An In-Depth Review and Analysis of Black Sabbath's 1970 Studio Album "Paranoid"

Track Listing for Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” Album

1. War Pigs
2. Paranoid
3. Planet Caravan
4. Iron Man
5. Electric Funeral
6. Hand of Doom
7. Rat Salad
8. Fairies Wear Boots

Paranoid is the second full-length album by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath released in 1970. I would make the case that this is the album that made Black Sabbath a superstar band. This was also the first Black Sabbath album that I heard in my life back in 1995. Paranoid’s musical style is a mixture of heavy metal and blues rock and these guys under the creativity and skill of guitarist Tony Iommi do an excellent job! His blues style soloing is evident here in this song. We must look at the year 1970 and try to put it in the historical context of the genre. Heavy metal in 1970 was still a young genre as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest were two of the earliest bands. Black Sabbath had its beginnings going as far back as 1966 and they would be an influence for bands such as Metallica. The album Paranoid would reach the #1 position in the UK and the Netherlands. It would also do very well in Germany, reaching the second spot. This is impressive for a band that was at the time just 4 years old. The album cover is also symbolic. It shows a warrior with a sword in his hand ready to go after his prey.

The song "War Pigs" starts out slowly with the singing of Ozzy Osbourne. Even though Osbourne is not really considered an elite heavy metal singer, I can understand what he is saying pretty much. The generals are gathered in their positions, and they are ready to instruct their soldiers to go out into battle. But as is the case with war, there is much death and destruction. It is the politicians that make the decision to send their countries out to war as the general population suffers. This song, War Pigs has one of the most famous beginnings ever as the bass guitar and haunting sound have defined this one as a classic eerie doom metal song. Then comes another one of Black Sabbath’s most famous songs, the title track “Paranoid.” The original version is a slow song about someone who is slowly losing his passion and love for life. One of the classic lines from the song is “Can you help me? Are you from my brain? Oh yeah.” The solo is mixed in with some distorted guitar to give it an interesting feel. The person described in the song cannot feel happiness anymore and love to him is an unreal feeling. Although he wants to end his life, in a way he also knows that it is too late for him to do so. The title track for this album has been covered by Megadeth in their extended play album called Hidden Treasures in 1995. I like that version much more because it is heavier, faster, and Dave Mustaine’s aggressive voice makes it a classic cover!

Track Notes: "Planet Caravan" and "Iron Man"

Planet Caravan is another well-known song by Black Sabbath that is totally atmospheric in nature. Iron Man is another classic song that starts out with some robotic style distorted vocals.

Electric Funeral has a man riff which Sacred Reich would be influenced by for their 1993 album Independent. The end of the song Crawling sounds remarkably similar to this if you will remember. The song speeds up a bit and you can hear the bass lines played by Geezer Butler. The song is about a disaster that is about to affect life on Earth and that people should be prepared for what is about to come. If we really think about it, when the song came out, the US was only a few years removed from its verbal confrontation with the Soviet Union over nuclear weapons. From about the end of World War 2 until about the 1980’s, the tension was very noticeable as many people were living in fear and there was a very real possibility of nuclear war. Hand of Doom is my favorite song from the album. The song starts with a catchy, yet interesting bass line and then makes the transition into an impressive, catchy blues style song! The song also refers to the fact that although you may be having an enjoyable time, you must make sure that you do not overwhelm your mind with too many things. If we live life too fast, it may just go by too quickly and we may miss what life has to offer. We must live but not rush through life. Rat Salad is just a short instrumental with drumming, bass, and guitar work that makes you realize that this is just a blues style song. However, it is easy to confuse this song with the song Word Salad by the band Annihilator. Rat Salad also has a drum solo in the song. Paranoid ends with the song Fairies Wear Boots. The song is a humorous attempt to describe a person that went out late at night partying to be surprised at what he saw when he looked out the window.

Overall, Paranoid is one of the best albums in the history of heavy metal and it is one of the best moments that Ozzy had with the band prior to his departure in 1978. There is little that is wrong with this album and one of the most legendary bands in heavy metal would only get better into the early 1980’s. Paranoid is an album that covered themes which were very common at the time and this may help to raise awareness that the issues of war, depression, and anxiety are still very prevalent even in 2025. In addition to that, this album would end up becoming influential because fans would hear a cover of the song Planet Caravan performed by Pantera in 1994 for their studio album Far Beyond Driven. That is just how far Black Sabbath’s music has reached, influencing so many other bands too numerous to mention here. Paranoid has very much a doom metal sound to it, and you can hear this in the bass guitar play as it is one of those albums that showed just how creative the metal music genre could be. For some heavy metal fans, this album may be harder to sit and listen through, knowing that the members of Black Sabbath are aging. Their influence on the heavy metal genre is undeniable and they are a big reason why heavy metal has had a certain “soul” to it.