10 Most Un-Metal Songs By Major Metal Artists

For as much as been said about Black Sabbath being the first metal band, it's weird to think that Sabbath themselves never thought about that. Aside from the massive riffs and dark subjects in their lyrics, Tony Iommi always saw Sabbath as their own unique beast, taking the confines of blues and hard rock into something much different. Then again, it's not like that argument is invalid when you have songs like Planet Caravan.

Compared to the virtual earthquakes going on in tracks like Iron Man and NIB, this was one of the softest Sabbath ever released up until that point. Dominated by Iommi's lone acoustic guitar, most of this song sees Ozzy crooning over the backing track, as he tells the tale of drifting through the stars with his lover. Even though the musical construction has changed, that trademark Sabbath darkness hasn't gone anywhere, with the guitar and vocal effects feeling almost haunting from the moment they start.

This song was also a great opportunity to show Iommi's chops on acoustic, with a solo that seems ripped out of the jazz playbook of someone like Django Reinhart. While some people try to define metal as pushing every single sound to its brink, sometimes it's better to kick back and let the rest of the song breathe.