Amongst the subjects of discussion beloved of heavy metal fans; from the relative merits and nuances of the sub genres of black metal to which band has the best cash in branded beer and how much of it can you drink in one sitting, one subject always gets things going and that is what was the true genesis of heavy metal (it certainly wasn’t Genesis).

Fifty years ago this month Birmingham quartet Black Sabbath made one of the strongest claims for that when they released their debut album Black Sabbath that opens with the song Black Sabbath (they definitely had a strong idea about getting their branding across even then).

All jokes aside, and whatever your view of metal (if you follow this blog you’ll know I love a good slice of the heavy stuff), there’s no denying that this was and remains a landmark, as important as Elvis’ That’s Alright Mama, The Beatles’ Love Me Do, Nevermind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols or Nirvana’s Nevermind, so I thought that for its fiftieth birthday I’d give it a long over due re-listen (rather like Star Wars in movies it’s a record I’ve heard enough to not need to listen to that regularly, it’s just permanently lodged in my consciousness).

The opening is, of course, iconic with the rain lashing down and the distant clanging of a church bell before the first slow, monstrous riffs breaks the stillness in a way that’s still sending reverberations around the music world.

From there the song Black Sabbath is an instant calling card for the band as it moves from slow, doom laden grooves to intricate soloing on Tony Iommi’s guitar while the lyrics combine aspects of Hammer horror with something more truly dark, particularly as they are rendered in Ozzy Osbourne’s plaintive, fearful manner.

Meanwhile Geezer Butler’s bass is, in many ways the unsung hero rooting the foundation with impressively busy, but never over-busy, riffs that allow the slower guitar licks to stand out and Bill Wards then powerful twisted blues drums finishing the package.

With the scene set the first half of the record goes on to back up this case as The Wizard adds a blues harp to proceedings, showing the band’s evident antecedents but also demonstrating how this is something different.

Behind The Wall Of Sleep takes the lyrics to possibly the darkest places on the whole album though remains the more overlooked of the four songs on side one, before it morphs, through that bass line, in the monumental N.I.B. that is for me, the record’s stand out track and, only three songs later, takes what was established on Black Sabbath and elevates it entirely.

The second half of the album is a rather different affair combining, as it does in its original form, a pair of covers and another original.

Evil Woman (originally by Minneapolis rockers, Crow) is the first of these covers and it’s clear from the off it comes from a far more standard blues rock outlook than anything on side one.

Despite this Sabbath’s interpretation still manages to head into darker territory and is undeniably heavy thanks in great part again to Osbourne’s delivery that remains unique.

Sleeping Village is the second side’s original track and certainly fits in more with the stuff on side one, bringing something of the folk horror trend of the time (most notably seen in films like The Wicker Man) to proceedings while closer Warning (originally by The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation) really allows the instrumentation to take flight, again particularly the lead guitar of Iommi, as it becomes an extended jam track across several different movements.

The version of the album I’m used to is the mid-90s CD re-release that adds Wicked World as an extra track and, while a great track in its own right, it’s clear it doesn’t fit directly with the rest and leaves the album on an odd note, though I’ll be honest more early Sabbath can never be a bad thing.

Across Black Sabbath as a whole a few things still stand out, one of which in particular probably makes some sense of why it wasn’t critically well received in its time.

While certainly many bands before had taken elements of the blues and made them heavier or added a psychedelic twist while, in not a few cases, over playing to the point of ridiculousness over the top, what Sabbath did was push the heaviness, add their own twist (particularly around using that particular combination of sounds that has been dubbed the devil’s chord along with horror and supernatural inspired lyrics) and strip things back to the bone.

While Iommi certainly doesn’t shy away from soloing it feels more considered and not done just to show off, similarly of Butler’s bass lines, while Ward’s drums are well played and sound terrific but aren’t showy and Osbourne’s vocals continue this trend, which in a world inhabit by the posturing and wailing of the likes of Robert Plant must really have stood out.

In listening to the record again the tropes of later heavy metal are also present, from the feedback riding and slow tempos heard in much of what became doom to a dual guitar sound (obviously achieved here by multi tracking) that became the staple of power metal thanks to fellow Brummie’s Judas Priest.

While maybe not a flawless record it’s impossible to overstate the importance of Black Sabbath’s debut on the world of heavy music and, on its first side in particular, it is a masterpiece of the genre that laid the groundwork for so much to come while still standing up against much of it even on its fiftieth birthday.