him pouring everything he can into the album, his vocals are incredible. Much like the Atreus albums, he takes on multiple characteristics: with his performance switching between the lion’s roar, castrati wailing, sullen whispering, and gracious mid-range he’s famed for.
As I hinted earlier, the narrative is deep and thought provoking. Drawing influence from biblical themes and ancient Sumerian myth, Visions Of Eden tells the story of Adam’s first wife Lilith, and offers a unique glimpse in to how we might have arrived at where we are now. Depending on your belief system, I imagine the story can be taken in various ways, which is interesting. Of course, some might find it a little too over the top or not to their taste. It is admittedly domineering, and thick to swallow down at times, yet thoroughly stirring at others.
Now that we’ve talked about the more prominent aspects of the album, I think it’s time to address the actual metal elements, which I can assure you are indeed present. Never are they more evident than in the proud opening track “The Birth Of Adam”. This one is most in check with their prior output, and despite the album’s thin production, is very much in the “Wings Of Vengeance” mold. I will say the song is the only of its ilk here, although there are certainly distinct metal conventions displayed in the likes of the glorious title track, the punchy “Bonedust”, and the awe-inspiring “Adorned With The Rising Cobra”.
I do feel the ballad-like elements of the album weigh in heavier throughout, and as such will castrate any appeal for those looking for an answer to The Marriage Of Heaven & Hell Part I, or anyone looking for a propulsive heavy metal album for that matter. Visions Of Eden is very much concerned with itself, and should be listened to as a whole. It’s not the one I’d recommend to those new to the band, but if you’re interested in deep, meaningful music which will reward repeated listens, then I’d seriously recommend this one. There aren’t a lot of albums within the realms of heavy metal that can move me like this, or bands that can move me like Virgin Steele. Despite an increase in ego and pomposity I just can’t deny this one, there’s nothing like it out there.

Restless and Wild

 





Restless and Wild is the fourth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released in 1982 in Continental Europe and in 1983 in the US and UK. It was the first Accept album to not be recorded at Delta-Studio, the band moving to Dieter Dierks' studio in Stommeln. It is also the first Accept album in which Udo Dirkschneider sings every track, as well as the first in which manager Gaby Hauke ("Deaffy") gains credits for songwriting. Michael Wagener took engineering and mixing duties once again.

Beyond the Veil

 




Beyond the Veil é o segundo álbum lançado pela banda norueguesa de metal gótico Tristania, em 1999 pela gravadora Napalm Records.

INNER MOUSTER OUT

 

O álbum abre com "Gag Order", já com um riff de guitarra muito criativo, uma levada moderna e uma melodia cativante, além de um refrão fôdástico. O peso e harmonia é a premissa em todo o álbum, isto não precisarei comentar.

Em seguida vem a porrada "Angel With Horms", que tem o vídeo clipe abaixo, e é uma das melhores do álbum. Temos uma banda afiadíssima e de alto nível que sabe misturar muito bem o peso do metal com o apelo comercial e vender seu peixe de maneira digna.

Depois a coisa fica um pouco mais sinistra com "Habitctual", um som mais rápido, recheado de bases complexas lembrando um pouco a carreira solo do Halford. E novamente a facilidade de DANI NOLDEN na criação de melodias memoráveis se torna evidente a cada música que passa.

"In the Name of Love"... Não se engane pelo nome da música, se acha que vem uma baladinha de menininha cantando, muito pelo contrário, por aqui a coisa é de destruir quarteirões, talvez a mais pesada do álbum. Ótimos momentos e ótimos riffs, de deixar qualquer headbanger de pescoço arregaçado.

7th Symphony

 









7th Symphony is the seventh studio album by the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica. It was released on August 20, 2010 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, August 23, 2010 in the rest of the world, and August 24, 2010 in the U.S. and Canada. Released three years after their previous album Worlds Collide, Apocalyptica continues the practice of having 4 tracks with featured vocalists, while the remaining tracks are all instrumental. Dave Lombardo of Slayer is once again featured on drums, on the track entitled "2010". The band has been touring with touring vocalist Tipe Johnson in support of the album in Europe, Mexico, Canada, US and Venezuela since the summer of 2010.
The first single "End of Me" with Gavin Rossdale of Bush on vocals, was premiered on Finnish Radio Ylex on June 7, 2010. It received radio play June 28, 2010, and its release date was on August 6, 2010 in Germany. The second single from the album, "Broken Pieces" with Lacey Sturm of Flyleaf, was released in October 2010. The third single, "Not Strong Enough" featuring Brent Smith, was released in November 2010, but not in the US, where another version of the song, featuring Doug Robb of Hoobastank on vocals, started playing on US radio on January 18, 2011. The song was re-recorded with Robb after the band failed to secure the rights to release the song with Smith's vocals to U.S. radio from Shinedown's label, Atlantic Records. Accordingly, the promotional video for "Not Strong Enough" was re-released with Doug Robb replacing all scenes that were initially shot with Brent Smith.
The track "Bring Them to Light" was originally written for Worlds Collide, but both Joe Duplantier (of Gojira) and Apocalyptica were unhappy with the original, and so they decided to re-work the track, and re-record it for their next studio album.

Eat the Heat

 





Eat the Heat is the eighth studio album by German heavy metal band Accept, released in 1989. It was recorded at Dierks-Studios, in Cologne, from September 1988 to January 1989. Although Jim Stacey is presented as rhythm guitar player in the album line-up, the album credits also state that all guitar work on the album was played by Wolf Hoffmann. Jim Stacey did perform second guitar live with the band. Until 2010's Blood of the Nations, this was Accept's only album without Udo Dirkschneider as lead vocalist. U.D.O. contributes with crowd vocals on "Turn the Wheel". U.D.O. has also covered the song "X-T-C" on the 2001 compilation A Tribute to Accept II. Accept later recorded "Generation Clash II" based on "Generation Clash" with Udo Dirkschneider on vocals for their 1994 album Death Row. U.D.O. will still regularly perform tracks from this album, including "X-T-C".

Hall of the Mountain King

 






Hall of the Mountain King is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1987 under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill. It is their first album produced by O'Neill, who was assigned to the band after the tour in support of Fight for the Rock. This album shows the beginning of Savatage's exploration of progressive metal, in their search for new forms of musical expression. Many fans consider this album the original turning point in their musical identity, distinguishing between the old and new Savatage. It is not a concept album, but it has a constant tone (of darkness, in this case) and is more complex than their previous albums, with two entirely instrumental tracks that go beyond simple guitar riffs and solos, namely "Prelude to Madness" and "Last Dawn". Through Paul O'Neill's connections, he brought in Ray Gillen of Badlands fame (credited as Ray Gillian) to perform a vocal duet at the end of "Strange Wings".
"Prelude to Madness" is an arrangement of Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from the Peer Gynt suite. Oddly, Grieg is not credited for this song, but for the following title track - which is an original song. The intro of "Prelude to Madness" features keyboards and guitar playing "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's suite, The Planets.
This was the first album to feature the album cover drawn by artist Gary Smith, who was responsible for lead guitarist Criss Oliva's airbrushed guitars at the time. Hall of the Mountain King reached position No. 116 in the US Billboard 200 albums chart.

Slaves and Masters

 







Slaves and Masters is the thirteenth studio album by the British rock band Deep Purple, and was released on 5 October 1990. This is the only Deep Purple album to feature former Rainbow lead vocalist Joe Lynn Turner, who had joined the previous year after the firing of Ian Gillan. Before hiring Turner, the band had considered singer Jimi Jamison of Survivor, but other obligations made him unavailable.
Following its release, Slaves and Masters peaked at No. 87 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The album dramatically sold below expectations, as compared to Deep Purple's previous album, The House of Blue Light with Gillan, which charted at No. 34 in the US.^[2] A song from the Slaves and Masters recording sessions was rearranged for the soundtrack of the 1990 movie Fire, Ice and Dynamite. Jon Lord did not play on the song, which was performed by the four other members of the Mark V Deep Purple line-up.
Despite underwhelming album sales, Deep Purple had a relatively successful tour in support of Slaves and Masters in 1991, especially for the band's European leg. Turner was still a member of the group when they began writing and recording their next album in 1992, but under duress from managers who were eyeing a 25th anniversary tour, Deep Purple ultimately decided to bring back Gillan to the line-up for their 1993 studio album The Battle Rages On... A handful of working tracks originally intended for the follow-up to Slaves and Masters would turn up on subsequent solo releases by Turner.
"Too Much Is Not Enough" had been recorded by Turner for the unreleased follow up of his first solo album Rescue You, and it was also recorded by Paul Rodgers and Kenney Jones band The Law but they didn't release, either. Original Turner version can be found on the bootleg Demos '88 - 91' and The Law version on The Law II bootleg. Turner re-recorded the song for his album Hurry Up and Wait (1998).

Who Do We Think We Are

 







Who Do We Think We Are is the seventh studio album by the English hard rock band Deep Purple, released in 1973. It was Deep Purple's last album with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover until Perfect Strangers came out in 1984.
Musically, the record showed a move to a more blues based sound, even featuring scat singing. Although its production and the band's behavior after its release showed the group in turmoil, with frontman Gillan remarking that "we'd all had major illnesses" and felt considerable fatigue, the album was a commercial success. Deep Purple became the US' top selling artist of calendar year 1973. The album also featured the energetic hard rock single "Woman from Tokyo", which has been performed on several tours by the band over the years.
Despite massive sales, the group disintegrated among much infighting between band members as well as conflicts with their managers. The album's line-up would come to an end after a final concert in Osaka, Japan on 29 June 1973.

The Book of Taliesyn

 



The Book of Taliesyn is the second studio album by English rock band Deep Purple, recorded only three months after Shades of Deep Purple and released by Tetragrammaton Records in October 1968, just before their first US tour. The name for the album was taken from the 14th-century Book of Taliesin.
The structure of the album is similar to that of their debut, with four original songs and three rearranged covers, although the tracks are longer, the arrangements more complex and the sound more polished than on Shades of Deep Purple. The music style is a mix of psychedelic rock, progressive rock and hard rock, with several inserts of classical music arranged by the band's keyboard player Jon Lord.
Deep Purple's American record label aimed for a hippie audience, which was very influential in the US at the time, but the chart results of the album and singles were not as high as expected. This setback did not hinder the success of the three-month US tour, when the band played in many important venues and festivals and received positive feedback from audiences and the press. Deep Purple were still an underground band which played in small clubs and colleges in the United Kingdom, largely ignored by the media and the public. British record company EMI did not release The Book of Taliesyn until June 1969, on the new underground prog rock sub-label Harvest Records, and the album did not chart. Even the release of the new single "Emmaretta" and new dates in their home country in the summer of 1969 did not increase album sales or the popularity of Deep Purple in the UK. Perception of the album changed later years, when it received more favourable reviews.

Abandon

 





Abandon is the sixteenth studio album by the British hard rock band Deep Purple, released in the Spring of 1998. It was Deep Purple's second album with Steve Morse on guitar and the last album to feature founding member Jon Lord prior to his departure in 2002.
The album was followed by a successful 1998/1999 world tour which brought Deep Purple to Australia for the first time in 15 years. In 1999 a live album and DVD Total Abandon: Australia '99 recorded in Melbourne on 20 April 1999 was released.
The album title is actually a pun from Ian Gillan – "A Band On" – and the album was followed by the "A Band on Tour". Uniquely for a Deep Purple studio album, it features a reworking of a previously recorded song – "Bloodsucker" from Deep Purple in Rock (here re-titled "Bludsucker"). "Don't Make Me Happy" was mistakenly mastered in mono, and not amended on the final release. One of the two versions of the song released on promo single was, however, mastered in stereo.

Fireball

 








Fireball is the fifth album by English Rock band Deep Purple, released in 1971 and the second with the Mk II line-up. It was recorded at various times between September 1970 and June 1971. It became the first of the band's two UK No. 1 albums, though it did not stay on the charts as long as its predecessor, Deep Purple In Rock.

Purpendicular

 







Purpendicular is the fifteenth studio album by the English rock band, Deep Purple. Released in 1996, it is their first album with guitarist Steve Morse from Dixie Dregs, who replaced Ritchie Blackmore; Blackmore, meanwhile, resurrected Rainbow and released the album Stranger in Us All.
It was recorded at Greg Rike Productions, Orlando, Florida, February to October 1995 and engineered by Darren Schneider and Keith Andrews. It had a more experimental approach than previous albums. The arrangement to "The Aviator", for example, employed an acoustic folk/country arrangement that had not been heard on the band's previous work since "Anyone's Daughter" from Fireball. Several of the songs, such as "Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic" featured smaller keyboard parts, and mainly center on the guitar parts. Another new addition to the guitar playing was the use of pinch harmonics, very notably used on "Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic" and "Somebody Stole My Guitar". "Sometimes I Feel Like Screaming" and "Vavoom: Ted the Mechanic" remained regular features in Deep Purple's live setlist in recent tours.
Like the title of the band's following album, Abandon, Purpendicular is a pun; in this case, based on the band's name and the word "Perpendicular".

Guardians of the Flame

 




Guardians of the Flame is the second album from New York power metal band Virgin Steele, released in 1983 by Music for Nations. Sanctuary reissued the album in 2002 with songs previously released in the EP Wait for the Night, a live recording, and an interview with the band.

Virgin Steele

 






Virgin Steele is the eponymous debut album by New York heavy metal band Virgin Steele, released independently in 1982. This was the first album released by Music for Nations in Europe and was subsequently released by Mongol Horde Records and Maze Records in Canada. Music for Nations pressed 5,000 copies of the original LP. Sanctuary Records reissued the album on CD in 2002, with bonus tracks and some previously unreleased demos.

Age of Consent

 








Age of Consent is the fourth full-length album by US heavy metal band Virgin Steele. The album took eight months to complete, a change from Noble Savage which was recorded in only a few weeks, and was finally released in October 1988. It received scarce promotion and distribution by their small label, resulting in very low sales. The songs of this album follow in style and content the music of the previous album Noble Savage, adding a more polished sound and production. At the time of release, the band faced legal and financial setbacks that brought to the unofficial disbandment of Virgin Steele. Joe O'Reilly, although credited for playing bass on the album, was ill at the time of recording and was ghosted by DeFeis and Pursino.
The album was reissued on CD in 1997 by Noise Records, with a new song listing, a new cover and many bonus tracks. In November 2011 Age of Consent was once again reissued by Steamhammer Records, a subsidiary of SPV, with the same track list as the 1997 release, but with an added bonus CD (named Under the Graveyard Moon) containing 7 additional tracks.

Life Among the Ruins

 




Life Among the Ruins is the fifth full-length studio album by US heavy metal band Virgin Steele. It was released in 1993, after almost five years of inactivity. The song "Snakeskin Voodoo Man" was present only in the American release and was instead released as a single in 1992 in Europe, at the same time of the VHS Tale of the Snakeskin Voodoo Man. The VHS featured videos for "Snakeskin Voodoo Man", "Love Is Pain", "Invitation-I Dress in Black" and "Cage of Angels-Never Believed in Good-Bye", interviews and backstage footage. The music of this album is bluesy hard rock and melodic metal, more similar to early Whitesnake's recordings than the epic power metal of albums like Noble Savage and the following The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Part I. This is the first album with bassist Rob DeMartino, who replaced Joe O'Reilly, retired from the scene.

Age of the Joker

 







Age of the Joker is the ninth studio album by the German power metal band Edguy. It was released on 26 August 2011 through Nuclear Blast.
Alongside the normal release, a double disc digipak edition was also issued, featuring b-sides, single versions of two album songs, as well as a cover of the Slade hit "Cum on Feel the Noize". A music video was shot for "Robin Hood", featuring German comedian Bernhard Hoecker and parodying the film The Adventures of Robin Hood. The album also features a return to the power metal style whereas the previous two albums focused more towards a heavy metal/hard rock oriented style.
The album was listed at many charts throughout Europe, reaching No. 3 in Germany, No. 10 in Czech Republic, No. 13 in Switzerland, No. 30 in Austria and No. 63 in France.

The Dark Saga

 





The Dark Saga is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Iced Earth. Released on July 23, 1996, it was the band's first album to feature drummer Mark Prator, as well as the last with bassist Dave Abell and lead guitarist Randall Shawver. The Dark Saga was also the first Iced Earth album to be co-produced by Jim Morris, who since then has worked on all of the band's releases.
Recorded in Spring, 1996, The Dark Saga is a concept album based on the Todd McFarlane comic book character Spawn (who also appears on the album's cover). Because of this, the album features a much more melodic and simplified sound compared to other Iced Earth albums. While the response to The Dark Saga was mostly positive, some viewed these musical changes as a disappointment.

PARANOID - 1970

 




In an effort to capitalise on the recent UK chart success of their eponymous debut album, Black Sabbath returned to the studio with producer Rodger Bain in June 1970, just four months after the album was released. Paranoid was recorded at Regent Sound Studios and Island Studios in London, England.
The album's title track was written as an afterthought. As drummer Bill Ward explains: "We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony (Iommi) just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom." In the liner notes to the 1998 live album Reunion, bassist Geezer Butler recounts to Phil Alexander that they wrote the song "in five minutes, then I sat down and wrote the lyrics as quickly as I could. It was all done in about two hours." According to Alexander, "Paranoid" "crystallized the band's writing process, with Iommi initiating the ideas with his charred riffs, Ozzy (Osbourne) working on a melody, Geezer providing drive and the majority of the lyrics, and Bill Ward locking into a set of often pounding rhythms beneath Butler's bass rumble." The single was released in September 1970 and reached number four on the UK charts, remaining Black Sabbath's only top ten hit.