10 Darkest Albums In Rock Music History

Whenever you talk about the darker side of rock and roll, all roads point back to Black Sabbath. Ever since their horror tinged debut album, Tony Iommi's licks have always conjured up some of the most gruesome sounds imaginable, from songs about demonic dragons to the horrors of everyday life that you see out in the world. If we're looking to get dark though, we have to go back to the album that even spooked the band themselves.

Once they came off the road, Iommi came into the next album cycle with virtually no new material, leaving the band to turn elsewhere for inspiration. Settling in an abandoned castle, Sabbath haven't minced words about the haunted vibe they got from the site, with Ozzy and Tony claiming to have seen a ghost walking on the grounds. Even though this kind of behavior led to drummer Bill Ward holding a knife while he slept, it was just the ticket for Iommi's dark soul to come screaming back to life.

Across this album, it feels like Sabbath are embracing the sound that made them so spooky to begin with and doubling down, from the backing track sounding like it's being birthed from Hell on the title track to eventually turning in some more ominous directions on songs like Sabbra Cadabra. Out of all of Sabbath's classic period albums, this is probably the closest they've come to something that could genuinely scare you if you're not careful.