I find Black Sabbath albums "Black Sabbath" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" to be BARELY metal albums

[CiG]

and it's AUAM where you are.

 

[jimmy101]

It should be noted that Iommi popularised the whole concept of basing guitar riffs around an open low string (in most cases the bottom E string). For example, a song such as Children of the grave which chugs along on the E & throws in a few accent notes. Also, palm-muting is another style heavily utilized by Iommi/Sabbath.

Since both of these concepts are abundant in "power Metal", then it's clear that Sabbath had a massively influential role in shaping the genre. No matter which way you wanna slice it, Sabbath influenced everyone. There's no getting around it.

 

[Bloopy]

IMO Black Sabbath debut album has only two songs that I would label as metal: title-song (maybe the first metal song ever) and The Wizard. I don't consider other tracks as Behind the Wall of Sleep, N.I.B., Evil Woman/Strange World, Sleeping Village and Warning to be metal at all. Most of these tunes are far too bluesy to be metal to me. Sabbath second album Paranoid is much more metal than the debut.

When it comes to Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, half of the 8 tracks on the album have nothing to do with metal: Fluff, Spiral Architect, Who Are You and Looking for Today. While SBS has some heavy moments(title track and Killing Yourself to Live), it was a very mellow Sabbath album compared to the previous three albums. That album sounds very sophisticated, unique and it incorporates many diverse music elements to be labeled as plain heavy metal.

Your thoughts?

My thoughts are that Sabbath may only have been one step along from the music that came before them, but it was a step in a direction that necessitated a new genre name and would become its own scene, even though they didn't know it at the time. Everything from Ozzy's vocals to their horror/occult themes and imagery help set them apart as well. But even when I just hear the music, I'm not deciding whether it's metal. It's the one telling me what the ground zero of metal sounds like. All the tracks on the debut are metal to me, with the cover songs being non-metal tunes played with a metal sound/heaviness at the very least.

To find music I'd consider too this or that to be the first metal album, I'd go back before 1970. Eg. High Tide's album Sea Shanties has the heavy metal genre as secondary on RYM. The vote is close, but it's about right I'd say. There are also votes on individual songs. Led Zeppelin's song Dazed and Confused gets heavy metal as secondary as well.

Another cover of a non-metal song is this Budgie track from 1973. Metal as fuck based on how Black Sabbath laid down the blueprint.

 

[Allfader]

Since both of these concepts are abundant in "power Metal", then it's clear that Sabbath had a massively influential role in shaping the genre. No matter which way you wanna slice it, Sabbath influenced everyone. There's no getting around it.

When Dio joined the band the proto power metal element became far more evident, yet it predates every single power metal band that has been called like that. Iommi himself said he could write different material having a far more capable singer with a far wider vocal range at disposal.

 

[Texas King]

It should be noted that Iommi popularised the whole concept of basing guitar riffs around an open low string (in most cases the bottom E string). For example, a song such as Children of the grave which chugs along on the E & throws in a few accent notes. Also, palm-muting is another style heavily utilized by Iommi/Sabbath.

Since both of these concepts are abundant in "power Metal", then it's clear that Sabbath had a massively influential role in shaping the genre. No matter which way you wanna slice it, Sabbath influenced everyone. There's no getting around it.

I disagree. Those two Sabbath concepts influenced the bands as Metallica, Megadeth, Overkill, W.A.S.P. and Candlemass, but you can't convince me that influnced (Kiske-era) Helloween, Blind Guardian, Running Wild or Gamma Ray.

 

[no country for old wainds]

i'm afraid jimmy shat his pants and left the board about a year ago, but don't worry, the rest of us are really interested in what you have to say

 

[EchoForever]

Manowar is not power metal. First power metal band is Helloween and their album Keeper of the Seven Keys: Part I from 1987 is the first power metal album. It sounds nothing like early Sabbath.

things are a little more nuanced than your direct and finite interpretations of things
manowar is the biggest and most prevalent example of the US power metal scene that i can think of off the top of my head

also walls of jericho would be the first power metal album by helloween
not sure what difference you would find between jericho and keeper of the keys that would make jericho not power metal to you
other than like, its faster?
idk

 

[EchoForever]

"genre is a spectrum" - the thread