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Years go by and we stop liking some bands. But Sabbath is the only one that has never left my record player, my Walkman, my Discman, my iPod, and the next device I'll be forced to buy.

Felipe D'Andrea

The most anticipated show of the year is the arrival of the most legendary band in the history of Heavy Metal, Black Sabbath. I, like most people who read this website, started listening to music with them. Even without Bill Ward in the band, and with an Ozzy who can barely stand in front of the microphone, let alone sing in tune (look for videos of the current tour on YouTube, it's sad to hear the old man), the truth is that we've never had the opportunity to see the original lineup, or even the closest thing to it, in Brazil. Is it still worth seeing them live? My answer is: Why not? Let's go!

The question I'm actually raising here is different: Is Sabbath really the precursor of Metal? Having spent my entire life listening to Heavy Metal and considering Sabbath the best heavy rock band I've ever heard, I have my doubts. Many people consider Judas Priest the true creator of what has become known as Heavy Metal, and you know what? I agree with them. Judas, and later Iron Maiden and a few others, are the beginning of it all. Of course, without Sabbath there wouldn't be Judas Priest, but every time I listen to Black Sabbath and compare it to what came after, I realize there's a huge difference in sound, a fundamental difference that makes the connection between Black Sabbath and Heavy Metal a little more nebulous than some believe.

In my opinion, they achieved something no other heavy metal band has ever managed: being extremely heavy without needing to be fast.

Has metal progressed to much heavier things than Iommi's riffs? Undoubtedly. Who here will deny that Slayer is a more extreme sound than Sabbath? However, all the metal bands after Judas Priest seem to have missed something very basic: the measured rhythm of the Birmingham band.

"Of all heavy rock bands, Black Sabbath is the one that has most influenced artists outside of its own style."

Just listen to Master of Reality in its entirety and it's easy to see that there's something there that can't be found anywhere else in the history of Metal. Iommi's riffs are extremely slow, Ward's drum fills are heavily influenced by the jazz records his mother listened to, while Geezer Butler roams the bass as if everyone is paying attention only to his instrument. The whole album feels more like a dream, or an acid trip, than a headbanging record. It's no coincidence that Sabbath was a Blues band before going to the dark side. Thinking about it, the sound of Black Sabbath is nothing more than that: a blues without the swagger of the American black man, as hard as a white industrial worker breathing black smoke from English chimneys.

Is the later Sabbath, with Dio, a great band? I think so. However, even then it was a metal band like many others of its time. The first albums of the original lineup have something unique, something that went unnoticed in heavy metal classes. With all due respect to the great Dio and his incredible Holy Diver, the Sabbath of his era doesn't even come close to the original.

Years have passed and some bands we stop liking, others that we thought were bad we start to appreciate, that's normal. However, Sabbath is the only one that has never left my record player, my Walkman, my Discman, my iPod, and the next device I'll be forced to buy to be able to listen to the same sound as always.

Because of this, I've always looked for where the band's influences lie. The curious thing is that I often found them in places I would never expect, far outside the realm of Heavy Metal. This text, in fact, is about that: Where the influence of Black Sabbath is recognizable in music.

Here's a small selection of sounds that, while not labeled 'Heavy Metal', end up sounding much more like Sabbath than you might expect. If you're a fan like me, you might enjoy these bands.

The first is Sleep, and they're here to represent an entire style of metal called Stoner Metal, or Doom Metal, or Drone Metal, or whatever… Sleep is an American band that recorded their most classic album in the mid-90s and nobody heard it. They only became successful many years later, after they had already broken up. One of their original members became an Orthodox monk on an island in Alaska, and so on. Crazy, right? Great band. If you like this song, listen to the whole album called Holy Mountain. If you REALLY like the band, it's worth checking out their later album called Dopesmoker. It's a one-track album that lasts over an hour. I like listening to him doing something else.

The only original member of Sleep has a side project called OM. It's a bass, a drummer, and some guest instrumentalists who appear depending on the song. This one is even stranger, as it mixes many religious and Eastern European sounds. However, the spirit of heavy, slow rock is still there.

If you don't hear Black Sabbath at Orchid, you need a cotton swab. It's almost plagiarism, the vocalist dresses like early Ozzy, but I like it anyway.

Needing no introduction, Nebula!

Perhaps the most famous one I can recommend is Electric Wizard, and the name itself reveals their influence. Just press play and put your foot up.

The Melvins are the most Sabbath-like grunge band there is. It's also no secret how much they enjoy the English band.

The last one I'm recommending isn't really a recommendation, because it's so bizarre it's truly for a select few. Sunn o))) (yes, that's the band's name) is a group of guys who like guitar. And they like it a lot, apparently. So much so that their songs are long, distorted 10-15 minute pieces, with very little melody, or almost none, and vocals that, when they do appear, don't add much. However, I must admit that I listen to these guys quite a bit. I don't even know why, but I like it. I'm including a live performance here; if you like it, look for their albums.

If you want to delve deeper into the world of Stoner/Doom/Drone metal, I recommend checking out Sleep, Kyuss, Boris, Sunn o))), the famous Neurosis, and many others that play a much slower yet extremely heavy sound. It's also worth watching the documentary Such Hawks Such Hounds, which is available in its entirety on YouTube.

And then go back and listen to the classics again: Captain Beyond, Hawkwind, Beefhart, Zeppelin, etc…

Perhaps it's not a question of whether or not Sabbath invented metal. Rather, it's about recognizing that, of all heavy rock bands, they are the one that has most influenced artists outside of their own genre.

Now, if you tell me that none of these bands I suggested are as good as Black Sabbath… Well… what can I do? There was only one Sabbath in history.

Did you like any of these? Do you have others to suggest? Want to yell at me? Just write it below.

*This text was written by a Wikimate and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the site's authors.