Black Sabbath: Ranking Every Ozzy Osbourne Album From Worst To Best

The debut record that helped herald the arrival of a whole new genre - the tolling bell, the rain, the riff that cuts to the bone - Sabbath's self-titled effort lies lower on this list in part due to its second half, which does feel like it tails off into bluesy jam indulgence at various points.

But its first act is one of the all-time greats across any genre, launched by the title track and its doom-laden stomp-turned-feral explosion, while cuts like The Wizard and N.I.B. furthered the arrival of their sound in suitably potent fashion. It's got its warts, but it's still a crackerjack album.

Much of Iommi's guitar sound has been attributed to a youthful accident where he lost his finger tips in a factory, but the actual physical weight of his playing has arguably never been better exemplified than over the first twenty minutes on this album, with its distorted, visceral roar.

Likewise, Osbourne's rough-and-ready howl is at its most primitive and wild here too, up to a point; his cries on Black Sabbath are among some of the most untamed in rock and roll up until that point, and they still stand up with a particularly primal thrill to this day.